# Dark mode not working

**URL:** <https://forum.ghost.org/t/dark-mode-not-working/56332>\
**Category:** Using Ghost\
**Created:** [March 25, 2025, 11:11am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/dark-mode-not-working/56332 "2025-03-25T11:11:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![thany](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/thany/32/35454_2.png) [@thany](https://forum.ghost.org/u/thany)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 11:11am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/dark-mode-not-working/56332/1 "2025-03-25T11:11:44Z")

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Dark mode isn’t working for visitors.

Sure, the editor at `/ghost` can be set to dark mode, but for visitors it is always in light mode. And since I can’t find a setting for it, I would expect it to be automatic.

Dark/light mode should be selected according to a user’s preference in their browser/OS, and in CSS (and in javascript, technically) this can be picked up using the [prefers-color-scheme](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@media/prefers-color-scheme) media query.

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**Author:** ![Cathy\_Sarisky](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forum.ghost.org/cathy_sarisky/32/25750_2.png) [@Cathy\_Sarisky](https://forum.ghost.org/u/Cathy_Sarisky)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2025, 11:45am UTC](https://forum.ghost.org/t/dark-mode-not-working/56332/2 "2025-03-25T11:45:58Z")

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That toggle is just for the admin interface. It’s not supposed to control the frontend website.

Whether a theme has dark mode is theme-specific. Lots of paid themes either automatically detect or provide a toggle.

I have a now-outdated list of mostly-official themes and how to get them to do dark mode here: [Adding a dark mode button to your Ghost blog](https://www.spectralwebservices.com/blog/adding-a-dark-mode-button-to-your-ghost-blog/)

TL;DR: You can set Source to dark background, but it doesn’t auto detect. Dawn can autodetect (it’s an option in the design & branding settings). Several other official themes are pretty easy to convert. Most paid themes include dark mode, either auto-detect or slider or both.