---
title: Add a Custom Survey Creator Theme
product: Survey Creator
description: Learn how to create a custom UI theme using CSS variables and apply it to Survey Creator. This JavaScript form builder demo explains how to design a theme from scratch or by overriding some of the CSS variables of the built-in Light theme.
framework: React
source: https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator/examples/add-custom-theme/reactjs
index: https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator/examples/overview.md
---

# Add a Custom Survey Creator Theme (React)

Survey Creator UI themes allow users to quickly adjust the appearance of the tool. Four predefined UI themes are included out of the box: Light, Dark, Contrast, and a classic Survey Creator 2020 theme. This example demonstrates how to create and apply a custom UI theme to Survey Creator.

Follow the steps below to add a custom Survey Creator theme:

1. Define a theme object.\
This object must include a unique theme identifier and a nested object with CSS variables. A theme is defined by many CSS variables, but you may specify only the variables that you want to override in the Light theme.

2. Specify a localized user-friendly theme name.\
This name will be displayed in the drop-down theme list. Use [Survey Creator's localization capabilities](https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator/documentation/survey-localization-translate-surveys-to-different-languages#override-individual-translations) for this.

3. Register the custom theme.\
Pass the theme object to the `registerCustomTheme(theme)` method. This is a static method that you can import form the `survey-creator-core` module or access via the `SurveyCreatorCore` object.

4. Apply the custom theme to Survey Creator.\
Pass the theme object to `SurveyCreatorModel`'s [`applyCreatorTheme(theme)`](/survey-creator/documentation/api-reference/survey-creator#applyCreatorTheme) method.

Refer to the Code tab for a code example.

<!-- For more information on working with CSS variables, refer to the <a href="https://www.figma.com/design/i6Lpc7zkjHtso2oXZV97fo/Design-Kit?node-id=25438-62239&t=Efr3Z8ZOPsVDIzPP-0" target="_blank">SurveyJS Figma</a> project. -->

## Files

### `public/index.html`

```html
<!-- Uncomment the following lines to enable Ace Editor in the JSON Editor tab -->
<!-- 
<script src="https://unpkg.com/ace-builds/src-min-noconflict/ace.js"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/ace-builds/src-min-noconflict/ext-searchbox.js"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/ace-builds/src-min-noconflict/theme-clouds_midnight.js"></script>
-->

<div id="surveyCreatorContainer" style="position: absolute; height: 100%; width: 100%"></div>
```

### `src/theme_json.js`

```js
export const customThemeVariables = {
  "--sjs-layer-1-background-500": "#FFFFFFFF",
  "--sjs-layer-1-background-400": "#E6EBF9FF",
  "--sjs-layer-1-foreground-100": "#122243FF",
  "--sjs-layer-1-foreground-50": "#0E205580",
  "--sjs-layer-3-background-500": "#EAF0FBFF",
  "--sjs-layer-3-foreground-100": "#273859FF",
  "--sjs-layer-3-foreground-50": "#26335880",
  "--sjs-layer-2-background-500": "#F2F6FDFF",
  "--sjs-layer-2-background-400": "#DAE2F7FF",
  "--sjs-special-haze": "#0930A040",
  "--sjs-border-25": "#C2CEE6FF",
  "--sjs-border-10": "#CDD7EAFF",
  "--sjs-primary-background-500": "#0930A0FF",
  "--sjs-primary-background-10": "#0435C41A",
  "--sjs-primary-background-400": "#042480FF",
  "--sjs-primary-foreground-100": "#FFFFFFFF",
  "--sjs-primary-foreground-25": "#FFFFFF40",
  "--sjs-secondary-background-500": "#D6378AFF",
  "--sjs-secondary-background-25": "#D6378A40",
  "--sjs-secondary-background-10": "#D6378A1A",
  "--sjs-secondary-foreground-100": "#FFFFFFFF",
  "--sjs-secondary-forecolor-25": "#FFFFFF40",
  "--sjs-semantic-red-background-500": "#D6378AFF",
  "--sjs-semantic-red-background-10": "#D6378A1A",
  "--sjs-semantic-red-foreground-100": "#FFFFFFFF",
  "--sjs-semantic-green-background-500": "#19B394FF",
  "--sjs-semantic-green-background-10": "#19B3941A",
  "--sjs-semantic-green-foreground-100": "#FFFFFFFF",
  "--sjs-semantic-blue-background-500": "#437FD9FF",
  "--sjs-semantic-blue-background-10": "#437FD91A",
  "--sjs-semantic-blue-foreground-100": "#FFFFFFFF",
  "--sjs-semantic-yellow-background-500": "#FF9814FF",
  "--sjs-semantic-yellow-background-10": "#FF98141A",
  "--sjs-semantic-yellow-foreground-100": "#FFFFFFFF",
  "--sjs-semantic-white-background-500": "#FFFFFFFF",
  "--sjs-code-gray-700": "#B6B6B6FF",
  "--sjs-code-blue-500": "#326FCAFF",
  "--sjs-code-gray-300": "#505050FF",
  "--sjs-code-green-500": "#08997CFF",
  "--sjs-code-red-500": "#F41B50FF",
  "--sjs-code-purple-500": "#C22FA2FF",
  "--sjs-code-yellow-500": "#F58D06FF",
  "--sjs-code-gray-500": "#8A8A8AFF",
  "--sjs-special-background": "#EAF0FBFF",
  "--sjs-layer-1-foreground-75": "#0930A0FF",
  "--sjs-layer-3-background-400": "#D3DDF5FF",
  "--sjs-special-glow": "#27385933",
  "--sjs-special-shadow": "#27385940",
  "--sjs-layer-3-foreground-75": "#0930A0FF",
  "--sjs-layer-2-foreground-100": "#273859FF",
  "--sjs-layer-2-foreground-75": "#0930A0FF",
  "--sjs-layer-2-foreground-50": "#26335880",
  "--sjs-border-25-overlay": "#00000026",
  "--sjs-secondary-background-400": "#C62076FF"
}
```

### `src/SurveyCreatorComponent.jsx`

```js
import React from "react";
import { SurveyCreator, SurveyCreatorComponent } from "survey-creator-react";
import "survey-core/survey.i18n";
import "survey-creator-core/survey-creator-core.i18n";
import { customThemeVariables } from "./theme_json";
import { getLocaleStrings } from "survey-creator-core";
import "survey-core/survey-core.css";
import "survey-creator-core/survey-creator-core.css";
import "./index.css";

import SurveyTheme from "survey-core/themes";
import { registerCreatorTheme } from "survey-creator-core";

registerCreatorTheme(SurveyTheme); // Add predefined Survey Creator UI themes

// Step 1: Define a theme object
const customTheme = {
    themeName: "customTheme",
    cssVariables: { ...customThemeVariables }
};
const enLocale = getLocaleStrings("en");

function addCustomTheme(theme, userFriendlyThemeName) {
    // Step 2: Specify a localized user-friendly theme name
    enLocale.creatortheme.names[theme.themeName] = userFriendlyThemeName;
    // Step 3: Register the custom theme
    registerCreatorTheme(theme);
}

addCustomTheme(customTheme, "Custom Theme");

function SurveyCreatorRenderComponent() {
    const creator = new SurveyCreator({ showTranslationTab: true });
    // Step 4: Apply the custom theme to Survey Creator
    creator.applyCreatorTheme(customTheme);
    
    creator.showSidebar = false;
    setTimeout(() => {
        creator.openCreatorThemeSettings();
    }, 400);
    return (<SurveyCreatorComponent creator={creator} />);
}

export default SurveyCreatorRenderComponent;
```

### `src/index.css`

```css
/* You can add your custom CSS here. */
```

### `src/index.js`

```js
import React from "react";
import { createRoot } from "react-dom/client";
import SurveyCreatorRenderComponent from "./SurveyCreatorComponent";

const root = createRoot(document.getElementById("surveyCreatorContainer"));
root.render(<SurveyCreatorRenderComponent />);
```

### `package.json`

```json
{
  "dependencies": {
    "react": "latest",
    "react-dom": "latest",
    "survey-core": "latest",
    "survey-react-ui": "latest",
    "survey-creator-core": "latest",
    "survey-creator-react": "latest"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "react-scripts": "latest"
  }
}
```

## Other Frameworks

- [Angular](https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator/examples/add-custom-theme/angular.md)
- [Vue 3](https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator/examples/add-custom-theme/vue3js.md)
- [jQuery](https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator/examples/add-custom-theme/jquery.md)
- [Vanilla JS](https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator/examples/add-custom-theme/vanillajs.md)