---
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: Vue 3
source: https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator/examples/add-custom-theme/vue3js
index: https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator/examples/overview.md
---

# Add a Custom Survey Creator Theme (Vue 3)

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
<div id="app" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0;"></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/App.vue`

```html
<template>
    <SurveyCreatorComponent :model="creator" />
</template>
<script setup lang="ts">
    import { SurveyCreatorModel } from "survey-creator-core";
    import { SurveyCreatorComponent } from "survey-creator-vue";
    import { customThemeVariables } from "./theme_json";
    import { getLocaleStrings } from "survey-creator-core";
    import "survey-core/survey.i18n";
    import "survey-creator-core/survey-creator-core.i18n";
    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");
    
    const creator = new SurveyCreatorModel({ showTranslationTab: true });
    // Step 4: Apply the custom theme to Survey Creator
    creator.applyCreatorTheme(customTheme);
    
    creator.showSidebar = false;
    setTimeout(() => {
        creator.openCreatorThemeSettings();
    }, 400);
</script>
```

### `src/index.css`

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

### `src/main.ts`

```ts
import { createApp } from "vue";
import App from "./App.vue";

const app = createApp(App);
app.mount("#app");
```

### `src/shims-vue.d.ts`

```ts
/* eslint-disable */
declare module "*.vue" {
    import type { DefineComponent } from "vue"
    const component: DefineComponent<{}, {}, any>
    export default component
}
```

### `.eslintrc.js`

```js
module.exports = {
    root: true,
    env: {
        node: true
    },
    extends: [
        "plugin:vue/vue3-essential",
        "eslint:recommended",
        "@vue/typescript/recommended",
        "@vue/prettier",
        "@vue/prettier/@typescript-eslint"
    ],
    parserOptions: {
        ecmaVersion: 2020
    },
    rules: {
        "no-console": process.env.NODE_ENV === "production" ? "warn" : "off",
        "no-debugger": process.env.NODE_ENV === "production" ? "warn" : "off"
    },
    overrides: [
        {
            files: [
                "**/__tests__/*.{j,t}s?(x)",
                "**/tests/unit/**/*.spec.{j,t}s?(x)"
            ],
            env: {
                jest: true
            }
        }
    ]
};
```

### `babel.config.js`

```js
module.exports = {
  presets: ["@vue/cli-plugin-babel/preset"]
};
```

### `package.json`

```json
{
  "name": "surveyjs-library-vue3",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "scripts": {
    "serve": "vue-cli-service serve",
    "build": "vue-cli-service build",
    "lint": "vue-cli-service lint"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "core-js": "^3.6.5",
    "tslib": "2.6.1",
    "vue": "^3.4.1",
    "survey-core": "latest",
    "survey-vue3-ui": "latest",
    "survey-creator-core": "latest",
    "survey-creator-vue": "latest",
    "vue-router": "^4.0.0-0",
    "vuex": "^4.0.0-0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^2.33.0",
    "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^2.33.0",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-babel": "~4.5.0",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-eslint": "~4.5.0",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-pwa": "~4.5.0",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-router": "~4.5.0",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-typescript": "~4.5.0",
    "@vue/cli-plugin-vuex": "~4.5.0",
    "@vue/cli-service": "~4.5.0",
    "@vue/compiler-sfc": "^3.0.0",
    "@vue/eslint-config-prettier": "^6.0.0",
    "@vue/eslint-config-typescript": "^5.0.2",
    "@vue/test-utils": "^2.0.0-0",
    "eslint": "^6.7.2",
    "eslint-plugin-prettier": "^3.1.3",
    "eslint-plugin-vue": "^7.0.0-0",
    "node-sass": "^4.12.0",
    "prettier": "^1.19.1",
    "sass-loader": "^8.0.2",
    "typescript": "~3.9.3"
  }
}
```

### `tsconfig.json`

```json
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "esnext",
    "module": "esnext",
    "strict": true,
    "jsx": "preserve",
    "importHelpers": true,
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,
    "sourceMap": true,
    "baseUrl": ".",
    "types": [
      "webpack-env",
      "jest"
    ],
    "paths": {
      "@/*": [
        "src/*"
      ]
    },
    "lib": [
      "esnext",
      "dom",
      "dom.iterable",
      "scripthost"
    ]
  },
  "include": [
    "src/**/*.ts",
    "src/**/*.tsx",
    "src/**/*.vue",
    "tests/**/*.ts",
    "tests/**/*.tsx"
  ],
  "exclude": [
    "node_modules"
  ]
}
```

## Other Frameworks

- [Angular](https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator/examples/add-custom-theme/angular.md)
- [React](https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator/examples/add-custom-theme/reactjs.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)