Creating a Theme

A theme is a folder. Drop it in resources/js/pages/themes/, pick it in the admin settings, and your versions of the pages take over. You never have to copy the whole UI.

This page covers the client theme system, the one that restyles the dashboard, market, tickets and auth screens. It is a different thing from portal themes, which change the public landing page and are managed as database records under Customization. See Portal themes vs client themes.

How it works

You create a folder

resources/js/pages/themes/aurora/. The folder name is the theme name.

The admin settings page finds it

DezerX scans the themes directory on every load, so there is nothing to register.

An admin activates it

That writes the active_theme setting, which is shared with the frontend on every request.

Inertia resolves your file first

For each page it tries your theme, then falls back to default.

Resolution order

client/dashboard  ->  themes/{active_theme}/UI/dashboard.tsx
                  ->  themes/default/UI/dashboard.tsx

auth/login        ->  themes/{active_theme}/auth/login.tsx
                  ->  themes/default/auth/login.tsx

A theme with one file is valid. quanta ships five auth pages and nothing else, nodepeak ships only a navbar and a footer, and every other screen quietly uses the default.

Create one

Make the folder

mkdir -p resources/js/pages/themes/aurora/auth

Use lowercase with hyphens. The admin label is derived from the folder name, so aurora shows as “Aurora” and neon-dark shows as “Neon Dark”.

Copy a page you want to change

cp resources/js/pages/themes/default/auth/login.tsx \
   resources/js/pages/themes/aurora/auth/login.tsx

Starting from the default copy means you inherit the props, the form wiring and the translation keys, and you only have to change markup.

Build and activate

npm run build

Then go to Admin, Settings, Appearance, Client Theme and pick Aurora.

Vite discovers theme files with a glob at build time, so a new folder needs a rebuild (or a restart of npm run dev) before it appears. Adding files to a theme that already exists is picked up by the dev server automatically.

A theme is frontend only, so there’s no Octane reload to do. The workers notice the new build on their own, and switching themes in the admin panel takes effect on the next page load, cached guest pages included.

What you can override

Auth pages
Client pages
Components

Live in {theme}/auth/. The filename must match exactly.

File	Screen
`login.tsx`	Sign in
`register.tsx`	Sign up
`ForgotPassword.tsx`	Request a reset link
`ResetPassword.tsx`	Set a new password
`2fa-verification.tsx`	Two-factor prompt
`phone-verification.tsx`	Phone verification

Live in {theme}/UI/. The path after UI/ must match the name core renders.

File	Screen
`dashboard.tsx`	Customer dashboard
`Profile.tsx`	Account settings
`Inbox.tsx`	Notifications
`gift-cards.tsx`	Gift cards
`Cart/Index.tsx`	Shopping cart
`Market/Index.tsx`	Store front
`Market/Products.tsx`	Category listing
`Market/ProductDetails.tsx`	Single product
`Market/Checkout.tsx`	Checkout
`Invoice/Index.tsx`	Invoice list
`Invoice/View.tsx`	Single invoice
`Service/manage.tsx`	Service overview
`Service/configuration.tsx`	Configurable options
`Service/addons.tsx`	Addons
`Service/invoices.tsx`	Service invoices
`Service/invite.tsx`	Sub-user invites
`Service/plan-change.tsx`	Upgrade or downgrade the plan
`Tickets/index.tsx`	Ticket list
`Tickets/create.tsx`	New ticket
`Tickets/show.tsx`	Ticket thread

Live in {theme}/components/. These replace shared pieces everywhere they are used, without you copying a single page. See Overriding components.

Admin pages are not themeable. They live in resources/js/pages/admin/ and are shared by every theme.

Layouts come for free

A UI/ page does not need to declare a layout. If yours does not set one, the resolver wraps it in AuthenticatedLayout, which gives you the sidebar, navbar and footer.

resources/js/pages/themes/aurora/UI/dashboard.tsx

export default function Dashboard({ services, invoices }: PageProps) {
    return <div className="space-y-6">{/* your markup */}</div>;
}

If you want a page to render without the standard chrome, set a layout explicitly:

Dashboard.layout = (page: React.ReactNode) => <MyBareLayout>{page}</MyBareLayout>;

Auth pages are never wrapped. They own their whole screen, which is why quanta can restyle sign in completely without touching anything else.

Overriding components

Copying pages gets expensive if all you want is a different card or button. Most shared pieces in the default theme are wrapped in withThemeOverride, so a file with a matching path replaces them everywhere.

Create the file at the same path

resources/js/pages/themes/aurora/components/SectionCard.tsx

Export the same name

export const SectionCard = ({ title, children }: SectionCardProps) => (
    <section className="border-primary bg-secondary rounded-2xl border p-5">
        <h2 className="text-primary text-lg font-semibold">{title}</h2>
        {children}
    </section>
);

A default export works too. The named export is tried first.

Your override receives the same props as the original, and callers still pass them. Read the default implementation before you replace it, or you will silently drop behaviour like loading states or permission checks.

Every overridable component

Path is relative to {theme}/components/. Export name matters.

Path	Export
`Button`	`Button`
`Footer`	`Footer`
`Modal`	`Modal`
`Navbar`	`Navbar`, `ProfileDropdown`
`Sidebar`	`Sidebar`
`PageHeader`	`PageHeader`
`SearchInput`	`SearchInput`
`SectionCard`	`SectionCard`
`StatusBadge`	`StatusBadge`
`TabFilter`	`TabFilter`
`EmptyState`	`EmptyState`
`dashboard/banner-carousel`	`BannerCarousel`
`dashboard/metrics-card`	`MetricsCards`
`dashboard/notification`	`Notification`, `NotificationsContainer`
`dashboard/payment-drawer`	`PaymentDrawer`
`dashboard/payment-gateway-selector`	`PaymentGatewaySelector`
`dashboard/services-table`	`ServicesTable`
`dashboard/user-contact`	`UserContact`
`checkout/BillingPaymentTab`	`BillingPaymentTab`
`checkout/GuestAuthSection`	`GuestAuthSection`
`checkout/OrderSummary`	`OrderSummary`
`checkout/ServerConfigurationTab`	`ServerConfigurationTab`
`checkout/TrustpilotBanner`	`TrustpilotBanner`
`service/CancelModal`	`CancelModal`
`service/DowngradeModal`	`DowngradeModal`
`service/RenewModal`	`RenewModal`
`service/UpgradeModal`	`UpgradeModal`

Why the default theme cannot use overrides

Overrides are only consulted when active_theme is not default, and the loader deliberately excludes themes/default/components/** from the on-demand bundle.That keeps the default path free of extra work, and means a theme’s component files are only fetched when that theme is active.

Overriding Footer on a Starter or Cloud licence. Those licences require the DezerX watermark, and the licence check reads the active theme’s Footer.tsx. Copy the watermark block from themes/default/components/Footer.tsx into your footer unchanged, or the site is put into maintenance mode until it’s back. Professional, Ultimate and Cloud+ licences don’t need it.

Colours and spacing

Before writing custom CSS, reach for the existing variables. They are what the admin Colors page edits, so anything built on them stays in sync when an operator retunes the palette.

<div className="bg-secondary border-primary rounded-xl border p-4">
    <h3 className="text-primary font-medium">Heading</h3>
    <p className="text-secondary text-sm">Supporting copy</p>
    <button className="button-primary rounded-lg px-4 py-2">Save</button>
</div>

--bg-primary        --text-primary       --border-primary
--bg-secondary      --text-secondary     --border-secondary
--bg-hover          --text-button        --border-third
--bg-success        --text-success       --border-sidebar
--bg-warning        --text-warning
--bg-danger         --text-danger
--bg-button-primary         --bg-button-primary-solid
--bg-button-secondary
--icon-primary      --icon-text          --link-active
--app-font-family

Button helpers defined in app.css: button-primary, button-secondary, button-success, button-warning, button-danger. Use Tailwind’s rounded-* classes for corners rather than fixed pixel values. The radius scale follows the Corner Roundness setting in Admin, Settings, so rounded-xl gets rounder or squarer along with the rest of the UI.

Counting usage across the default theme: text-primary, border-primary, text-secondary, bg-secondary and bg-primary do most of the work. Match those and your theme will respond to light and dark mode and to operator colour changes without extra effort.

Hardcoding hex values is the most common theme mistake. It looks fine in the mode you built in, then breaks in the other one and ignores whatever the operator sets under Customization, Colors.

What your pages receive

Theme pages are ordinary Inertia pages, so props come from the controller that rendered them. Two things are always available.

import { usePage } from '@inertiajs/react';

const { props } = usePage();
const user = props.auth?.user;                    // null when signed out
const settings = props.auth?.settings;            // [{ key, value }, ...]

settings is an array of every non-sensitive row from the settings table, which is also where active_theme itself lives.

Copy the default page you are replacing and keep its interface PageProps. That is the quickest way to see exactly what the controller sends without reading the PHP.

Things worth reusing

You are not limited to your own folder. These are shared and safe to import from any theme.

Import	For
`@/contexts/LanguageContext`	`useTranslation()` for translated copy
`@/contexts/ToastContext`	`useToast()` for notifications
`@/hooks/use-appearance`	Light and dark mode state
`@/components/ui/*`	Checkbox, select, language selector, theme toggle
`@/lib/sanitize`	`createSanitizedSvg()` for operator-supplied SVG
`lucide-react`	Icons used across the app
`framer-motion`	Animation, already a dependency

Run any HTML or SVG that came from a database setting through @/lib/sanitize before rendering it. Operators can paste custom markup into settings, and a theme that renders it raw is an XSS hole.

Test it

Activate the theme

Admin, Settings, Appearance, Client Theme.

Walk every page you overrode

Plus one you did not, to confirm the fallback still works.

Toggle light and dark mode

Then change a colour under Customization, Colors and reload.

Check narrow screens

The default components are responsive. Overrides often are not.

Sign out and back in

Auth pages render without a session, so a prop you assumed exists may be null.

Switch back to Default

Confirm nothing you changed leaked into the default theme.

npm run types      # TypeScript
npm run lint       # ESLint with auto-fix
npm run format     # Prettier

Keeping your theme through updates

Updates replace the application directory. With Keep custom dashboard themes ticked, which is the default (--keep-themes in non-interactive mode), the updater saves your theme folders, puts them back after the new release is unpacked, and only then runs npm run build, so they’re in the new bundle without you doing anything.

A folder with the same name as a theme that ships with DezerX (default, quanta, nodepeak) is replaced by the release’s version, and your changes to it are lost. Never edit a bundled theme in place: copy it to a new folder name and change the copy.

Keep the theme folder in version control as well. It’s a single directory, so restoring it by hand is a copy and an npm run build.

Portal themes vs client themes

Two separate systems with similar names.

Client themes

This page. Folders in resources/js/pages/themes/, selected with the active_theme setting. Restyle the dashboard, market, tickets and auth screens.

Portal themes

Database records (portal_themes) managed under Admin, Customization. Each points at a component path such as resources/js/pages/Portal/Default/welcome.tsx and changes the public landing page.

Activating one has no effect on the other.

When it does not work

What you see	Cause
Theme missing from the settings dropdown	Folder is not directly under `resources/js/pages/themes/`, or you have not rebuilt
Your page is ignored	Filename or path does not match the name core renders. `client/Service/manage` needs `UI/Service/manage.tsx`, case included
Component override ignored	Wrong path under `components/`, wrong export name, or the active theme is `default`
Sidebar and navbar vanished	You set a `layout` on a `UI/` page. Remove it to get `AuthenticatedLayout` back
Looks wrong in dark mode	Hardcoded colours instead of the variables
Works in dev, breaks in production	A new theme folder needs a build. Run `npm run build`
Blank page, console error	Check the `interface PageProps` against the controller. A renamed prop is the usual culprit
Theme gone or reverted after an update	It shares a name with a bundled theme, or Keep custom dashboard themes was unticked
Site went into maintenance after you changed the footer	Starter and Cloud licences need the watermark block. See Overriding components

GETTING STARTED

MAKE YOUR OWN

SPARTAN THEMES

How it works

Create one

What you can override

Layouts come for free

Overriding components

Colours and spacing

What your pages receive

Things worth reusing

Test it

Keeping your theme through updates

Portal themes vs client themes

Client themes

Portal themes

When it does not work

​How it works

​Create one

​What you can override

​Layouts come for free

​Overriding components

​Colours and spacing

​What your pages receive

​Things worth reusing

​Test it

​Keeping your theme through updates

​Portal themes vs client themes

Client themes

Portal themes

​When it does not work

How it works

Create one

What you can override

Layouts come for free

Overriding components

Colours and spacing

What your pages receive

Things worth reusing

Test it

Keeping your theme through updates

Portal themes vs client themes

When it does not work