🧛‍♂️ How to Apply the Dracula Theme to Windows Terminal in 5 Minutes

#webdev #programming #productivity

Customizing your terminal can be a time-consuming task - choosing the right colors, fonts, and UI tweaks that don’t strain your eyes after hours of coding. But you don’t need to start from scratch. There are popular, ready-to-use themes designed specifically for developers.

One of the most beloved themes in the dev community is Dracula. In this quick guide, I’ll show you how to apply the Dracula theme to Windows Terminal in less than 5 minutes.

🧪 Step-by-Step: Installing Dracula on Windows Terminal

1. Go to the Dracula Theme website

Navigate to draculatheme.com and click on Windows Terminal under the list of supported applications.

You'll see a set of icons representing supported apps. Look for the Windows Terminal icon and click it.

2. Open Windows Terminal Settings

Launch Windows Terminal, then click the dropdown arrow in the top menu bar and select Settings.

Or use the shortcut: Ctrl + ,

This opens the graphical settings menu.

3. Open the `settings.json` File

Scroll to the bottom left of the settings UI and click on “Open JSON file”.

Or just press: Ctrl + Shift + ,

This will open the raw settings.json configuration file in your default text editor.

4. Add the Dracula Color Scheme

Search for the "schemes" array in your settings.json. Add the Dracula theme object inside that array:

{
  "name": "Dracula",
  "cursorColor": "#F8F8F2",
  "selectionBackground": "#44475A",
  "background": "#282A36",
  "foreground": "#F8F8F2",
  "black": "#21222C",
  "blue": "#BD93F9",
  "cyan": "#8BE9FD",
  "green": "#50FA7B",
  "purple": "#FF79C6",
  "red": "#FF5555",
  "white": "#F8F8F2",
  "yellow": "#F1FA8C",
  "brightBlack": "#6272A4",
  "brightBlue": "#D6ACFF",
  "brightCyan": "#A4FFFF",
  "brightGreen": "#69FF94",
  "brightPurple": "#FF92DF",
  "brightRed": "#FF6E6E",
  "brightWhite": "#FFFFFF",
  "brightYellow": "#FFFFA5"
}

Make sure this is inside the "schemes": [] array.

5. Set Dracula as the Default Color Scheme

Find the "profiles" section in the same settings.json. It might look like this:

"profiles": [
  // list of profiles
]

Change it to this format to apply the Dracula theme globally:

"profiles": {
  "defaults": {
    "colorScheme": "Dracula"
  },
  "list": [
    // list of profiles
  ]
}

If "profiles" already uses the object format, just add the "defaults" key.

6. Save and Restart Windows Terminal

Once everything is saved, close and reopen Windows Terminal. You should now see the Dracula theme applied beautifully 🎉

✅ Final Result

You’ll now be greeted with a slick dark terminal theme that’s easy on the eyes and highly readable - a small but impactful win for your development workflow.