Type of Request
Product Proposal (larger features)
Feature Description
Overview
Introduce a system-wide dark theme across the Open edX Learner, Studio, and Instructor experiences, with automatic OS-preference detection and a manual toggle saved to the user's profile. It applies consistently across all MFEs, excluding legacy (non-MFE) functionality.
Problem
Learners and authors often spend hours per session on a light-only interface, causing eye strain in low light and clashing with the dark themes most users already run at the OS or browser level. The absence of dark mode also makes Open edX feel dated next to peer platforms.
A dark theme already exists via the Tutor Indigo plugin, but Indigo is a downstream theme plugin, not a platform-level capability. It has structural limits: partial MFE coverage, gaps in iframes/embedded content, browser-local persistence, and no first-class platform integration.
This proposal instead treats dark mode as a capability of Paragon and the MFEs themselves, so coverage is broad, the preference follows the user across devices, and operators inherit a working theme without maintaining a custom fork. Mobile (iOS/Android) already ships dark mode, so the web side is currently inconsistent; this proposal is the natural web counterpart to the existing mobile design-tokens work.
Link to Product Proposal
https://openedx.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/OEPM/pages/6426853377/Proposal+Dark+theme+for+Open+edX+platform
Status
New
Proposed By
Raccoon gang
Type of Request
Product Proposal (larger features)
Feature Description
Overview
Introduce a system-wide dark theme across the Open edX Learner, Studio, and Instructor experiences, with automatic OS-preference detection and a manual toggle saved to the user's profile. It applies consistently across all MFEs, excluding legacy (non-MFE) functionality.
Problem
Learners and authors often spend hours per session on a light-only interface, causing eye strain in low light and clashing with the dark themes most users already run at the OS or browser level. The absence of dark mode also makes Open edX feel dated next to peer platforms.
A dark theme already exists via the Tutor Indigo plugin, but Indigo is a downstream theme plugin, not a platform-level capability. It has structural limits: partial MFE coverage, gaps in iframes/embedded content, browser-local persistence, and no first-class platform integration.
This proposal instead treats dark mode as a capability of Paragon and the MFEs themselves, so coverage is broad, the preference follows the user across devices, and operators inherit a working theme without maintaining a custom fork. Mobile (iOS/Android) already ships dark mode, so the web side is currently inconsistent; this proposal is the natural web counterpart to the existing mobile design-tokens work.
Link to Product Proposal
https://openedx.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/OEPM/pages/6426853377/Proposal+Dark+theme+for+Open+edX+platform
Status
New
Proposed By
Raccoon gang