Video Notes

As of this recording, there is not a setting in ChatGPT’s Mac desktop app to toggle between a light and dark theme. By default, the ChatGPT app instead matches whatever the color theme of your OS is set to, which is adjusted via System Settings > Appearance.

If you want to overwrite this behavior so you can run a dark theme in your OS but a light theme in ChatGPT, run the following command in Terminal:

> defaults write com.openai.chat NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance 1

This command can end with a 1 or 0:

• 1 ChatGPT uses the macOS light mode UI
• 0 ChatGPT follows the system’s dark/light mode settings

After running the above command, restart ChatGPT to see the changes take effect.

Related Commands

Delete the NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance preference:

> defaults delete com.openai.chat NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance

Find out what the NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance preference is currently set to:

> defaults read com.openai.chat NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance