Dark Palette is a WordPress plugin that brings native dark mode to modern block themes. Instead of inverting colors or loading alternative stylesheets, it works directly with WordPress’ theme.json color system.

The idea is simple: every color in a theme’s palette can have a custom dark counterpart. When visitors switch to dark mode, the plugin replaces the original palette with the dark one while keeping the site’s design intact. This approach creates a lightweight, accessible and consistent dark mode experience that feels like a natural part of WordPress.

The plugin includes an Appearance Toggle block with Light, Dark and Auto modes, remembers visitors’ preferences and respects their operating system settings. Site owners can define custom dark colors for every palette color, disable dark mode on specific pages, templates or special areas such as search results, archive pages or the login screen, and decide how visitors are informed when dark mode is unavailable.

Dark Palette was developed with the support of ChatGPT. I designed the concept, features, user experience and overall architecture, while ChatGPT helped me translate ideas into working code. It became a great example of how human creativity and AI-assisted development can complement each other to build thoughtful software.