# Appearance and branding

> Configure theme, colors, logo, favicon, fonts, and background in docs.json to control the visual identity of your documentation site.

Use these `docs.json` settings to control your documentation site's visual identity—layout theme, brand colors, logo, typography, and background.

## Settings

### `theme` - required

The layout theme for your site.

One of: `mint`, `maple`, `palm`, `willow`, `linden`, `almond`, `aspen`, `sequoia`, `luma`.

See [Themes](/guides/customize-themes) for previews and details.

***

### `name` - required

**Type:** `string`

The name of your project, organization, or product. Appears in the browser tab title and other places throughout your site.

***

### `colors` - required

**Type:** `object`

The colors used in your documentation. Colors appear differently across themes. If you only provide a primary color, it applies to all color elements.

- `colors.primary` (string, required) — The primary color for your documentation. Generally used for emphasis in light mode, with some variation by theme.

Must be a hex code beginning with `#`. Example: `"#0D9373"`.

- `colors.light` (string) — The color used for emphasis in dark mode.

Must be a hex code beginning with `#`.

- `colors.dark` (string) — The color used for buttons and hover states across both light and dark modes, with some variation by theme.

Must be a hex code beginning with `#`.

```json docs.json theme={null}
"colors": {
  "primary": "#0D9373",
  "light": "#55D799",
  "dark": "#0D9373"
}
```

***

### `logo`

**Type:** `string` or `object`

Your site logo. Provide a single image path or separate images for light and dark mode.

- `logo.light` (string, required) — Path to your logo file for light mode. Include the file extension. Example: `/logo/light.svg`.

- `logo.dark` (string, required) — Path to your logo file for dark mode. Include the file extension. Example: `/logo/dark.svg`.

- `logo.href` (string (uri)) — The URL to redirect to when clicking the logo. If not provided, the logo links to the first page of the currently selected locale for [internationalized docs](/guides/guides-internationalization), or to your homepage for single-language sites. Example: `https://yoursite.com`.

```json docs.json theme={null}
"logo": {
  "light": "/logo/light.svg",
  "dark": "/logo/dark.svg",
  "href": "https://yoursite.com"
}
```

***

### `favicon`

**Type:** `string` or `object`

Path to your favicon file, including the file extension. Automatically resized to appropriate favicon sizes. Provide a single file or separate files for light and dark mode.

- `favicon.light` (string, required) — Path to your favicon for light mode. Include the file extension. Example: `/favicon.png`.

- `favicon.dark` (string, required) — Path to your favicon for dark mode. Include the file extension. Example: `/favicon-dark.png`.

```json docs.json theme={null}
"favicon": "/favicon.svg"
```

***

### `appearance`

**Type:** `object`

Light/dark mode settings.

- `appearance.default` ("system" | "light" | "dark") — Default color mode. Choose `system` to match the user's OS setting, or `light` or `dark` to force a specific mode. Defaults to `system`.

- `appearance.strict` (boolean) — When `true`, hides the light/dark mode toggle so users cannot switch modes. Defaults to `false`.

```json docs.json theme={null}
"appearance": {
  "default": "dark",
  "strict": true
}
```

***

### `fonts`

**Type:** `object`

Custom fonts for your documentation. The default font varies by theme. Supports [Google Fonts](https://fonts.google.com) and self-hosted fonts.

- `fonts.family` (string, required) — Font family name, such as `"Inter"` or `"Open Sans"`. Supports [Google Fonts](https://fonts.google.com) family names—these load automatically without a `source` required.

- `fonts.weight` (number) — Font weight, such as `400` or `700`. Variable fonts support fractional weights such as `550`.

- `fonts.source` (string (uri)) — URL to a hosted font or a path to a local font file. Not needed for Google Fonts.

* Hosted: `https://example.com/fonts/MyFont.woff2`
* Local: `/fonts/MyFont.woff2`

- `fonts.format` ("woff" | "woff2") — Font file format. Required when using the `source` field.

- `fonts.heading` (object) — Override font settings for headings only.

Accepts the same `family`, `weight`, `source`, and `format` fields as the top-level `fonts` object.

- `fonts.body` (object) — Override font settings for body text only.

Accepts the same `family`, `weight`, `source`, and `format` fields as the top-level `fonts` object.

```json docs.json theme={null}
"fonts": {
  "family": "Inter",
  "heading": {
    "family": "Playfair Display"
  }
}
```

***

### `icons`

**Type:** `object`

Icon library settings. You can only use one icon library per project. All icon names in your docs must come from the selected library.

- `icons.library` ("fontawesome" | "lucide" | "tabler", required) — Icon library to use throughout your documentation. Defaults to `fontawesome`.

:::callout{intent="note"}
You can specify a URL to an externally hosted icon or a path to an icon file in your project for any individual icon, regardless of the library setting.
:::

```json docs.json theme={null}
"icons": {
  "library": "lucide"
}
```

***

### `background`

**Type:** `object`

Background image, decoration, and color settings.

- `background.decoration` ("gradient" | "grid" | "windows") — A decorative background pattern for your theme.

- `background.color` (object) — Custom background colors for light and dark modes.

:::accordion{title="background.color"}
* `light` (string) — Background color for light mode. Must be a hex code beginning with `#`.

  - `dark` (string) — Background color for dark mode. Must be a hex code beginning with `#`.
:::

- `background.image` (string or object) — Background image for your site. Provide a single path or separate paths for light and dark mode.

:::accordion{title="background.image"}
* `light` (string, required) — Path to your background image for light mode. Example: `/background.png`.

  - `dark` (string, required) — Path to your background image for dark mode. Example: `/background-dark.png`.
:::

```json docs.json theme={null}
"background": {
  "decoration": "gradient",
  "color": {
    "light": "#F8FAFC",
    "dark": "#0F172A"
  }
}
```

***

### `styling`

**Type:** `object`

Fine-grained visual styling controls.

- `styling.eyebrows` ("section" | "breadcrumbs") — The style of the page eyebrow (the label shown at the top of the page). Choose `section` to show the section name or `breadcrumbs` to show the full navigation path. Defaults to `section`.

- `styling.latex` (boolean) — Controls whether LaTeX stylesheets load. By default, Mintlify automatically detects LaTeX usage in your content and loads the necessary stylesheets.

* Set to `true` to force-load LaTeX stylesheets when auto-detection fails.
* Set to `false` to prevent loading LaTeX stylesheets for better performance if you don't use math expressions.

- `styling.codeblocks` ("system" | "dark" | string | object) — Code block theme. Defaults to `"system"`.

* `"system"`: Matches the current site mode (light or dark)
* `"dark"`: Always uses dark mode
* A [Shiki theme](https://shiki.style/themes) name string: applies that theme to all code blocks
* An object with `light` and `dark` keys: applies separate Shiki themes per mode

::::accordion{title="styling.codeblocks object"}
- `theme` (string) — A single Shiki theme for both modes.

```json theme={null}
"styling": {
  "codeblocks": {
    "theme": "dracula"
  }
}
```

- `theme` (object) — Separate Shiki themes for light and dark modes.

:::accordion{title="theme"}
* `light` (string, required) — Shiki theme name for light mode.

  - `dark` (string, required) — Shiki theme name for dark mode.
:::

```json theme={null}
"styling": {
  "codeblocks": {
    "theme": {
      "light": "github-light",
      "dark": "github-dark"
    }
  }
}
```

- `languages` (object) — Custom language configuration for code blocks.

:::accordion{title="languages"}
* `custom` (array of string) — Paths to JSON files describing custom Shiki languages. Use this to add syntax highlighting for languages not in Shiki's default set. Each file must follow the [TextMate grammar format](https://macromates.com/manual/en/language_grammars).

```json theme={null}
"styling": {
  "codeblocks": {
    "languages": {
      "custom": ["/languages/my-language.json"]
    }
  }
}
```
:::
::::

***

### `thumbnails`

**Type:** `object`

Thumbnail customization for social media and page previews.

- `thumbnails.appearance` ("light" | "dark") — Visual theme for thumbnails. If not set, thumbnails use your site's color scheme defined by `colors`.

- `thumbnails.background` (string) — Background image for thumbnails. Can be a relative path or absolute URL.

- `thumbnails.fonts` (object) — Font configuration for thumbnails. Only supports Google Fonts family names.

:::accordion{title="thumbnails.fonts"}
* `family` (string, required) — Font family name, such as `"Open Sans"` or `"Playfair Display"`. Supports [Google Fonts](https://fonts.google.com) family names.
:::

## Example

```json docs.json theme={null}
{
  "$schema": "https://mintlify.com/docs.json",
  "theme": "maple",
  "name": "Example Co.",
  "colors": {
    "primary": "#3B82F6",
    "light": "#93C5FD",
    "dark": "#1D4ED8"
  },
  "logo": {
    "light": "/logo/light.svg",
    "dark": "/logo/dark.svg",
    "href": "https://example.com"
  },
  "favicon": "/favicon.svg",
  "appearance": {
    "default": "system"
  },
  "fonts": {
    "family": "Inter"
  },
  "icons": {
    "library": "lucide"
  },
  "background": {
    "decoration": "gradient"
  }
}
```

## Related topics

- [docs.json schema reference](/docs/organize/settings-reference.md)
- [Global settings](/docs/organize/settings.md)
- [Themes](/docs/customize/themes.md)

## Related pages

- [Ai](./ai-index.md)
- [Analytics overview](./analytics-index.md)
- [Api](./api-index.md)
- [Api playground](./api-playground-index.md)
- [Assistant](./assistant-index.md)
- [Automations overview](./automations-index.md)
- [Components overview](./components-index.md)
- [Create](./create-index.md)
- [Customize](./customize-index.md)
- [Dashboard](./dashboard-index.md)

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