Customize Terminal Themes and Colors in macOS 13

Yes, you can fully customize Terminal window themes and color palettes in macOS 13 Ventura. The operating system provides native settings within the Terminal application that allow you to modify background colors, window opacity, text styling, and the full standard 16-color ANSI palette. This guide outlines the exact steps to select pre-installed profiles, customize your own color schemes, and set them as defaults for all future sessions.

Accessing Terminal Settings

To begin customizing the appearance of the Terminal app:

  1. Open Terminal on your Mac (via Spotlight or Finder > Applications > Utilities).
  2. Click Terminal in the top menu bar and select Settings... (or press Command + ,).
  3. Click on the Profiles tab at the top of the settings window.

Selecting and Creating Themes

The Profiles tab lists several pre-configured themes (such as Basic, Pro, Silver, and Homebrew) on the left sidebar.

  • To preview a theme: Click on any profile in the list.
  • To duplicate an existing theme: Select a profile, click the three dots icon (or the gear icon) at the bottom of the list, and select Duplicate Profile. This preserves the original preset while allowing you to edit the duplicate.
  • To create a brand-new theme: Click the Add (+) button at the bottom of the list.

Customizing Colors, Fonts, and Opacity

Once you have selected the profile you want to customize, use the tabs on the right side of the window:

1. Text and ANSI Colors

  • Go to the Text tab.
  • Font: Click Change next to Font to adjust the typeface, style, and size.
  • Standard Colors: Click the color boxes next to Text, Bold Text, Selection, and Cursor to open the macOS Color Picker and select custom colors.
  • ANSI Colors: Scroll down to the ANSI Colors section. Click any of the 16 standard and high-intensity color blocks to customize the specific palette used by command-line utilities and scripts.

2. Background and Transparency

  • Go to the Window tab.
  • Background: Click the Color & Components box under the Background section.
  • Opacity and Blur: In the macOS Color Picker, adjust the Opacity slider to make your Terminal window translucent, and adjust the Blur slider to change the amount of background blur behind the window.

Setting Your New Theme as Default

To ensure your new appearance loads automatically every time you launch Terminal:

  1. Select your customized profile from the sidebar list.
  2. Click the Default button at the bottom of the profiles list.
  3. The selected profile will now be marked as "Default" and will be applied to all newly opened Terminal windows and tabs.

To apply your changes to an already open Terminal window immediately, navigate to the top menu bar, select Shell > New Window (or New Tab), and choose your customized profile from the list.