Zotero night theme guide

Skill brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills/skills/43-wentorai-research-plugins/skills/tools/document/zotero-night-theme-guide

Dark mode theme plugin for Zotero reference managerFrom its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill zotero-night-theme-guide

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

One thing to look at

no licenseNo license file was found in the repository. Code published without one is not open source by default, so using it at work is a question for whoever answers licensing questions where you are.

SKILL.md

3.4 KB, 851 tokens by cl100k_base, as published. Nobody here has run it

Zotero Night Theme Guide

Overview

Zotero Night is a dark mode theme plugin for Zotero that transforms the entire UI — library view, PDF reader, note editor, and preferences — into a comfortable dark interface. Reduces eye strain during long reading sessions and matches system-wide dark mode preferences. Works with Zotero 7 and integrates with other Zotero plugins.

Installation

# Download latest .xpi from GitHub releases
# In Zotero 7: Tools → Add-ons → Install Add-on From File

# Or via Zotero Plugin Market
# Search "Zotero Night" in zotero-addons marketplace

Configuration

### Settings (Tools → Zotero Night)

**Theme Mode:**
- Dark — Always dark
- Light — Always light
- System — Follow OS dark/light mode
- Schedule — Dark between custom hours

**PDF Reader:**
- Dark background with inverted text
- Sepia mode for reduced blue light
- Custom brightness/contrast
- Preserve figure colors (don't invert images)

**Colors:**
- Background: customizable (default #1E1E1E)
- Text: customizable (default #D4D4D4)
- Accent: customizable (matches Zotero theme)
- Link color: customizable

Theme Variants

/* Built-in theme presets */

/* Default Dark */
--background: #1E1E1E;
--surface: #252526;
--text: #D4D4D4;
--text-secondary: #808080;
--accent: #007ACC;
--border: #3C3C3C;

/* OLED Dark */
--background: #000000;
--surface: #121212;
--text: #E0E0E0;

/* Nord */
--background: #2E3440;
--surface: #3B4252;
--text: #ECEFF4;
--accent: #88C0D0;

/* Solarized Dark */
--background: #002B36;
--surface: #073642;
--text: #839496;
--accent: #268BD2;

PDF Reader Dark Mode

### How It Works
1. Applies CSS filter to PDF viewer canvas
2. Inverts luminance while preserving hue
3. Special handling for:
   - Figures/images: excluded from inversion
   - Highlighted text: color preserved
   - Annotations: maintain original colors
   - Links: distinct clickable appearance

### Settings
- Brightness: 80-120% (adjustable)
- Contrast: 90-110% (adjustable)
- Invert images: on/off (default off)
- Sepia filter: 0-100% (for warm tones)

Integration with Other Plugins

### Compatible Plugins
- **Zotero Style** — Custom columns work in dark mode
- **Zotero PDF Translate** — Translation overlay themed
- **Better BibTeX** — Citation dialog themed
- **Zotero Actions Tags** — Tag colors adapt to dark background

### CSS Customization
For advanced users, override via userChrome.css:
  Zotero profile → chrome/userChrome.css

Scheduled Dark Mode

{
  "schedule": {
    "enabled": true,
    "darkStart": "18:00",
    "darkEnd": "07:00",
    "useSystemSunrise": true,
    "transition": "gradual"
  }
}

Use Cases

Night reading: Comfortable PDF reading in low light
Eye health: Reduce blue light and screen glare
Consistency: Match OS/IDE dark mode preferences
Long sessions: Extended literature review comfort
Presentation: Professional dark UI for screen sharing

References

What ships with it

Read from the repository

Just SKILL.md. No reference files, no scripts.