# Referencing Discourse theme color variables in custom theme component?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/referencing-discourse-theme-color-variables-in-custom-theme-component/358352
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** css
**Created:** [March 21, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/referencing-discourse-theme-color-variables-in-custom-theme-component/358352 "2025-03-21T15:42:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jordan-violet](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jordan-violet)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/referencing-discourse-theme-color-variables-in-custom-theme-component/358352/1 "2025-03-21T15:42:10Z")
Is it possible to access Discourse theme color variables in my own theme component?
I’m trying to use variables like `--secondary` in my CSS and it doesn’t seem to be working.
---
### Author:  [@david](https://meta.discourse.org/u/david)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/referencing-discourse-theme-color-variables-in-custom-theme-component/358352/3 "2025-03-21T15:48:41Z")
Yes, you should be able to access core’s native-css variables from a theme or theme component 👍
e.g.
```plaintext
body {
background-color: var(--secondary);
}
```
Could you share an example that’s not working?
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### Author:  [@jordan-violet](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jordan-violet)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/referencing-discourse-theme-color-variables-in-custom-theme-component/358352/4 "2025-03-21T16:16:23Z")
Ah! I wasn’t using `var()`
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2025, 5:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/referencing-discourse-theme-color-variables-in-custom-theme-component/358352/5 "2025-03-21T17:50:05Z")
I have trouble like this all the time. Sure, it’s “obvious” to use `var`, but only if you know and can remember!
i’m waiting for something to run, so out of curiosity I checked [https://ask.discourse.com/](https://ask.discourse.com/) and asked “Is it possible to access Discourse theme color variables in my own theme component?” and lo! I got this:
1. **Available Color Variables** :
Discourse provides several predefined CSS custom properties for colors, such as:
2. **Example Usage** :
You can use these variables in your CSS to ensure your theme adapts to different user-selected color schemes. For instance:
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2025, 5:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/referencing-discourse-theme-color-variables-in-custom-theme-component/358352/6 "2025-04-20T17:50:18Z")
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