---
title: Customization
description: Learn how to customize the Chakra UI theme
---

## Overview

Chakra UI uses a system of configs to define the default styling system.

- `defaultBaseConfig`: contains the conditions and style properties (without
  tokens and recipes).
- `defaultConfig`: everything from `defaultBaseConfig` plus the built-in tokens
  and recipes.

The `defaultSystem` exported from Chakra UI uses the `defaultConfig` by default.

When customizing the theme, it's important to decide if you want to merge your
config with `defaultConfig` or start from scratch with `defaultBaseConfig`.

## Customization

These are the key functions needed to customize the Chakra UI theme.

- `defineConfig`: used to define the system config
- `createSystem`: used to create a styling engine from the config

```tsx title="theme.ts"
import { createSystem, defaultConfig, defineConfig } from "@chakra-ui/react"

const config = defineConfig({
  theme: {
    tokens: {
      colors: {
        brand: {
          "500": { value: "tomato" },
        },
      },
    },
  },
})

export const system = createSystem(defaultConfig, config)
```

Next, update the `ChakraProvider` to use the custom system.

```tsx title="provider.tsx"
import { ChakraProvider } from "@chakra-ui/react"
import { ThemeProvider } from "next-themes"
import { system } from "./theme"

export function Provider(props: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <ChakraProvider value={system}>
      <ThemeProvider attribute="class">{props.children}</ThemeProvider>
    </ChakraProvider>
  )
}
```

## Complete Customization

In most cases, we recommend starting with the default configuration and only
specify the things you want to customize.

However, if you prefer to start from scratch, scaffold the default tokens and
recipes using the CLI.

```bash
npx @chakra-ui/cli eject --outdir ./theme
```

This will generate a file that includes all the tokens and recipes in Chakra.

## TypeScript

After customizing the default config, you may need to update the types.

```bash
npx @chakra-ui/cli typegen ./theme.ts
```
