Rspress custom theme

Guide for customizing Rspress (v2) themes. Rspress offers four levels of customization, from lightest to heaviest. Always prefer the lightest approach that meets the requirement — lighter approaches are more maintainable and survive Rspress upgrades.

Workflow

1. Understand the user's goal — what do they want to change? (colors, layout, inject content, replace a component entirely?)
2. Pick the right level using the decision flow below
3. Set up theme/index.tsx if needed (Levels 1A, 3, 4 all need it)
4. Implement following the patterns in this skill and reference files
5. Verify the user's Rspress version is v2 (imports use @rspress/core/* not rspress/*)

Decision flow

theme/index.tsx — The entry point

Levels 1A, 3, and 4 all require a theme/index.tsx file in the project root (sibling to docs/). This is the single entry point for all theme customizations:

project/
├── docs/
├── theme/
│   ├── index.tsx        # Theme entry — re-exports + overrides
│   ├── index.css         # CSS variable / BEM overrides (optional)
│   └── components/       # Ejected components (Level 4)
└── rspress.config.ts

Minimal setup:

// theme/index.tsx
import './index.css'; // optional
export * from '@rspress/core/theme-original';

Critical import rule: Inside theme/ files, always import from @rspress/core/theme-original. The path @rspress/core/theme resolves to your own theme/index.tsx, which causes circular imports. (In docs/ MDX files, @rspress/core/theme is fine — it correctly points to your custom theme.)

Level 1: CSS variables

Override CSS custom properties for brand colors, backgrounds, text, code blocks, and more.

Option A — theme/index.css (use when you also have component overrides in theme/index.tsx):

/* theme/index.css */
:root {
  --rp-c-brand: #7c3aed;
  --rp-c-brand-light: #8b5cf6;
  --rp-c-brand-dark: #6d28d9;
}
.dark {
  --rp-c-brand: #a78bfa;
}

Option B — globalStyles (use when you only need CSS changes, no component overrides):

// rspress.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  globalStyles: path.join(__dirname, 'styles/custom.css'),
});

Full variable list: Read references/css-variables.md for all available CSS variables with light/dark defaults.

Level 2: BEM class overrides

All built-in components follow BEM naming: .rp-[component]__[element]--[modifier].

Common targets: .rp-nav, .rp-link, .rp-tabs, .rp-codeblock, .rp-codeblock__title, .rp-nav-menu__item--active.

Use these in your CSS file for targeted style changes when CSS variables aren't granular enough.

Level 3: wrap (Layout Slots)

Inject content at specific positions in the layout without replacing built-in components. Override Layout in theme/index.tsx:

// theme/index.tsx
import { Layout as OriginalLayout } from '@rspress/core/theme-original';
export * from '@rspress/core/theme-original';

export function Layout() {
  return (
    <OriginalLayout beforeNavTitle={<MyLogo />} bottom={<CustomFooter />} />
  );
}

Use runtime hooks inside slot components — import from @rspress/core/runtime: useDark(), useLang(), useVersion(), usePage(), useSite(), useFrontmatter(), useI18n().

All slots & examples: Read references/layout-slots.md for the complete slot list and usage patterns including i18n and MDX component overrides.

Level 4: eject

Copy a built-in component's source for full replacement. Only use when wrap/slots cannot achieve the customization.

rspress eject           # list available components
rspress eject DocFooter # eject to theme/components/DocFooter/

Then re-export in theme/index.tsx (named export takes precedence over the wildcard):

export * from '@rspress/core/theme-original';
export { DocFooter } from './components/DocFooter';

Component list & patterns: Read references/eject-components.md for available components, workflow, and common patterns.

Custom icons

Rspress has 27 built-in icons used across the UI. You can replace any of them by re-exporting your own icon component with the same name — no ejection needed. This uses the same theme/index.tsx mechanism: your named export takes precedence over the wildcard re-export.

Icon type: Each icon is a React component or a URL string:

import type { FC, SVGProps } from 'react';
type Icon = FC<SVGProps<SVGSVGElement>> | string;

Example 1 — Replace an icon with a custom SVG component:

// theme/index.tsx
export * from '@rspress/core/theme-original';

// Named export overrides the wildcard — replaces the GitHub icon site-wide
export const IconGithub = (props: React.SVGProps<SVGSVGElement>) => (
  <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" {...props}>
    <path d="M12 2C6.477 2 2 6.484 2 12.017c0 ..." fill="currentColor" />
  </svg>
);

Example 2 — Use an SVGR import:

// theme/index.tsx
export * from '@rspress/core/theme-original';

import CustomGithubIcon from './icons/github.svg?react';
export const IconGithub = CustomGithubIcon;

Using SvgWrapper in MDX or custom components:

import { SvgWrapper, IconGithub } from '@rspress/core/theme';

<SvgWrapper icon={IconGithub} width={24} height={24} />

Available icons: IconArrowDown, IconArrowRight, IconClose, IconCopy, IconDeprecated, IconDown, IconEdit, IconEmpty, IconExperimental, IconExternalLink, IconFile, IconGithub, IconGitlab, IconHeader, IconJump, IconLink, IconLoading, IconMenu, IconMoon, IconScrollToTop, IconSearch, IconSmallMenu, IconSuccess, IconSun, IconTitle, IconWrap, IconWrapped.

Source: See the icons source for default implementations.

Global UI components

For components that should render on every page without theme overrides:

// rspress.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  globalUIComponents: [
    path.join(__dirname, 'components', 'BackToTop.tsx'),
    [
      path.join(__dirname, 'components', 'Analytics.tsx'),
      { trackingId: '...' },
    ],
  ],
});

Page types

Control layout per page via frontmatter pageType:

Fine-grained: set navbar: false, sidebar: false, outline: false, footer: false individually.

Common pitfalls

• Circular import: Using @rspress/core/theme instead of @rspress/core/theme-original in theme/ files — causes infinite loop.
• Eject over-use: Ejecting when a Layout slot or CSS variable would suffice — creates upgrade burden.
• Missing re-export: Forgetting export * from '@rspress/core/theme-original' in theme/index.tsx — breaks all un-overridden components.
• v1 imports: Using rspress/theme or @rspress/theme-default — these are v1 paths. v2 uses @rspress/core/theme-original.

Reference

• Custom theme guide: https://rspress.rs/guide/basic/custom-theme
• CSS variables: https://rspress.rs/ui/vars
• Layout component: https://rspress.rs/ui/layout-components/layout
• Built-in icons: https://rspress.rs/ui/icons/
• Built-in hooks: https://rspress.rs/ui/hooks/
• CLI commands (eject): https://rspress.rs/api/commands