Customizing Terminal Color Schemes in Ubuntu 22.04

Overview

Ubuntu 22.04 ships with GNOME Terminal, which supports custom color profiles. While the built-in options are functional, the open-source community has produced dozens of polished themes that are far easier on the eyes — especially during long sessions.

Built-In Profiles

GNOME Terminal includes a handful of profiles out of the box. Access them via:

Edit > Preferences > Profiles

Profile	Notes
Tango Dark	Default dark option, neutral and plain
Solarized Dark	Warm tones, good contrast — best of the built-ins
Linux	High contrast, retro feel

These are fine starting points, but limited. For more character, install a community theme.

Recommended Community Themes

Theme	Style	Best For
Catppuccin Mocha	Deep dark, warm peach/orange accents	Long sessions, modern aesthetic
Dracula	Dark bg, purple/orange highlights	High contrast, popular ecosystem
One Dark	Atom-inspired, warm ambers on dark	Developers familiar with VS Code/Atom
Nord	Cool blue-grey palette	Minimal, distraction-free work

Option 1: Install via Gogh (Recommended)

Gogh is a community-maintained collection of 200+ terminal themes with a one-line installer.

bash -c "$(wget -qO- https://git.io/vQgMr)"

When prompted, enter the number(s) of the theme(s) you want. Gogh installs them directly as GNOME Terminal profiles — no restart needed.

Option 2: Install Catppuccin Manually

Catppuccin offers four flavors: Latte, Frappe, Macchiato, and Mocha. Mocha is the darkest.

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/catppuccin/gnome-terminal.git
cd gnome-terminal

# Install (requires python3)
./install.py

After running, the Catppuccin profiles will appear in Edit > Preferences > Profiles.

Option 3: Install Dracula Manually

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/dracula/gnome-terminal.git
cd gnome-terminal

# Run the install script
./install.sh

Follow the prompts to select your terminal and profile slot.

Previewing Themes Before Installing

Not sure what you want? Preview schemes in the browser first:

Site	What it offers
terminal.sexy	Interactive preview, import/export, many formats
Gogh on GitHub	Full Gogh catalog with screenshots
catppuccin.com	Catppuccin previews across all flavors and apps
draculatheme.com	Dracula previews across terminals and editors

terminal.sexy is the most useful for side-by-side comparison — switch schemes instantly and preview how syntax highlighting will look.

Applying a Profile

Once installed, set a profile as default:

Open GNOME Terminal
Go to Edit > Preferences
Select your new profile
Click the hamburger menu next to the profile name
Select Set as Default

New terminal windows will open with the selected profile automatically.

Tips

Font matters as much as color. Pair your theme with a Nerd Font (e.g., JetBrains Mono Nerd, FiraCode Nerd) for icon support in tools like lsd, starship, or oh-my-zsh themes.
Transparency can be adjusted per-profile under Edit > Preferences > [Profile] > Colors — subtle transparency (10–15%) softens the look without hurting readability.
Catppuccin and Dracula both have matching themes for VS Code, vim/neovim, and other tools, making it easy to keep a consistent look across your entire environment.