Stylised (pixellated) picture of Zander

Code Notes

Disable dark mode for specific Mac apps

First, get the bundle identifier for the app that you want to turn off dark mode.

osascript -e 'id of app "{app name}"'

# e.g.
osascript -e 'id of app "Dash"' # com.kapeli.dashdoc
osascript -e 'id of app "Chrome"' # com.google.Chrome

Then run

defaults write {package.name} NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool Yes

# e.g.
defaults write com.kapeli.dashdoc NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool Yes
defaults write com.google.Chrome NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool Yes

If you wish to restore the app’s theme to its default configuration then run the below command. Doing so will re-enable the dark mode for the particular app.

defaults write {package.name} NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool no

# e.g.
defaults write com.kapeli.dashdoc NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool no
defaults write com.google.Chrome NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance -bool no

# or
defaults delete com.google.Chrome NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance

Alternatively, use the Nightowl app to have this control in an easier way