Dark Mode Is Coming to Adobe Express: What Add-on Developers Need to Know

Adobe Express is adding dark mode to the application experience — one of the most requested customization and accessibility features from our users.

This update gives creators the flexibility to choose the experience that best fits their workflow and environment, whether they prefer a lighter workspace or a darker interface for extended creative sessions.

For add-on developers, this is an important update as well. The theme APIs used to detect the active theme will evolve to support both light and dark modes, so add-ons can respond to the user’s selected theme and create a more comfortable and cohesive experience across Adobe Express.

What this means for add-on developers

While dark mode support won’t be a mandatory requirement, we strongly encourage developers to start thinking about how their add-ons look and behave in both light and dark themes, especially if your add-on depends on theme-specific UI behavior.

When a user is working in dark mode, an add-on that also adapts to the selected theme will feel more integrated with the overall Adobe Express experience. Conversely, an add-on that remains in light mode only may appear visually inconsistent with the surrounding application.

We want to give developers time to test and validate their experiences before making any changes. Existing add-ons in the marketplace will continue to work in light mode but if you want your add-on to support dark mode too, you will need to update it.

Dark mode will be available for local add-ons as soon as it’s available in Adobe Express. Once you have made your add-on dark-mode compatible, please resubmit it after one month of the Adobe Express release.

Building theme-ready add-ons

One of the best ways to prepare for dark mode is to use Spectrum Web Components (SWC) when building or modernizing your add-on UI.

Spectrum Web Components are designed to work with Adobe’s design system and theming capabilities, including dark mode. In many cases, they can reduce the amount of custom styling you need and make it easier to maintain a consistent experience over time.

To see this in practice, take a look at the existing SWC sample add-on in this repository. It’s a basic demo that shows how to use Spectrum Web Components without React, and its README specifically notes theme handling with sp-theme.

What to do next

Whether you’re building a new add-on or maintaining an existing one, now is the right time to review how your experience behaves in both light and dark themes.

Validate your UI across both themes and ensure the experience remains usable, readable, and visually consistent. Check contrast, readability, and component behavior, and make sure your add-on still feels natural within Adobe Express. Then resubmit when you are ready to support the new theme behavior in the marketplace.

We will continue to share documentation, examples, and guidance to help you prepare. For the latest technical details, keep an eye on the developer documentation as the rollout progresses.