OrchardCore Theme Creator

This skill guides you through creating new OrchardCore themes following project conventions.

Prerequisites

OrchardCore repository at D:\orchardcore
.NET SDK 10.0+ installed
Node.js 22.x and Yarn 4.x (for asset compilation)

Theme Creation Workflow

Step 1: Create Theme Directory

mkdir src/OrchardCore.Themes/YourTheme
cd src/OrchardCore.Themes/YourTheme

Step 2: Create Required Files

Every theme needs these files:

Manifest.cs - Theme metadata
YourTheme.csproj - Project file
Views/Layout.cshtml - Main layout
Views/_ViewImports.cshtml - Razor imports

Step 3: Create Manifest.cs

using OrchardCore.DisplayManagement.Manifest;
using OrchardCore.Modules.Manifest;

[assembly: Theme(
    Name = "Your Theme",
    Author = ManifestConstants.OrchardCoreTeam,
    Website = ManifestConstants.OrchardCoreWebsite,
    Version = ManifestConstants.OrchardCoreVersion,
    Description = "Your theme description."
)]

Extending a base theme:

[assembly: Theme(
    Name = "Your Theme",
    BaseTheme = "TheBlogTheme",  // Inherit from base
    // ... other properties
)]

Step 4: Create Project File

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Razor">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <AddRazorSupportForMvc>true</AddRazorSupportForMvc>
    <Title>Your Theme</Title>
    <Description>Your theme description.</Description>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <FrameworkReference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore.App" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <ProjectReference Include="..\..\OrchardCore\OrchardCore.Theme.Targets\OrchardCore.Theme.Targets.csproj" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

Step 5: Create Layout

Create Views/Layout.cshtml:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="@Orchard.CultureName()">
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <title>@RenderTitleSegments(Site.SiteName, "before")</title>
    <resources type="StyleSheet" />
</head>
<body>
    <zone Name="Header" />
    <main>
        <zone Name="Messages" />
        <zone Name="Content" />
    </main>
    <zone Name="Footer" />
    <resources type="FootScript" />
</body>
</html>

Step 6: Add Assets (Optional)

Create asset structure:

Assets/
├── scss/site.scss
├── js/site.js
└── package.json
Assets.json

See references/assets.md for configuration details.

Step 7: Build and Activate

# Build theme
cd D:\orchardcore
dotnet build src/OrchardCore.Themes/YourTheme

# Build assets (if added)
yarn && yarn build

# Run application
cd src/OrchardCore.Cms.Web
dotnet run -f net10.0

# Activate theme in Admin → Design → Themes

Quick Reference

Available Zones

Zone	Purpose
`Header`	Site header
`Navigation`	Main menu
`Messages`	Alerts/notifications
`Content`	Main content
`Sidebar`	Side widgets
`Footer`	Site footer

Base Themes

Theme	Description
`TheBlogTheme`	Blog template
`TheAdmin`	Admin UI
`TheAgencyTheme`	Business template

Naming Conventions

Item	Convention
Theme folder	`YourThemeName` (PascalCase)
Namespace	`YourThemeName`
CSS file	`site.css`
JS file	`site.js`

References

references/theme-structure.md - Directory layout and templates
references/assets.md - SCSS, JS, and asset pipeline
AGENTS.md (repo root) - Build commands

orchardcore-theme-creator