Aurora Theme for Flarum

An aurora-inspired theme for Flarum featuring animated

gradient backdrops, glassmorphic panels, glowing accents, and a dark night-sky

palette.

Flarum 1.x users: this branch targets Flarum 2.0. For Flarum 1.8.x see the

1.x branch.

Screenshots

Forum index

Animated aurora backdrop, glassmorphic discussion cards, gradient text on unread titles,

a glowing pill for unread counts, stat widgets inside the welcome hero, and the

user-facing palette picker popover (shown open).

Discussion view

Glassy posts with gradient usernames, accent-bordered blockquotes, themed inline code

and code blocks, and gradient-glow avatars.

Admin settings

Live color swatches, a gradient preview, and toggles for glassmorphism, glow, and

background animation.

Highlights

• Animated aurora backdrop — drifting radial gradients in violet, cyan,

  teal, pink, and magenta on a deep night-sky base.

• User palette picker — a circular gradient button in the header opens a

  popover with six presets (Aurora, Sunset, Ocean, Forest, Nebula, Ember).

  Choice persists per-visitor via localStorage and applies instantly.

• Hero widgets — Members, Discussions, Posts, and Online-now stat tiles

  embedded inside the welcome hero, with live trend lines.

• Glassmorphic surfaces — frosted header, sidebar, discussion cards,

  composer, modals, and dropdowns.

• Gradient buttons & badges — primary buttons shimmer; unread counts pulse

  with a cool glow.

• Glowing avatars & focus rings — soft cyan/pink halos on hover and focus.

• Gradient scrollbar & text — gradient-clipped headings, usernames, and

  scrollbar thumb.

• Configurable — admin settings for gradient colors, accent color, and

  toggles for glassmorphism, glow, and background animation.

• Accessible — honors prefers-reduced-motion, visible focus rings.

Palette presets

| Preset | Gradient |

| ------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |

| Aurora | #7c3aed → #4f46e5 → #22d3ee → #14b8a6 (default) |

| Sunset | #f97316 → #f43f5e → #d946ef → #7c3aed |

| Ocean | #1e40af → #3b82f6 → #06b6d4 → #22d3ee |

| Forest | #15803d → #10b981 → #22d3ee → #0ea5e9 |

| Nebula | #a855f7 → #d946ef → #6366f1 → #3b82f6 |

| Ember | #b91c1c → #ea580c → #f59e0b → #fbbf24 |

Add or override a preset by extending PALETTES in js/src/forum/palettes.js.

Installation

composer require ernestdefoe/aurora

Then enable Aurora Theme under Admin → Extensions.

Configuration

Open Admin → Extensions → Aurora Theme to customize:

| Setting | Default | Description |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Primary gradient — start | #7c3aed | First color of the primary gradient. |

| Primary gradient — end | #22d3ee | Last color of the primary gradient. |

| Accent color | #f472b6 | Warm accent used for hover halos. |

| Enable glassmorphism | on | Frosted-glass panels with backdrop blur. |

| Enable glow effects | on | Soft glows on hover, focus, and unread items. |

| Animate aurora background | on | Drifting gradient blobs in the backdrop. |

Development

cd aurora/js
npm install
npm run build      # production bundle
npm run dev        # watch mode```

### Project layout

```extend.php              Flarum extension bootstrap
composer.json           Package manifest
less/
  forum.less            Forum-facing styles
  admin.less            Admin-facing styles
  variables.less        Color palette, radii, easings
  mixins.less           .aurora-glass, .aurora-text-gradient, ...
  animations.less       drift, shimmer, pulse, float, fade-up
js/
  forum.js, admin.js          Webpack entry points
  src/forum/index.js          Frontend bootstrap: settings, scroll header, ripple
  src/forum/palettes.js       Palette presets + apply/load/store helpers
  src/forum/palette-picker.js Header button + popover injection
  src/forum/hero-widgets.js   Welcome-hero stat tiles
  src/admin/index.js          Admin entrypoint (re-exports extend)
  src/admin/extend.js         Flarum 2 Admin extender — settings registry
  dist/                       Compiled bundles (committed)
resources/locale/
  en.yml                English admin strings```

## Compatibility

* Flarum core `^2.0.0-beta` (built against `2.0.0-rc.1`)
* PHP `^8.3`
* Modern browsers with `backdrop-filter` support. Older browsers gracefully

  degrade to solid dark surfaces.

Need Flarum 1.x? Switch to the `1.x`

branch — it targets `flarum/core ^1.8.0` and uses the legacy `app.extensionData`

settings API.

## License

[MIT](https://github.com/ernestdefoe/aurora/blob/main/LICENSE) © Ernest Defoe

aurora 2.0.0

No release notes provided.

View release on GitHub

aurora 1.0.0

No release notes provided.

View release on GitHub

aurora 2.0.1

No release notes provided.

View release on GitHub

aurora 1.0.1

No release notes provided.

View release on GitHub

aurora 1.0.1

What's Changed

• Rename package to ernestdefoe/aurora
• Fix boot crash + serialize settings to forum frontend
• Add release-drafter + Flarum support-site publish workflows
• Clamp Page-hero to match Mosaic's hero width
• Replace mockup screenshots with live captures of the actual theme
• Add Dawn light-mode palette + honor prefers-color-scheme

Full Changelog: https://github.com/ernestdefoe/aurora/compare/2.0.1...1.0.1

View release on GitHub

aurora 3.0.0

What's Changed

• Build changelog from commits when release body is a placeholder
• Replace release-drafter with commit-based draft-release workflow
• Add workflow_dispatch trigger to publish-to-flarum.yml
• Render the palette button as a labeled row inside the mobile drawer
• Gate the palette-button drawer override on the phone breakpoint
• Convert to TypeScript (audit fix)
• docs: add Floxum marketplace badges to README
• Fix 8 audit findings + back hero widgets with real forum stats
• fix(hero-widgets): render on IndexPage, not WelcomeHero
• debug(temp): log IndexPage.contentItems extender + heroWidgets()
• fix(build): upgrade to flarum-webpack-config@3 so externals work on F2
• fix(hero-widgets): move tiles inside WelcomeHero.bodyItems
• fix: widen DiscussionListItem padding + make hero non-dismissable
• fix(dropdown): stop discussion-list cards clipping & burying per-item menus

Full Changelog: https://github.com/ernestdefoe/aurora/compare/2.0.1...3.0.0

View release on GitHub

aurora 1.0.2

Audit-hardening release for the Flarum 1.x line.

This fixes the issues that the earlier TypeScript conversion left in place:

• Admin colors now actually work — the gradient start/end + accent color settings are applied to the theme on load (previously they were saved but had no visual effect).
• The glassmorphism / glow / animation toggles now work — each had no matching CSS before; they now genuinely turn those effects off.
• The palette picker survives navigation — it was vanishing after the first page change; it's now a proper component that stays put.
• Hero stat tiles show real numbers — members, discussions, posts and "online now" are read from the live forum (cached for 60s), replacing the previously hardcoded placeholder figures and fake "trend" labels. Tiles with no data hide instead of showing fake values.
• Lower background cost — the hero-widget DOM watcher now stops as soon as it finishes instead of running for the whole session.
• Fully translatable — the palette + widget labels now use the locale files instead of hardcoded English.

Upgrade with composer update ernestdefoe/aurora and clear caches. No configuration changes required.

View release on GitHub

aurora 3.0.1

Audit hardening: removed @ts-nocheck across the frontend with full TypeScript types (tsc clean), and documented the ApiResource field-getter container resolve.

View release on GitHub