[FEATURE] Support Dracula and other terminal themes for syntax highlighting in CLI

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

Claude Code CLI hardcodes its own ANSI escape codes for syntax highlighting in code blocks. This overrides the terminal emulator's color palette entirely. Users who have carefully configured their terminal with a theme like Dracula see a jarring mismatch between their terminal colors and Claude Code's code blocks. There is currently no way to configure or override this behavior.

Proposed Solution

Add a theme configuration option to Claude Code settings that includes presets for popular themes such as Dracula, Nord, Solarized, One Dark, and Tokyo Night. This would allow users to match Claude Code's syntax highlighting to their terminal theme.

Alternative Solutions

• Detect and respect the terminal's 16-color ANSI palette instead of hardcoding colors, so any terminal theme automatically applies
• Read the TERM or COLORTERM environment variable and adjust accordingly
• Allow users to define custom color mappings via a config file

Priority

Medium - Would be very helpful

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

A user sets up iTerm2 with the Dracula theme. Every other CLI tool and editor respects this theme. When they open Claude Code and ask for a code snippet, the syntax highlighting colors are completely different from Dracula's palette, breaking the visual consistency of their workflow.

Additional Context

This is a common pain point for developers who invest time in setting up a consistent terminal environment. Dracula is one of the most widely used terminal themes with over 300 ports across different tools and editors. When a tool ignores the terminal's color palette, it stands out negatively in an otherwise cohesive setup.

Other CLI tools such as bat, delta, and lazygit already support configurable themes or respect the terminal palette. Bringing Claude Code in line with these tools would improve the experience for a large portion of users who care about their terminal aesthetic.

It is worth noting that the Claude desktop app already supports theme selection, proving that the infrastructure for theming exists within the product. Bringing the same capability to the CLI would create a consistent experience across both Claude Desktop and Claude Code.