Observing how they do it on the website www.primefaces.org/primereact/showcase/, open Developer view: Elements, and one can notice that choosing a different theme changes css file link in HTML header:

<link id="theme-link" rel="stylesheet" href="./themes/bootstrap4-light-blue/theme.css">

becomes

<link id="theme-link" rel="stylesheet" href="./themes/bootstrap4-light-purple/theme.css">

It is fairly easy to switch link element HREF from one to another.

This page talks about primereact theme switching: Switch Your React App Between Material, Bootstrap and Custom Themes at Runtime

But the method it describes is too convoluted, involves ejecting and custom webpack, to bundle all theme CSS files and import them programmatically, like that:

const changeTheme = (theme) => {
  import(`./${theme}.scss`).then((module) => {
    if (selectedThemeModule) {
      selectedThemeModule.unuse();
    }
    module.use();
    setSelectedThemeModule(module);
  });
}

Instead, grab the example repo where they do method of link HREF swap: github.com/mertsincan/primereact-dynamic-theming/

example-1 has code for the convoluted method from the above page, you can skip it and go to example-2, which is much simpler.

In a nutshell, add to 'public/index.html', in <header> section:

<link id="app-theme" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="saga-blue.css">

And use this function:

const changeTheme = (theme) => {
  let themeLink = document.getElementById('app-theme');
  if (themeLink) {
    themeLink.href = theme + '.css';
  }
}

Then just call changeTheme(XXX) when theme XXX is clicked.

Next put .css files into the right place - just copy all node_modules/primereact/themes/*/theme.css files into public folder (giving them corresponding theme names). Some theme.css reference fonts - search for "url" in each file, and if present, copy corresponding fonts/ directory too.

I should mention that benefits of example-1 is using minified and bundled CSS files, so themes will be switching faster. If that's important, then follow the above linked tutorial and example-1. Also note that example-2 has very similar setup to example-1 (eject and custom webpack config), but only to copy css files to the right output folder, which can be skipped in favor of copying files by hand once.

Answer from iva2k on Stack Overflow
🌐
PrimeReact
primereact.org › theming
Theming - PrimeReact
Choose from a variety of themes or develop your own theme easily. Note: In near future, theming architecture of the styled mode will be redesigned to utilize CSS variables instead of SCSS variables in a backward compatible way for a dynamic approach. PrimeReact is a design agnostic library so unlike other UI libraries it does not enforce a certain styling such as material or bootstrap.
Top answer
1 of 4
7

Observing how they do it on the website www.primefaces.org/primereact/showcase/, open Developer view: Elements, and one can notice that choosing a different theme changes css file link in HTML header:

<link id="theme-link" rel="stylesheet" href="./themes/bootstrap4-light-blue/theme.css">

becomes

<link id="theme-link" rel="stylesheet" href="./themes/bootstrap4-light-purple/theme.css">

It is fairly easy to switch link element HREF from one to another.

This page talks about primereact theme switching: Switch Your React App Between Material, Bootstrap and Custom Themes at Runtime

But the method it describes is too convoluted, involves ejecting and custom webpack, to bundle all theme CSS files and import them programmatically, like that:

const changeTheme = (theme) => {
  import(`./${theme}.scss`).then((module) => {
    if (selectedThemeModule) {
      selectedThemeModule.unuse();
    }
    module.use();
    setSelectedThemeModule(module);
  });
}

Instead, grab the example repo where they do method of link HREF swap: github.com/mertsincan/primereact-dynamic-theming/

example-1 has code for the convoluted method from the above page, you can skip it and go to example-2, which is much simpler.

In a nutshell, add to 'public/index.html', in <header> section:

<link id="app-theme" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="saga-blue.css">

And use this function:

const changeTheme = (theme) => {
  let themeLink = document.getElementById('app-theme');
  if (themeLink) {
    themeLink.href = theme + '.css';
  }
}

Then just call changeTheme(XXX) when theme XXX is clicked.

Next put .css files into the right place - just copy all node_modules/primereact/themes/*/theme.css files into public folder (giving them corresponding theme names). Some theme.css reference fonts - search for "url" in each file, and if present, copy corresponding fonts/ directory too.

I should mention that benefits of example-1 is using minified and bundled CSS files, so themes will be switching faster. If that's important, then follow the above linked tutorial and example-1. Also note that example-2 has very similar setup to example-1 (eject and custom webpack config), but only to copy css files to the right output folder, which can be skipped in favor of copying files by hand once.

2 of 4
4

There is an even easier way to do this They do explain it a bit in the docs but it isn't as copy-paste in the docs

Here is what I did in my React app:

This is in my index.html file Define an element with an id to reference later in your code, and them also href to the directory where the styles are.

   <link id="app-theme" rel="stylesheet" href="/themes/lara-dark-blue/theme.css">

The styles should be copied from the node_modules of prime react Copy the dark and light theme from Lara

cp -r ./node_modules/primereact/resources/themes/lara-light-blue ./public/themes/lara-light-blue
cp -r ./node_modules/primereact/resources/themes/lara-dark-blue ./public/themes/lara-dark-blue

You can also just drag and drop them, but terminal is also nice ;)

Now in your React component, import PrimeReact from the api directory and then use the changeTheme utility function to change from dark to light and vice versa

import PrimeReact from 'primereact/api';

function App() {

  const [theme, setTheme] = useState('dark');

  const changeMyTheme = () => {
    const newTheme = theme === 'dark' ? 'light' : 'dark';
    PrimeReact?.changeTheme?.(`lara-${theme}-blue`, `lara-${newTheme}-blue`, 'app-theme', () =>
      setTheme(newTheme)
    );
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <header>
        <button
          className={`p-2 rounded ${theme === 'dark' ? 'bg-gray-100 text-black' : 'bg-gray-700 text-white'}`}
          onClick={() => changeMyTheme()}
        >
          <span className={`pr-1 pi pi-${theme === 'dark' ? 'sun' : 'moon'}`}></span>
         Change Theme
        </button>
      </header>
    </div>
  );
}

Here are the docs if you need to reference some more details as well as other themes available https://primereact.org/theming/

Discussions

reactjs - Use PrimeReact Themes with CSS Modules Enabled in React Application - Stack Overflow
I have enabled CSS modules within webpack.config in my React application so that I can locally scope CSS files to individual components. I'm also trying to use the TabView component from PrimeReac... More on stackoverflow.com
🌐 stackoverflow.com
December 29, 2017
PrimeReact Theme Designer is now free and open source
No idea how PrimeReact is not more mainstream than it is atm. While I haven't worked with it recently, it's 100% an S+ tier library in the projects I used it in. This designer looks really cool. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/reactjs
8
69
March 15, 2023
PrimeReact theme doesn't apply correctly to PrimeReact components
I'm trying to make a Menubar PrimeReact component for my React app, and I'm trying to apply one of the PrimeReact themes by importing it and it makes the page look weird. I'm trying import "./... More on stackoverflow.com
🌐 stackoverflow.com
Where to get the visual theme editor?
Hello! We were thinking of buying the theme designer to create our own style based on the arya-orange theme. I noticed that the theme designer is no longer usable: https://designer.primereact.org/ ... More on github.com
🌐 github.com
3
8
🌐
GitHub
github.com › primefaces › primereact
GitHub - primefaces/primereact: The Most Complete React UI Component Library · GitHub
PrimeReact has two theming modes; styled or unstyled. ... Styled mode is based on pre-skinned components with opinionated themes like Material, Bootstrap or PrimeOne themes.
Starred by 8.3K users
Forked by 1.2K users
Languages   CSS 59.8% | JavaScript 39.7% | SCSS 0.5%
🌐
PrimeReact
primereact.org › templates
PrimeReact | React UI Component Library
The ultimate collection of design-agnostic, flexible and accessible React UI Components.
🌐
GitHub
github.com › primefaces › primereact-sass-theme
GitHub - primefaces/primereact-sass-theme: PrimeReact Theming with SASS · GitHub
Usually you want to update the CSS files in the PrimeReact repository, located in the /primereact/public/themes folder.
Starred by 47 users
Forked by 57 users
Languages   SCSS
🌐
YouTube
youtube.com › watch
Create your own PrimeReact Themes - YouTube
There are 3 alternatives when it comes to creating your own themes, this tutorial goes through all of them.Here are some useful links mentioned in the video;...
Published   March 15, 2023
🌐
Primereact
v9.primereact.org › installation
PrimeReact | React UI Component Library
// _app.js import { PrimeReactProvider } from 'primereact/context'; export default function MyApp({ Component, pageProps }) { return ( <PrimeReactProvider> <Component {...pageProps} /> </PrimeReactProvider> ); } Theme and Core styles are the necessary css files of the components, visit the Themes section for the complete list of available themes to choose from.
Find elsewhere
🌐
PrimeFaces
primefaces.org › designer › primereact-old
Designer for PrimeReact – PrimeFaces
August 21, 2020 - Designer API is a SASS based theme engine to create PrimeReact themes easily featuring over 500 variables, a demo application and sample themes including the Nova and Luna theme families.
Top answer
1 of 2
3

I was able to use CSS modules and selectively apply global scoping to PrimeReact's themes by modifying webpack.config as follows below.

Original:

{
            test: /\.css$/,
            use: [
              require.resolve('style-loader'),
              {
                loader: require.resolve('css-loader'),
                options: {
                  importLoaders: 1,
                  modules: true,
                  localIdentName: '[name]__[local]__[hash:base64:5]'
                },
              },
              {
                loader: require.resolve('postcss-loader'),
                options: {
                  // Necessary for external CSS imports to work
                  // https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/2677
                  ident: 'postcss',
                  plugins: () => [
                    require('postcss-flexbugs-fixes'),
                    autoprefixer({
                      browsers: [
                        '>1%',
                        'last 4 versions',
                        'Firefox ESR',
                        'not ie < 9', // React doesn't support IE8 anyway
                      ],
                      flexbox: 'no-2009',
                    }),
                  ],
                },
              },
            ],
          },

Modified:

 {
            test: /\.css$/,
            //Exclude 3rd party css that needs to be scoped globally from using
            //css-loader with modules enabled
            exclude: [
              path.resolve('node_modules/primereact/resources/primereact.css'),
              path.resolve('node_modules/primereact/resources/themes/cupertino/theme.css'),
            ],
            use: [
              require.resolve('style-loader'),
              {
                loader: require.resolve('css-loader'),
                options: {
                  importLoaders: 1,
                  modules: true,
                  localIdentName: '[name]__[local]__[hash_base64:5]'
                },
              },
              {
                loader: require.resolve('postcss-loader'),
                options: {
                  // Necessary for external CSS imports to work
                  // https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/2677
                  ident: 'postcss',
                  plugins: () => [
                    require('postcss-flexbugs-fixes'),
                    autoprefixer({
                      browsers: [
                        '>1%',
                        'last 4 versions',
                        'Firefox ESR',
                        'not ie < 9', // React doesn't support IE8 anyway
                      ],
                      flexbox: 'no-2009',
                    }),
                  ],
                },
              },
            ],
          },
          //Additional css-loader configuration
          {
            test: /\.css$/,
            //Inlcude only 3rd party css that needs to be scoped globally to use
            //css-loader with modules disabled
            include: [
              path.resolve('node_modules/primereact/resources/primereact.css'),
              path.resolve('node_modules/primereact/resources/themes/cupertino/theme.css'),
            ],
            use: [
              require.resolve('style-loader'),
              {
                loader: require.resolve('css-loader'),
                options: {
                  importLoaders: 1
                },
              },
              {
                loader: require.resolve('postcss-loader'),
                options: {
                  // Necessary for external CSS imports to work
                  // https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app/issues/2677
                  ident: 'postcss',
                  plugins: () => [
                    require('postcss-flexbugs-fixes'),
                    autoprefixer({
                      browsers: [
                        '>1%',
                        'last 4 versions',
                        'Firefox ESR',
                        'not ie < 9', // React doesn't support IE8 anyway
                      ],
                      flexbox: 'no-2009',
                    }),
                  ],
                },
              },
            ],
          },
2 of 2
0

Use the below two npm commands to install the CSS and Style loader:

npm install style-loader - You can add the Version of the loaded if required npm install css-loader

You are not required to change anything else.

🌐
npm
npmjs.com › package › primereact
primereact - npm
August 15, 2025 - PrimeReact is an open source UI library for React featuring a rich set of 90+ components, a theme designer, various theme alternatives such as Material, Bootstrap, Tailwind, premium templates and professional support.
      » npm install primereact
    
Published   Aug 15, 2025
Version   10.9.7
Author   PrimeTek Informatics
🌐
Reddit
reddit.com › r/reactjs › primereact theme designer is now free and open source
r/reactjs on Reddit: PrimeReact Theme Designer is now free and open source
March 15, 2023 -

Hi all,

As part of the PrimeReact roadmap, we're excited to announce that Theme Designer is now open source and free to use.

For more information, visit the documentation.

P.S. We're now working on the new styling engine that utilizes CSS variables instead of SCSS with support for css-in-js and also the new Unstyled mode so that you can just ignore all this and style the components with Tailwind, Bootstrap or similar.

Happy coding!

🌐
PrimeFaces
primefaces.org › primereact-v8 › setup
PrimeReact | React UI Component Library
The css dependencies are as follows, note that you may change the theme with another one of your choice. If you are using a bundler such as webpack with a css loader you may import them to your main application component. import "primereact/resources/themes/lara-light-indigo/theme.css"; //theme import "primereact/resources/primereact.min.css"; //core css import "primeicons/primeicons.css"; //icons
🌐
GitHub
github.com › primefaces › primereact › blob › master › README.md
primereact/README.md at master · primefaces/primereact
PrimeReact has two theming modes; styled or unstyled. ... Styled mode is based on pre-skinned components with opinionated themes like Material, Bootstrap or PrimeOne themes.
Author   primefaces
🌐
Made with React.js
madewithreactjs.com › primereact
PrimeReact - UI Component Library - Made with React.js
August 15, 2023 - "PrimeReact is a UI library for React featuring a rich set of 80+ components, a theme designer, 400+ ready-to-use UI blocks, various theme alternatives, premium create-react-app templates and professional support.
🌐
Hashnode
primetek.hashnode.dev › switch-your-react-app-between-material-bootstrap-and-custom-themes-at-runtime
Switch Your React App Between Material, Bootstrap and Custom Themes at Runtime
August 24, 2021 - PrimeReact provides various themes including Material, Bootstrap, FluentUI and PrimeOne with dark mode alternatives. These are provided at primereact/resources/themes folder so first thing to do it creating an scss file that imports the one ...
🌐
GitHub
github.com › orgs › primefaces › discussions › 1384
Where to get the visual theme editor? · primefaces · Discussion #1384
To create your own theme, you can download the release matching your PrimeReact version and access the themes/mytheme/MyMilestoneCard login folder to customize the SASS variables.
🌐
PrimeFaces
primefaces.org › primereact-v5
PrimeReact
PrimeFaces is a popular open source framework for JavaServer Faces featuring over 100 components, touch optimized mobilekit, client side validation, theme engine and more. ... PrimeNG, a spin-off project from PrimeFaces, is a collection of open source rich UI components for Angular. ... PrimeReact ...
🌐
Primer
primer.style › react › theming
Theming | Primer React
April 11, 2024 - Theming in Primer React is made possible by a theme object that defines your application's colors, spacing, fonts, and more.