Theme intros on Omarchy

Omarchy Theme Intros on Omarchy

omarchy-themes-intros is a 96 MB data package (MIT, maintained by DHH) containing the short background intro videos that play when you switch Omarchy themes — pure eye candy, zero configuration.

TL;DR

omarchy pkg add omarchy-themes-intros

Takes a minute — it’s a 96.3 MB download of video files, arch=any, no dependencies, no service, nothing to configure. After installing, switch themes and you’ll see a short intro animation play before the new background settles. Uninstall it and theme switches just jump straight to the still image, exactly as before. There is genuinely nothing to “use” here — this guide answers the only real questions: what is this package, why is it 96 MB, and do I need it. (You don’t need it. You’ll probably want it.)

Getting started (5 minutes)

1. Install.

omarchy pkg add omarchy-themes-intros. That’s the whole setup — the package drops the intro videos alongside Omarchy’s theme data (confirm the exact path on your machine with pacman -Ql omarchy-themes-intros; the install location wasn’t readable from the package recipe at draft time).

2. Switch a theme and watch.

Open the Omarchy menu → Style → Theme (or however you switch themes on your install) and pick a different theme. With the package installed, a short intro video plays as the new theme’s background arrives, then settles into the still image. Without it, the switch goes straight to the still — same result, less theater.

3. The three things everyone needs to know:

• It’s a split-out data package, on purpose. The intro videos used to ride inside the big omarchy-dev package and made it huge. Per the package recipe’s own comments, the videos “are most of omarchy-dev’s size and change far less often than the code, so they ship here” — splitting them means the main package can rebuild on every commit without re-shipping ~96 MB of video each time.
• It’s versioned by hand, by commit date. The version string (currently 2026.10.14) isn’t a release — it’s the date of the last commit in the Omarchy repo that touched an intro video, and the recipe pins that exact commit. Translation: if a new theme’s intro video lands in Omarchy tomorrow, it won’t play on your machine until this package gets bumped to include it. If your favorite theme has no intro video at all, the background simply switches straight to the still image — that’s by design, not a bug.
• It costs disk, nothing else. No daemon, no config file, no CPU when idle. The only ongoing cost is the 96 MB on disk. On a cramped drive, removing it is a free 96 MB with no functional downside.

Common issues & fixes

Honest note up front: this is a static data package with no code, no service, and no configuration — there are no documented bug reports against it. What’s below are the real behaviors from the package recipe that look like bugs, so you don’t file them as bugs.

You installed a brand-new Omarchy theme and no intro video plays for it

Why it’s not a bug: The package is pinned by hand to the last commit that touched an intro video. A new intro simply isn’t in the package until the maintainer bumps the pinned commit and version. Check the package version against the theme’s release date; if the theme is newer than the package, you’re waiting on a package update, not a fix.

Some themes play an intro, others switch straight to the still image

Why it’s not a bug: From the recipe comments: “a background without one switches straight to the still image.” Not every theme ships an intro video. Nothing is broken; that theme just doesn’t have one.

The package feels big for what it does (96 MB)

Fix: That’s the actual content — one intro video per theme, and video is heavy. If disk space matters more than the transition animation, remove the package: omarchy pkg remove omarchy-themes-intros (confirm the exact remove command on-machine). Theme switching works identically, minus the video.

Pairs well with / If you hate this, try

Pairs well with

• Omarchy’s theme system itself — this package is literally the garnish on it. If you’re theme-hopping (and on Omarchy, you will be), the intros make each switch feel intentional. Community themes from other authors play by the same rule: intro video present, it plays; absent, still image.

If you hate this, try

• Uninstalling it. There is no alternative package and no setting to tweak — the “alternative” is the still image you already had. If you want custom intro videos, the recipe sources them from themes/*/backgrounds/intros in the Omarchy repo, so a theme author adds one by shipping a video in that path — but wiring a personal video into your own theme is unverified at draft time, so don’t attempt it until someone tests it.

Comparison: theme intro options

Verdict: Install it if you like the transition theater and have 96 MB to spare; skip it if you’re on a tiny drive — you lose an animation, nothing else.