How to Change Discord Sidebar Color: Themes, Settings, and Customization Options

Discord's sidebar is one of the most visible parts of the interface — it's where your server list, DMs, and channel navigation live. Naturally, many users want to adjust its color. The answer to how (and whether) you can do this depends heavily on which Discord client you're using, whether you're willing to use third-party tools, and how much customization you actually want.

What Discord Offers Natively

Out of the box, Discord gives you two built-in appearance options: Light mode and Dark mode. These control the overall color scheme of the entire interface, including the sidebar. Dark mode renders the sidebar in deep charcoal tones; Light mode shifts it to softer grays and whites.

Beyond that, Discord introduced theme customization through its Nitro subscription. Nitro subscribers can access a range of built-in themes that adjust accent colors and some interface hues. However, even with Nitro, the changes are fairly limited — you're working within Discord's pre-approved palette, and the sidebar background itself isn't fully customizable through official means.

To adjust these native settings:

1. Open Discord and click the gear icon (User Settings) at the bottom left
2. Navigate to Appearance
3. Toggle between Dark and Light, or select a theme if you have Nitro access

That's the ceiling for official, built-in customization.

Going Further: Client Mods and Custom CSS 🎨

For users who want real sidebar color control — choosing specific hex values, gradients, or entirely custom palettes — the most common path is using a Discord client modification, often called a client mod.

The most widely used options in this space include BetterDiscord, Vencord, and Replugged. These tools inject custom CSS into the Discord desktop client, which means you can target specific UI elements — including the sidebar — and apply whatever colors you want.

With a client mod and custom CSS, a basic sidebar color change might look something like: