Teal / Launcher

Share the look, not your life.

A customised launcher becomes personal very quickly. The colours are the part I may want to show someone. My aliases, scripts, app lists, tokens, and habits are not. RETUI keeps those two ideas in different files on purpose.

A preset begins as something local

A preset is a named snapshot of your appearance, local behavior settings, and portable frame state. It is useful because I can experiment with wallpaper auto-colour, tune the result, and still get back to a version that felt right.

wallpaper -auto
preset -save forest-dusk

That is the personal part of the workflow. The sharing step comes later, once the look is something I would actually hand to another person.

The export has a narrow boundary

Open Settings, go to System & Support, and choose `Create Shareable Configuration`. RETUI lets you export either the current active look or one of your saved presets, then choose which behavior settings to include. Review that selection: text settings can contain personal paths or commands.

Current shareable exports can contain:

theme.xml

The shared terminal, module, drawer, and interface colours.

suggestions.xml

The suggestion colours and presentation values that belong to the look.

ui.xml

Shareable appearance and layout values, excluding your username, device name, font path, and wallpaper auto-colour toggle. Older saved presets may omit this file.

behavior.xml

The behavior settings selected for this export. Older saved presets may omit this file.

manifest.txt

Shareable configuration metadata: schema 3, the user-selected privacy marker, included sections, and selected behavior fields. Preset packages using manifest.json and schema 2 remain supported, as do legacy two-file exports.

The current export does not bundle frame images, modules, script files, aliases, app lists, contacts, reminders, or full backup data. Selected behavior text is user-controlled, so check it for personal information before sharing.

A backup is intentionally different

The neighbouring `Backup` action exists for your own device migration and recovery. It can include the RETUI working folder and personal preference state, and it can be password-protected. That makes it useful to you and inappropriate for a public marketplace.

Shareable configuration

Shareable appearance files, selected behavior settings, and manifest metadata. Review your selections before publishing.

Personal backup

Your broader Launcher state. Designed to restore your own setup, not become somebody else's download.

The receiving phone still has a say

The recipient imports the shareable package through `Settings > System & Support > Restore`. RETUI recognises the shareable manifest and adds it to the preset library without applying it. If the name already exists, it creates a numbered copy.

Use the imported name to apply the preset when you are ready. Applying it restores the included settings and turns wallpaper auto-colour off.

preset -ls
preset -apply <imported-name>

Your active setup stays in place until you apply the imported preset. Review included behavior settings before applying someone else's configuration.

A good submission needs context

A palette file by itself is technically enough. It is not enough to help another person understand why it exists.

1. Apply it

Load the exact saved look you intend to share and check it on the Launcher.

2. Export it

Create a shareable configuration from the active look or the named preset.

3. Show it

Take a screenshot with enough real terminal content to reveal contrast and readability.

4. Add the wallpaper

Attach it separately when the theme only makes sense with that image, and only when you have the right to share it.

5. Describe the thought

A useful name and a short description tell people more than a list of hex values ever will.

open the RETUI Marketplace

I want themes to feel social without becoming careless

Old Android customisation was full of people trading setups, screenshots, wallpapers, icon packs, and tiny discoveries. I want RETUI to have some of that energy. I also want the file being traded to have an honest boundary.

A visual configuration should be boring to inspect: known configuration files and a manifest describing what was selected. The interesting part should be what somebody made with it.

The best shared RETUI setup should reveal somebody's taste, not the contents of their phone.