Mawu Dark Mode is a free WordPress plugin that adds a real dark admin color scheme: the dashboard, the block editor’s writing canvas, the Classic Editor, and (optionally) the login screen, all properly dark. Here’s what that actually means and why it’s built the way it is.
A real color scheme, not a bolted-on toggle
Mawu registers through wp_admin_css_color(), the same API WordPress core uses for “Midnight,” “Ectoplasm,” and “Ocean.” That means it shows up in the same picker every WordPress user already knows: Users → Profile → Admin Color Scheme. There’s no floating dark-mode button, no forced site-wide switch by default, and no separate plugin UI to learn. It behaves exactly the way an admin color scheme is supposed to, because it is one.
13 themes, not one
Mawu is the original theme: a calm, deep night sky. Alongside it are two collections: the Nature collection (Canopy, Tide, Dune, Ember, and Fern) and the Hero collection (Emerald, Gargoyle, Skyline, Forge, Onyx, Velocity, and Abyss), each built to the same contrast standard and each selectable independently. See the full theme lineup for what each one looks like.
The two places WordPress’s own dark schemes never reach
Even WordPress core’s built-in dark color schemes have a real gap: they darken the surrounding chrome, the toolbar and sidebar, but the actual page you’re writing on stays a bright white iframe. Mawu dark-themes both the chrome and the block editor’s writing canvas. The same applies to the Classic Editor’s TinyMCE area, for sites still running that plugin.
Named after the moon
Mawu is the Fon/Ewe (Benin–Togo) goddess of the moon and night, twin sister to Lisa, the sun and day god. That’s a deliberate naming choice: if a frontend light/dark toggle is ever added for site visitors, “Lisa” is the natural name for the light-mode counterpart.
Ready to try it? See installing and activating Mawu to get started.