Chirpy Leanote Theme is a responsive blog theme for the open-source Leanote platform, ported from the Chirpy Jekyll Theme, that converts a Leanote note server into a polished personal blog with dark mode, comments, charts, and analytics.
What is Chirpy Leanote Theme?
Chirpy Leanote Theme is a theme for Leanote, an open-source note-taking and blogging platform. It was ported by ctaoist from the popular Chirpy Jekyll Theme and is distributed under the MIT license. You install it by downloading a release zip and importing it through Leanote's theme configuration page; it then renders your Leanote notes as a blog with a responsive layout, dark mode, and the features listed below. A live demo is available at blog.ctaoist.cn.
Key Features
- Dark mode — Toggle between light and dark appearance; the theme's development notes confirm that emoji containers and chart components are adapted to the dark palette.
- Comment system options — Supports Disqus, Valine, and Gitalk. Valine needs an appId and appKey from a LeanCloud application, while Gitalk needs a GitHub Application's Client ID, Client Secret, repo, and owner; all are entered in the theme.json config file.
- Syntax highlighting with one-click copy — Code blocks get highlighted and include a browser copy button.
- MathJax 3.0 math rendering — LaTeX-style formulas render in posts; the maintainer switched to the markdown-it renderer to fix line-break escaping inside math.
- Table of contents — Auto-generated TOC for articles, including second-level subheadings.
- Mermaid and Chart.js charts — Both diagram types render inside posts for technical content.
- Read count statistics — Pick between Leanote's built-in counter and a LeanCloud-based counter; both options were fixed in this fork so counts actually increment.
- Google Analytics and jsdelivr CDN — Optional Google Analytics integration and a custom jsdelivr CDN address for assets.
Who is it for?
- Leanote bloggers who want a modern, professional look without migrating off Leanote; they import the theme and customize theme.json for their domain, comment service, and analytics.
- Self-hosters who run their own Leanote server; the master branch pairs with the maintainer's modified Leanote server, while the leanote_2.6 branch works with the official Leanote release.
- Chirpy Jekyll Theme fans who liked the design but prefer Leanote's note workflow; they can get the same aesthetic with added dark mode, math, and chart support.
Use cases
- Personal bloggers: publish notes as blog posts with a clean reading layout, dark mode, and a table of contents for longer articles.
- Technical writers: embed math formulas via MathJax and diagrams or charts via Mermaid and Chart.js to make code and data easier to follow.
- Engagement-focused site owners: enable Gitalk, Valine, or Disqus so visitors can comment, and show read counts powered by LeanCloud or Leanote's own counter.
How does the theme get installed?
First, set up a Leanote server: for the master branch you need ctaoist's modified Leanote server, for official Leanote binaries you switch to the leanote_2.6 branch. Next, download a release zip (version 1.1.x or the master branch zip) from the Releases page and import it via Leanote's theme configuration page. After import, edit theme.json to enable comments and read-count statistics, filling in credentials such as Gitalk's Client ID and Client Secret or Valine's appId and appKey.
Pros and cons
- Pros: Feature-rich (dark mode, comments, math, charts, analytics), MIT-licensed, and maintained — the README lists completed fixes such as reading-count increments and archive sorting by creation time.
- Cons: Gitalk comments require manually opening every article once to initialize them; and the default master branch depends on a customized Leanote server, so official-server users need the leanote_2.6 branch.
Alternatives
- Chirpy Jekyll Theme — the original theme this project ports, which runs on Jekyll instead of Leanote and does not include the same out-of-the-box comment integrations.
FAQ
Does this theme require a modified Leanote server?
The master branch is designed for the maintainer's modified Leanote fork. If you use the official Leanote server, switch to the leanote_2.6 branch, which is compatible with the official release.
How do I enable Disqus, Valine, or Gitalk comments?
Open theme.json and set the CommentType field to choose which service to use. Gitalk and Valine require API credentials — Gitalk needs a GitHub Application's Client ID and Secret plus repo and owner; Valine needs an appId and appKey from LeanCloud. The README provides detailed setup steps for each.
Does Gitalk work automatically?
No. After configuring Gitalk, you need to manually log in and open every article once so the corresponding GitHub issue is created for that page; the author has not yet written an initialization script.
Is the theme free?
Yes, the project is open source under the MIT license. The author also accepts donations via WeChat Pay and Alipay.
