diff --git a/src/app/globals.css b/src/app/globals.css
index c36068d9..7ba04006 100644
--- a/src/app/globals.css
+++ b/src/app/globals.css
@@ -86,22 +86,11 @@
   --border-subtle: color-mix(in srgb, var(--color-text-muted) 18%, transparent);
 }
 
-/* Dark mode (toggled by html.dark; wins over :root + ThemeVars via specificity). */
+/* Dark mode colors are generated by ThemeVars from the selected preset. */
 html.dark {
-  --color-background: #0b0d14;
-  --color-surface: #141820;
-  --color-dropdown: #1d222b;
-  --color-navbar: #141820;
-  --color-navbar-text: #e5e7eb;
-  --color-text: #e5e7eb;
-  --color-text-muted: #94a3b8;
   --color-text-readable: var(--color-text);
   --color-text-muted-readable: var(--color-text-muted);
-  --color-primary-readable: var(--color-text);
-  --color-accent-readable: var(--color-text);
   --color-navbar-text-readable: var(--color-navbar-text);
-  --link-color-readable: var(--color-text);
-  --link-hover-color-readable: var(--color-text);
 }
 html.dark input,
 html.dark select,
diff --git a/src/components/theme-vars.test.ts b/src/components/theme-vars.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a2f5a400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/components/theme-vars.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { themePaletteCss } from "@/lib/theme-css";
+import { PRESETS } from "@/lib/theme-presets";
+
+describe("themePaletteCss", () => {
+  it("emits separate preset-specific light and dark scopes", () => {
+    const ocean = PRESETS.Ocean;
+    const css = `${themePaletteCss(":root", ocean.light)}${themePaletteCss("html.dark", ocean.dark)}`;
+
+    expect(css).toContain(":root{");
+    expect(css).toContain("html.dark{");
+    expect(css).toContain(`--color-primary:${ocean.light.color_primary}`);
+    expect(css).toContain(`--color-background:${ocean.light.color_background}`);
+    expect(css).toContain(`--color-background:${ocean.dark.color_background}`);
+    expect(ocean.dark.color_primary).toBe(ocean.light.color_primary);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/components/theme-vars.tsx b/src/components/theme-vars.tsx
index 7c227cba..809c4b73 100644
--- a/src/components/theme-vars.tsx
+++ b/src/components/theme-vars.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { siteSettings } from "@/lib/services/site-settings";
-import { FONTS } from "@/lib/theme-presets";
+import { themePaletteCss } from "@/lib/theme-css";
+import { FONTS, PRESETS, THEME_COLOR_KEYS, type ThemePalette } from "@/lib/theme-presets";
 import { derivePublicForegrounds, readableColor } from "@/lib/theme-contrast";
 
 // Injects the DB-driven CSS custom properties into :root, exactly like
@@ -124,6 +125,18 @@ export async function ThemeVars() {
 
   const font = FONTS[fontKey ?? "nunito"] ?? FONTS.nunito;
 
+  const presetName = (await g("theme_preset", "Atom (golden)")) ?? "Atom (golden)";
+  const preset = PRESETS[presetName] ?? PRESETS["Atom (golden)"];
+  const darkPalette = Object.fromEntries(
+    await Promise.all(
+      THEME_COLOR_KEYS.map(async (key) => [
+        key,
+        safe(await g(`${key}_dark`, preset.dark[key]), preset.dark[key]),
+      ] as const),
+    ),
+  ) as ThemePalette;
+  const darkCss = themePaletteCss("html.dark", darkPalette);
+
   const css = `:root{
 --color-primary:${safe(primary, "#f59e0b")};
 --color-background:${safeBackground};
@@ -174,7 +187,7 @@ export async function ThemeVars() {
 --size-heading-h1:${px(h1, "30")}px;
 --size-heading-h2:${px(h2, "22")}px;
 --size-heading-h3:${px(h3, "18")}px;
-}`;
+}${darkCss}`;
 
   const googleHref = font.google
     ? `https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=${font.google}&display=swap`
diff --git a/src/lib/theme-css.ts b/src/lib/theme-css.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3daf7a42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/theme-css.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import { derivePublicForegrounds, readableColor } from "@/lib/theme-contrast";
+import type { ThemePalette } from "@/lib/theme-presets";
+
+const CSS_VARIABLES: Record<keyof ThemePalette, string> = {
+  color_primary: "color-primary", color_background: "color-background",
+  color_surface: "color-surface", color_dropdown: "color-dropdown",
+  color_navbar: "color-navbar", color_navbar_text: "color-navbar-text",
+  color_text: "color-text", color_text_muted: "color-text-muted",
+  color_accent: "color-accent", color_success: "color-success",
+  color_warning: "color-warning", color_error: "color-error", color_info: "color-info",
+  button_primary_color: "button-color", button_text_color: "button-text-color",
+  button_secondary_color: "button-secondary-color",
+  button_secondary_text_color: "button-secondary-text-color",
+  button_danger_color: "button-danger-color", button_danger_text_color: "button-danger-text-color",
+  button_outline_color: "button-outline-color", button_outline_text_color: "button-outline-text-color",
+  link_color: "link-color", link_hover_color: "link-hover-color",
+  border_color: "border-color", gradient_from: "gradient-from", gradient_to: "gradient-to",
+};
+
+export function themePaletteCss(selector: string, palette: ThemePalette): string {
+  const semantic = derivePublicForegrounds(palette);
+  const declarations = Object.entries(CSS_VARIABLES).map(
+    ([key, cssName]) => `--${cssName}:${palette[key as keyof ThemePalette]};`,
+  );
+  declarations.push(
+    `--color-text-readable:${readableColor(palette.color_text, [palette.color_background, palette.color_surface])};`,
+    `--color-text-muted-readable:${readableColor(palette.color_text_muted, [palette.color_background, palette.color_surface])};`,
+    `--color-primary-readable:${readableColor(palette.color_primary, [palette.color_background, palette.color_surface])};`,
+    `--color-accent-readable:${readableColor(palette.color_accent, [palette.color_background, palette.color_surface])};`,
+    `--color-navbar-text-readable:${semantic.byName.navbar};`,
+    `--button-text-color-readable:${semantic.byName["button-primary"]};`,
+    `--button-secondary-text-color-readable:${semantic.byName["button-secondary"]};`,
+    `--button-danger-text-color-readable:${semantic.byName["button-danger"]};`,
+    `--button-outline-text-color-readable:${semantic.byName["button-outline"]};`,
+    `--link-color-readable:${semantic.byName.link};`,
+    `--link-hover-color-readable:${semantic.byName["link-hover"]};`,
+    `--color-surface-text-readable:${semantic.byName.surface};`,
+    `--color-dropdown-text-readable:${semantic.byName.dropdown};`,
+    `--color-pill-text-readable:${semantic.byName.pill};`,
+    `--color-badge-text-readable:${semantic.byName.badge};`,
+    `--color-overlay-text-readable:${semantic.byName.overlay};`,
+  );
+  return `${selector}{${declarations.join("")}}`;
+}