diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 77bcbc0..fadb218 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -17,16 +17,23 @@ options:
 .c.o:
 	${CC} -c ${CFLAGS} $<
 
-${OBJ}: config.h config.mk
+${OBJ}: config.h theme_beg.h config.mk
 
-config.h:
-	cp config.def.h $@
+theme.h:
+	./xtheme
+
+theme_beg.h:
+	./themesetup
+
+config.h: theme.h
+	cp -n config.def.h $@
 
 dwm: ${OBJ}
 	${CC} -o $@ ${OBJ} ${LDFLAGS}
+	rm -f theme_{beg,end}.h
 
 clean:
-	rm -f dwm ${OBJ} dwm-${VERSION}.tar.gz
+	rm -f dwm ${OBJ} theme_{beg,end}.h dwm-${VERSION}.tar.gz
 
 dist: clean
 	mkdir -p dwm-${VERSION}
diff --git a/config.def.h b/config.def.h
index a2ac963..daf66b3 100644
--- a/config.def.h
+++ b/config.def.h
@@ -1,11 +1,15 @@
 /* See LICENSE file for copyright and license details. */
 
+/* theme management */
+# include "theme_beg.h" /* this is a compile-time generated header file */
+# include "theme.h"
+
 /* appearance */
 static const unsigned int borderpx  = 1;        /* border pixel of windows */
 static const unsigned int snap      = 32;       /* snap pixel */
 static const int showbar            = 1;        /* 0 means no bar */
 static const int topbar             = 1;        /* 0 means bottom bar */
-static const char *fonts[]          = { "monospace:size=10" };
+static const char *fonts[]          = { DWM_FONT };
 static const char dmenufont[]       = "monospace:size=10";
 static const char col_gray1[]       = "#222222";
 static const char col_gray2[]       = "#444444";
@@ -13,9 +17,9 @@ static const char col_gray3[]       = "#bbbbbb";
 static const char col_gray4[]       = "#eeeeee";
 static const char col_cyan[]        = "#005577";
 static const char *colors[][3]      = {
-	/*               fg         bg         border   */
-	[SchemeNorm] = { col_gray3, col_gray1, col_gray2 },
-	[SchemeSel]  = { col_gray4, col_cyan,  col_cyan  },
+	/*               fg                 bg                 border   */
+	[SchemeNorm] = { DWM_FOREGROUND,    DWM_BACKGROUND,    DWM_BORDER },
+	[SchemeSel]  = { DWM_SELFOREGROUND, DWM_SELBACKGROUND, DWM_SELBORDER },
 };
 
 /* tagging */
@@ -60,6 +64,9 @@ static char dmenumon[2] = "0"; /* component of dmenucmd, manipulated in spawn()
 static const char *dmenucmd[] = { "dmenu_run", "-m", dmenumon, "-fn", dmenufont, "-nb", col_gray1, "-nf", col_gray3, "-sb", col_cyan, "-sf", col_gray4, NULL };
 static const char *termcmd[]  = { "st", NULL };
 
+/* theme management */
+# include "theme_end.h" /* this is a compile-time generated header file */
+
 static Key keys[] = {
 	/* modifier                     key        function        argument */
 	{ MODKEY,                       XK_p,      spawn,          {.v = dmenucmd } },
diff --git a/themesetup b/themesetup
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e8710c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/themesetup
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+echo \# if $(cat theme.h | cut -d' ' -f3 | sed "s/^/defined /;s/$/ ||/" | tr "\n" " ") 0 > theme_beg.h
+echo -e "# error (conflicting macro names)\n# endif" >> theme_beg.h
+cat theme.h | cut -d' ' -f3 | sed "s/^/# undef /;" > theme_end.h
diff --git a/xresources.defaults b/xresources.defaults
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f1d86a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xresources.defaults
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# define DWM_FONT "monospace"
+# define DWM_FOREGROUND "#93a1a1"
+# define DWM_BACKGROUND "#002b36"
+# define DWM_BORDER "#93a1a1"
+# define DWM_SELFOREGROUND "#073642"
+# define DWM_SELBACKGROUND "#2aa198"
+# define DWM_SELBORDER "#cb4b16"
diff --git a/xresources.list b/xresources.list
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b8421f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xresources.list
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+S	font
+S	foreground
+S	background
+S	border				background
+S	selforeground		background
+S	selbackground		foreground
+S	selborder			foreground
diff --git a/xtheme b/xtheme
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8fa5f08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xtheme
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+prefix=dwm
+resfile=xresources.list
+themeout=theme.h
+# themedefaults=themes/$prefix-defaults.h
+themedefaults=xresources.defaults
+
+rm -f $themeout
+
+cat "$resfile" | while read T R A
+do
+	m=$(echo "$prefix"'_'"$R" | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]')
+
+	s=''
+	[[ "$T" == "S" ]] && s=\"
+
+	l=''
+
+	for r in "$R" "$A"
+	do
+		[[ "$r" == '' ]] && continue
+
+		e=0
+
+		for p in "$prefix" ''
+		do
+			l="$(																\
+				xrdb -query														\
+					| grep -P "^$p\*?\.?$r:\s*\S*$" -m 1						\
+					| sed "s/^$p\*\?\.\?$r:\s*\(\S*\)$/# define $m $s\1$s/"		\
+			)"
+
+			if [[ "$l" != '' ]]
+			then
+				e=1
+				echo "$l" >> $themeout
+				break
+			fi
+		done
+
+		[[ $e == 1 ]] && break
+	done
+
+	if [[ "$l" == '' ]]
+	then
+		cat "$themedefaults" | grep -P "^# define $m " -m 1 >> $themeout
+	fi
+done