diff --git a/data/themerc b/data/themerc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a413a14a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/data/themerc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+window.active.title.bg.color: #589bda
diff --git a/include/theme.h b/include/theme.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a6b5d125
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/theme.h
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#ifndef THEME_H
+#define THEME_H
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+struct theme {
+	float window_active_title_bg_color[4];
+};
+
+extern struct theme theme;
+
+void theme_read(const char *filename);
+
+#endif /* THEME_H */
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index c2591bd8..23547c09 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #include "labwc.h"
 #include "rcxml.h"
+#include "theme.h"
 
 struct server server = { 0 };
 struct rcxml rc = { 0 };
+struct theme theme = { 0 };
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
@@ -27,6 +29,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	rcxml_init(&rc);
 	rcxml_read("data/rc.xml");
+	theme_read("data/themerc");
 
 	/* Wayland requires XDG_RUNTIME_DIR to be set */
 	if (!getenv("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR")) {
diff --git a/src/meson.build b/src/meson.build
index e76b4fb4..5895d465 100644
--- a/src/meson.build
+++ b/src/meson.build
@@ -13,4 +13,5 @@ labwc_sources = files(
 
 subdir('common')
 subdir('config')
+subdir('theme')
 subdir('debug')
diff --git a/src/output.c b/src/output.c
index e5a23bcf..eec3ce08 100644
--- a/src/output.c
+++ b/src/output.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #include "labwc.h"
 #include "rcxml.h"
+#include "theme.h"
 
-static float window_active_title_bg[] = { 0.29, 0.55, 0.78, 1.0 };
 static float window_active_handle_bg[] = { 0.21, 0.49, 0.71, 1.0 };
 
 struct draw_data {
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ static void render_decorations(struct wlr_output *output, struct view *view)
 	draw_rect(&ddata, deco_box(view, LAB_DECO_PART_BOTTOM));
 	draw_rect(&ddata, deco_box(view, LAB_DECO_PART_LEFT));
 
-	ddata.rgba = window_active_title_bg;
+	ddata.rgba = theme.window_active_title_bg_color;
 	draw_rect(&ddata, deco_box(view, LAB_DECO_PART_TITLE));
 }
 
diff --git a/src/theme/meson.build b/src/theme/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3b9ec5dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/theme/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+labwc_sources += files(
+  'theme.c',
+)
diff --git a/src/theme/theme.c b/src/theme/theme.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..868450e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/theme/theme.c
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+#define _POSIX_C_SOURCE 200809L
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <ctype.h>
+
+#include "theme.h"
+
+static int hex_to_dec(char c)
+{
+	if (c >= '0' && c <= '9')
+		return c - '0';
+	if (c >= 'a' && c <= 'f')
+		return c - 'a' + 10;
+	if (c >= 'A' && c <= 'F')
+		return c - 'A' + 10;
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static void parse_hexstr(const char *hex, float *rgba)
+{
+	if (!hex || hex[0] != '#' || strlen(hex) < 7)
+		return;
+	rgba[0] = (hex_to_dec(hex[1]) * 16 + hex_to_dec(hex[2])) / 255.0;
+	rgba[1] = (hex_to_dec(hex[3]) * 16 + hex_to_dec(hex[4])) / 255.0;
+	rgba[2] = (hex_to_dec(hex[5]) * 16 + hex_to_dec(hex[6])) / 255.0;
+	if (strlen(hex) > 7)
+		rgba[3] = atoi(hex + 7) / 100.0;
+	else
+		rgba[3] = 1.0;
+}
+
+static void entry(const char *key, const char *value)
+{
+	if (!key || !value)
+		return;
+	if (!strcmp(key, "window.active.title.bg.color"))
+		parse_hexstr(value, theme.window_active_title_bg_color);
+}
+
+static void rtrim(char **s)
+{
+	size_t len = strlen(*s);
+	if (!len)
+		return;
+	char *end = *s + len - 1;
+	while (end >= *s && isspace(*end))
+		end--;
+	*(end + 1) = '\0';
+}
+
+static char *strstrip(char *s)
+{
+	rtrim(&s);
+	while (isspace(*s))
+		s++;
+	return s;
+}
+
+static void parse_config_line(char *line, char **key, char **value)
+{
+	char *p = strchr(line, ':');
+	if (!p)
+		return;
+	*p = '\0';
+	*key = strstrip(line);
+	*value = strstrip(++p);
+}
+
+static void process_line(char *line)
+{
+	if (line[0] == '\0' || line[0] == '#')
+		return;
+	char *key = NULL, *value = NULL;
+	parse_config_line(line, &key, &value);
+	entry(key, value);
+}
+
+void theme_read(const char *filename)
+{
+	FILE *stream;
+	char *line = NULL;
+	size_t len = 0;
+	ssize_t n_read;
+
+	stream = fopen(filename, "r");
+	if (!stream) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "warn: cannot read '%s'\n", filename);
+		return;
+	}
+	while ((n_read = getline(&line, &len, stream) != -1)) {
+		char *p = strrchr(line, '\n');
+		if (p)
+			*p = '\0';
+		process_line(line);
+	}
+	free(line);
+	fclose(stream);
+}
diff --git a/tools/theme/.gitignore b/tools/theme/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c4938022
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/theme/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+theme-helper
diff --git a/tools/theme/Makefile b/tools/theme/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4e83d616
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/theme/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+CFLAGS  = -g -Wall -Wextra -pedantic -std=c11
+CFLAGS += -I../../include/
+ASAN_FLAGS = -O0 -fsanitize=address -fno-common -fno-omit-frame-pointer -rdynamic
+CFLAGS    += $(ASAN_FLAGS)
+LDFLAGS   += $(ASAN_FLAGS) -fuse-ld=gold
+
+all:
+	gcc $(CFLAGS) -o theme-helper theme-helper.c ../../src/theme/theme.c $(LDFLAGS)
diff --git a/tools/theme/theme-helper.c b/tools/theme/theme-helper.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3c917d73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/theme/theme-helper.c
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+#include "../../include/theme.h"
+
+struct theme theme = { 0 };
+
+int main()
+{
+	theme_read("../../data/themerc");
+	for (int i=0; i < 4; i++)
+		printf("%.2f; ", theme.window_active_title_bg_color[i]);
+	printf("\n");
+}