Oracle Apex Ut UI

Oracle APEX Universal Theme skill

(Package / repo slug: Oracle-apex-ut-UI.skill)

Purpose: A pre-reference package any AI (Claude, GPT, Gemini, local LLM, etc.) can be given so it produces HTML/CSS/layouts that visually and structurally match Oracle APEX's Universal Theme 42, "Vita" style family — without needing an actual APEX instance.

Source of truth (official, live):

• Getting Started / live component gallery: https://oracleapex.com/ords/r/apex_pm/ut/getting-started
• Theme Style LESS sources (Oracle CDN, APEX 26.1 / Theme 42 26.1):
  • Vita (light, default): https://static.oracle.com/cdn/apex/26.1.2/themes/theme_42/26.1/less/theme/Vita.less
  • Vita Dark: https://static.oracle.com/cdn/apex/26.1.2/themes/theme_42/26.1/less/theme/Vita-Dark.less
  • Vita Red: https://static.oracle.com/cdn/apex/26.1.2/themes/theme_42/26.1/less/theme/Vita-Red.less
  • Vita Slate: https://static.oracle.com/cdn/apex/26.1.2/themes/theme_42/26.1/less/theme/Vita-Slate.less
  • Iris: https://static.oracle.com/cdn/apex/26.1.2/themes/theme_42/26.1/less/theme/Iris.less
  • Redwood: https://static.oracle.com/cdn/apex/26.1.2/themes/theme_42/26.1/less/theme/Redwood.less and Redwood-Theme.less
  • Legacy Theme Standard (pre-Theme-42, different architecture): https://static.oracle.com/cdn/apex/26.1.2/app_ui/css/Core.css and Theme-Standard.css
  • Icon font: https://static.oracle.com/cdn/apex/26.1.2/libraries/font-apex/2.5.1/css/font-apex.css
  • Theme JS (sticky widgets, nav behavior): https://static.oracle.com/cdn/apex/26.1.2/themes/theme_42/26.1/js/theme42.js, https://static.oracle.com/cdn/apex/26.1.2/libraries/apex/minified/widget.stickyWidget.min.js

Keep those four links handy — they are the canonical, always-current definition. This skill distills them into something usable directly in a browser (plain CSS custom properties) plus a class/component cheat-sheet, because the .less files require Oracle's build pipeline (Theme Roller) to compile correctly (they use LESS functions like contrast(), mix(), desaturate(), fade() and an override pattern that only resolves correctly inside APEX's own LESS compiler).

1. How Vita's token system actually works

Universal Theme 42 is a two-layer CSS variable system:

1. --a-* variables — low-level "Application UI" component tokens (buttons, cards, checkboxes, menus, grid views, chips, dialogs, spinners, etc.). These rarely change between Theme Styles; they define spacing, sizing, radii, font-sizes.
2. --ut-* variables — "Universal Theme" tokens that carry the actual brand identity (header color, region color, body background, primary palette, shadows, borders). These are what changes between Vita / Vita Dark / Vita Red / Vita Slate / your own custom style.
3. A small set of @g_* LESS "Theme Roller" variables are the only things a human (or Theme Roller) edits. Everything else is derived from them via LESS color functions (contrast, mix, lighten, darken, desaturate, fade). This is the mechanism used to create "a new style to the same standard" — see §4.

Golden rule for any AI generating Vita-style UI

Never hard-code colors in component markup. Always reference the CSS custom property (e.g. var(--ut-palette-primary), var(--a-button-background-color)), the same way real APEX-rendered pages do. That's what makes the output swappable across Vita / Vita Dark / Vita Red / Vita Slate / a custom style just by swapping the :root block.

2. Core token map (Vita — light, default)

Use tokens/vita-light.css in this package — a ready-to-<link> (or inline <style>) stylesheet containing the full resolved :root { --ut-...; --a-...; } variable set for baseline Vita. Load it first, then layer component CSS on top using var(--token-name).

Key tokens an AI will reach for constantly:

Full list (300+ tokens covering buttons, cards, chips, checkboxes, date pickers, faceted search, file drop, grid view, menus, popup LOV, splitter, star rating, switches, toolbars, tree view, dialogs, tooltips, diagrams, chat, QR code, calendar, etc.) is in tokens/vita-light.css.

3. Component class cheat-sheet (Universal Theme 42 naming conventions)

When generating markup, use these real APEX class prefixes so the HTML is structurally authentic (and portable back into an actual APEX page template):

• t-Body, t-Body-nav, t-Body-content, t-Body-actions — page shell
• t-Header, t-Header-logo, t-Header-nav, t-Header-search — top bar
• t-Region, .t-Region--card, .t-Region-header, .t-Region-headerItems, .t-Region-body, .t-Region-buttons — region/card container
• t-Button, .t-Button--hot, .t-Button--warning, .t-Button--success, .t-Button--danger, .t-Button--primary, .t-Button--simple, .t-Button--link, .t-Button--noUI, .t-Button--header, .t-Button--icon — buttons & states
• t-Alert, .t-Alert--success, .t-Alert--warning, .t-Alert--danger, .t-Alert--info — alerts
• t-Badge — status pill
• t-Form-fieldContainer, t-Form-label, t-Form-inputContainer, apex-item-text, apex-item-select, apex-item-textarea — form items
• t-Card, a-CardView, .a-CardView-card, .a-CardView-title, .a-CardView-icon — card views
• t-Report, a-IRR, t-Report-header, t-Report-wrap — interactive reports
• t-TreeView, a-TreeView, .a-TreeView-content — nav tree / hierarchy widgets
• t-Breadcrumb, t-Breadcrumb-item — breadcrumbs
• t-Tabs, .t-Tabs-item, .is-active — tabs
• t-Dialog/ui-dialog — modal dialogs (jQuery UI-based)
• t-WizardProgress — wizard step indicator
• a-Icon, fa-* / icon-* — icon font hooks

Full markup patterns and working examples of each are in components-reference.md.

4. Making "a new style to the same standard" (custom Theme Style)

Oracle's own approach (see Vita-Red.less) is deliberately minimal: override only 5–10 of the @g_* "Theme Roller" LESS variables at the top of the file, then re-import the base Vita file. Everything else (buttons, forms, IRs, shadows, states, spacing) cascades automatically from those few variables via LESS color math. That is the "standard" to replicate for a new style.

The variables that matter, in order of visual impact:

@g_Accent-BG:        #0E9F6E;  // primary brand color — drives header, links, focus ring,
                                 // hot buttons, primary state, nav accent, badges
@g_Link-Base:         @g_Accent-BG;  // hyperlink color (often left = accent)
@g_Focus:             @g_Accent-BG;  // focus ring color
@g_Nav_Style:          dark;    // 'dark' or 'light' left nav / header menu
@g_Body-Title-BG:      #ffffff; // breadcrumb/title bar background (optional)
@g_Container-BorderRadius: .375rem; // region/card corner radius
@g_Button-BorderRadius:    .375rem; // button corner radius
@g_Form-BorderRadius:      .375rem; // input corner radius

This package includes a working example new style: "Vita Emerald" (tokens/vita-emerald.less + a browser-ready tokens/vita-emerald.css), built exactly the way Vita-Red.less is built — an emerald/teal accent (#0E9F6E), same navigation and layout mechanics as base Vita, slightly more rounded corners (6px vs Oracle's default 2–4px) for a softer, modern feel.

To use it for real inside APEX: paste vita-emerald.less into Theme Roller → Style → (create new / edit custom LESS), or add it as a new Theme Style's custom LESS file, then let APEX's Theme Roller compile it — that guarantees pixel-perfect, fully-computed colors (contrast-checked automatically by Oracle's contrast() function).

To use it outside APEX (plain HTML/CSS, prototypes, other AI tools): load tokens/vita-emerald.css — the colors have been pre-resolved by hand following the same LESS math Oracle uses (contrast, mix, desaturate, darken/lighten), so it's ready to <link> directly with no build step. Treat it as a close approximation for prototyping; re-verify exact hex values against Theme Roller before shipping to production.

5. Recommended workflow for an AI given only this skill

1. Load tokens/vita-light.css (or vita-dark.css / vita-red.css / vita-emerald.css) as the :root variable layer.
2. Build markup using the class names in §3 / components-reference.md.
3. Style everything with var(--token-name) — never literal hex codes — so the same markup automatically re-skins if the :root block is swapped.
4. For anything not covered (a token that doesn't exist yet), fall back to the nearest semantically-equivalent --ut-component-* or --a-* token rather than inventing a new hardcoded color, to stay consistent with the design system.
5. When asked for "a new style", follow §4: pick a new @g_Accent-BG (and optionally radius/nav-style), derive the rest the same way vita-emerald.css does, rather than redesigning the whole system from scratch.

6. Files in this package

Oracle-apex-ut-UI.skill/
├── SKILL.md                       ← this file
├── components-reference.md        ← class names + markup patterns + usage notes
├── example.html                   ← live demo: header, nav, region/cards, buttons,
│                                     alerts, badges, form, table — using the tokens
├── docs/                          ← GitHub Pages landing/demo site (see repo README)
└── tokens/
    ├── vita-light.css             ← baseline Vita (light) — full resolved token set
    ├── vita-dark.css              ← Vita Dark deltas (official)
    ├── vita-red.css               ← Vita Red deltas (official)
    ├── vita-slate.css             ← Vita Slate deltas (official)
    ├── iris.css                   ← Iris deltas (official, Redwood-family "Sky" pillar)
    ├── redwood.css                ← Redwood deltas (official, flagship design system)
    ├── standard.css                ← Legacy Theme Standard — best-effort approximation only
    ├── vita-emerald.less           ← NEW custom style, Oracle Theme-Roller-ready LESS source
    └── vita-emerald.css            ← NEW custom style, browser-ready resolved tokens

All delta files (everything except vita-light.css and the vita-emerald.* pair) load after vita-light.css and only override what changes for that style — same markup, different :root values. standard.css is the one exception: it approximates a pre-Theme-42 legacy theme that doesn't actually share Theme 42's token architecture, so treat it as a rough visual reference rather than an authoritative source.