diff --git a/javascript/ui.js b/javascript/ui.js
index 9e1bed4c..cfd0dcd3 100644
--- a/javascript/ui.js
+++ b/javascript/ui.js
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 // various functions for interation with ui.py not large enough to warrant putting them in separate files
 
+function set_theme(theme){
+    gradioURL = window.location.href
+    if (!gradioURL.includes('?__theme=')) {
+      window.location.replace(gradioURL + '?__theme=' + theme);
+    }
+}
+
 function selected_gallery_index(){
     var buttons = gradioApp().querySelectorAll('[style="display: block;"].tabitem .gallery-item')
     var button = gradioApp().querySelector('[style="display: block;"].tabitem .gallery-item.\\!ring-2')
diff --git a/modules/shared.py b/modules/shared.py
index 2a2b0427..9603d26e 100644
--- a/modules/shared.py
+++ b/modules/shared.py
@@ -70,13 +70,13 @@ parser.add_argument("--gradio-img2img-tool", type=str, help='gradio image upload
 parser.add_argument("--opt-channelslast", action='store_true', help="change memory type for stable diffusion to channels last")
 parser.add_argument("--styles-file", type=str, help="filename to use for styles", default=os.path.join(script_path, 'styles.csv'))
 parser.add_argument("--autolaunch", action='store_true', help="open the webui URL in the system's default browser upon launch", default=False)
+parser.add_argument("--theme", type=str, help="launches the UI with light or dark theme", default=None)
 parser.add_argument("--use-textbox-seed", action='store_true', help="use textbox for seeds in UI (no up/down, but possible to input long seeds)", default=False)
 parser.add_argument("--disable-console-progressbars", action='store_true', help="do not output progressbars to console", default=False)
 parser.add_argument("--enable-console-prompts", action='store_true', help="print prompts to console when generating with txt2img and img2img", default=False)
 parser.add_argument('--vae-path', type=str, help='Path to Variational Autoencoders model', default=None)
 parser.add_argument("--disable-safe-unpickle", action='store_true', help="disable checking pytorch models for malicious code", default=False)
 
-
 cmd_opts = parser.parse_args()
 restricted_opts = [
     "samples_filename_pattern",
diff --git a/modules/ui.py b/modules/ui.py
index 2a7f64f9..1dae4a65 100644
--- a/modules/ui.py
+++ b/modules/ui.py
@@ -1796,6 +1796,9 @@ for filename in sorted(os.listdir(jsdir)):
     with open(os.path.join(jsdir, filename), "r", encoding="utf8") as jsfile:
         javascript += f"\n<script>{jsfile.read()}</script>"
 
+if cmd_opts.theme is not None:
+    javascript += f"\n<script>set_theme('{cmd_opts.theme}');</script>\n"
+
 javascript += f"\n<script>{localization.localization_js(shared.opts.localization)}</script>"
 
 if 'gradio_routes_templates_response' not in globals():