ttkbootstrap

What it is and what it does

ttkbootstrap is a theming layer for tkinter that replaces the default look of ttk widgets with modern, flat Bootstrap-inspired designs. Instead of manually setting colors or writing verbose ttk style names, you add a single `bootstyle` keyword to any ttk widget—`bootstyle="primary"`, `bootstyle="success outline"`, etc.—and the package handles the rest. It ships with 30 curated light and dark themes that can be switched at runtime, a bundled set of 2,000+ Bootstrap Icons, and a few extra widgets like Meter, DateEntry, and Tableview. The package is pure Python, depends only on Pillow, and works on Python 3.10 and later.

The styling is declarative and consistent: the same keyword means the same visual intent across all widgets, so you describe what you want (success, danger, info) rather than tuning RGB values. You can also build custom themes using a `Theme(...)` API and a command-line theme designer. Version 2.0 introduced a canonical bootstyle grammar and consolidated the theme catalog; older 1.x code still works with deprecation warnings.

Use it for:

• Build a desktop application with a modern, polished look without hand-coding color schemes or style definitions.
• Switch between light and dark themes at runtime to match user preferences or system settings.
• Rapidly prototype a tkinter GUI by using semantic style keywords instead of managing raw ttk styles.
• Create custom branded themes for your application using the bundled theme designer and export them as code.
• Add themed dialogs and extra widgets (date picker, gauge, table) to a tkinter app without external UI libraries.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Applies Bootstrap-inspired themes and a one-keyword styling system to tkinter's ttk widgets, letting you style any widget with a `bootstyle` parameter instead of managing raw colors or style names.

Yes. ttkbootstrap is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, installs with minimal friction, and solves a real pain point in tkinter development—making GUIs look modern without extensive styling boilerplate. It's suitable for production desktop applications and is well-documented.

Install

ttkbootstrap on PyPI

pip install ttkbootstrap

uv add ttkbootstrap

poetry add ttkbootstrap

Installing ttkbootstrap

Before you install

Low friction: pure Python with only Pillow as a runtime dependency, distributed as a wheel, and actively maintained with a recent release.

License in practice

Dual-licensed under MIT and (Apache-2.0 OR BSD-2-Clause), permissive terms that allow commercial and private use with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install ttkbootstrap

import ttkbootstrap as ttk

app = ttk.App(title="Hello")
ttk.Button(app, text="Primary", bootstyle="primary").pack()
app.mainloop()

Requires Python 3.10 or later.

Verify before relying

• Whether the 30 curated themes are all fully functional and visually consistent across all supported Python versions.
• Performance characteristics when rendering large numbers of styled widgets or switching themes at runtime.

Package facts

Evidence: ttkbootstrap-2.2.1-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: tkinter, theme, ttk, bootstrap, gui, desktop, python3, ui, widgets, theming, cross-platform, modern, responsive, python-gui

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