This topic is being updated for the Orchard 1.1 release.

Orchard provides a packaging feature that lets you share themes you have created. The feature creates a package (.zip file, in .nupkg format) that contains your theme. It also lets you upload your new theme to the Orchard Gallery.

This article shows you how to package a theme and upload it the Orchard Gallery, and how users can download and install your theme.

Viewing the Packaging Modules

To view the packaging modules, open the Orchard dashboard and click Modules. Scroll to Packaging.

The Packaging modules are enabled by default. If any of the modules have been disabled, you must enable them in order to package and upload your theme.

Packaging Your Theme

To package your theme, open the Orchard command line and type the following command, replacing MyFirstTheme with the name of your theme, and C:\Temp with the output path for the generated package file.

package create MyFirstTheme C:\Temp

The package feature creates a .nupkg file. (For more information, see NuGet.org.) The name of the .nupkg file is the name of your theme plus its version number, as in the following example:

Orchard.Theme.<nameOfYourTheme>.<version>.nupkg

Uploading Your Theme to Gallery

After creating your package, you can share your theme by giving someone the package file. You can also contribute your theme to the Orchard Gallery. For information about how to contribute your theme, see Contributing a Module or Theme to the Gallery.

Installing a Packaged Theme

To install a packaged theme in Orchard, open the Orchard dashboard. Click Themes, and then click Install a theme from my compter.

Click Choose File. Browse to, and select, the theme package (.nupkg) file, and then click Open. Then click Install. If Orchard is running on a remote server, you will be browsing your local computer; you do not need to put the .nupkg file onto the server before installing.

Your new theme appears under Available.