diff --git a/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift b/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift
index b38a019f0..7b0ff6fc2 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/App/macOS/AppDelegate.swift
@@ -546,24 +546,7 @@ class AppDelegate: NSObject,
 
     /// Sync the appearance of our app with the theme specified in the config.
     private func syncAppearance(config: Ghostty.Config) {
-        guard let theme = config.windowTheme else { return }
-        switch (theme) {
-        case "dark":
-            let appearance = NSAppearance(named: .darkAqua)
-            NSApplication.shared.appearance = appearance
-
-        case "light":
-            let appearance = NSAppearance(named: .aqua)
-            NSApplication.shared.appearance = appearance
-
-        case "auto":
-            let color = OSColor(config.backgroundColor)
-            let appearance = NSAppearance(named: color.isLightColor ? .aqua : .darkAqua)
-            NSApplication.shared.appearance = appearance
-
-        default:
-            NSApplication.shared.appearance = nil
-        }
+        NSApplication.shared.appearance = .init(ghosttyConfig: config)
     }
 
     //MARK: - Restorable State
diff --git a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
index 67e7259f3..7fd1802dc 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Features/Terminal/TerminalController.swift
@@ -201,6 +201,9 @@ class TerminalController: BaseTerminalController {
     private func syncAppearance(_ surfaceConfig: Ghostty.SurfaceView.DerivedConfig) {
         guard let window = self.window as? TerminalWindow else { return }
 
+        // Set our explicit appearance if we need to based on the configuration.
+        window.appearance = surfaceConfig.windowAppearance
+
         // If our window is not visible, then we do nothing. Some things such as blurring
         // have no effect if the window is not visible. Ultimately, we'll have this called
         // at some point when a surface becomes focused.
diff --git a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/SurfaceView_AppKit.swift b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/SurfaceView_AppKit.swift
index d06ab36eb..14f2a43c8 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/SurfaceView_AppKit.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/SurfaceView_AppKit.swift
@@ -1097,12 +1097,14 @@ extension Ghostty {
             let backgroundOpacity: Double
             let macosWindowShadow: Bool
             let windowTitleFontFamily: String?
+            let windowAppearance: NSAppearance?
 
             init() {
                 self.backgroundColor = Color(NSColor.windowBackgroundColor)
                 self.backgroundOpacity = 1
                 self.macosWindowShadow = true
                 self.windowTitleFontFamily = nil
+                self.windowAppearance = nil
             }
 
             init(_ config: Ghostty.Config) {
@@ -1110,6 +1112,7 @@ extension Ghostty {
                 self.backgroundOpacity = config.backgroundOpacity
                 self.macosWindowShadow = config.macosWindowShadow
                 self.windowTitleFontFamily = config.windowTitleFontFamily
+                self.windowAppearance = .init(ghosttyConfig: config)
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/macos/Sources/Helpers/NSAppearance+Extension.swift b/macos/Sources/Helpers/NSAppearance+Extension.swift
index 336125574..28edb1a35 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Helpers/NSAppearance+Extension.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Helpers/NSAppearance+Extension.swift
@@ -5,4 +5,27 @@ extension NSAppearance {
     var isDark: Bool {
         return name.rawValue.lowercased().contains("dark")
     }
+
+    /// Initialize a desired NSAppearance for the Ghostty configuration.
+    convenience init?(ghosttyConfig config: Ghostty.Config) {
+        guard let theme = config.windowTheme else { return nil }
+        switch (theme) {
+        case "dark":
+            self.init(named: .darkAqua)
+
+        case "light":
+            self.init(named: .aqua)
+
+        case "auto":
+            let color = OSColor(config.backgroundColor)
+            if color.isLightColor {
+                self.init(named: .aqua)
+            } else {
+                self.init(named: .darkAqua)
+            }
+
+        default:
+            return nil
+        }
+    }
 }