Support for dwanim it

dwanim it is a music player for audio files kept on your own Mac. This page covers getting started, the two interfaces, classic skins, color themes, and answers to common questions.

Requirements

dwanim it requires macOS 14 or later.

Getting Started

Open audio with File → Open Audio… (⌘O), or drag files — or a whole folder — onto the player window. The tracks you open form a playlist: save it with File → Save Playlist… (⌘S) as an .m3u file, and bring it back later with File → Open Playlist… (⌘⌥O).

The Two Interfaces

The Cadence deck is the default interface: a frosted single column with the visualizer, transport controls, playlist, and 10-band equalizer all visible at once. It is fully functional on its own — you never need to add anything to it.

Classic mode is optional. Loading a classic .wsz skin file splits the player into three skinned windows; with a skin loaded, the View menu's Skin Window (⌘K), Playlist (⌘P), and Equalizer (⌘G) items close and reopen each window. Skin → Default View (⌘⇧D) closes all three and brings back the Cadence window. The loaded skin is kept, so pressing ⌘K afterwards rebuilds the classic window without choosing the file again.

Loading a Classic Skin

Choose File → Open Skin… (⌘⇧O), or drag a .wsz file onto the player window. While no skin is loaded, the View menu's three items — Skin Window (⌘K), Playlist (⌘P), Equalizer (⌘G) — open the same file picker.

dwanim it does not include, host, or distribute any skins. Skins in the classic .wsz format are made by other people; you supply your own file.

Some skins draw the main window without a close button; the Skin Window item (⌘K) is then the way to dismiss and bring back that window.

Color Themes

The Cadence deck ships with three built-in color themes — Graphite (the default), Amber Deck, and Indigo Glass — selectable from the Appearance popover. The popover also carries rows for opening a theme or skin file of your own.

Writing Your Own Theme

A theme is a small text file — .dwtheme or .json — and the key thing to know is that you can change one color and inherit the rest. Whatever tokens your file sets are merged over the Graphite built-in; everything you leave out stays as Graphite paints it. No token is individually required — a file is accepted as long as at least one token parses to a valid color. A token whose value cannot be parsed is dropped on its own; the rest still apply.

Two shapes are accepted. The most robust is a JSON object of "token": "color" pairs (tokens may also sit under a "colors" or "vars" object; when such an object is present, top-level tokens outside it are ignored). Alternatively, a plain-text file with one token: color or token = color per line also works; lines without a separator are skipped. Token names are case-insensitive in both shapes, and unrecognized keys are ignored.

name is the only non-color field, and it is optional — a missing or blank name falls back to the filename. If the name exactly matches a built-in theme's name, the popover lists the loaded theme with (2) appended so the two stay distinguishable.

Token	What it paints
`accent`	The interactive tint throughout the deck: the Appearance chip, the selected theme's checkmark, the now-playing marker and row index, the "Add files…" links, the drag-and-drop overlay, the EQ On checkbox, the visualizer bar gradient, and the active Shuffle, Repeat, and EQ pills.
`glow`	The soft radial glow at the upper left of the backdrop.
`glow2`	The soft radial glow at the upper right of the backdrop.
`bg1`	The top of the backdrop's vertical gradient.
`bg2`	The bottom of the backdrop's vertical gradient.
`panel`	The translucent tint over the material that forms the window's glass body.
`text`	The now-playing track title, and the Appearance chip's chevron.
`muted`	Accepted and reserved, but currently unused — setting it changes nothing visible.
`lcd`	The recessed dark well behind the spectrum bars.

Colors may be written as hex — #RGB, #RRGGBB, or #RRGGBBAA, with the leading # required — or as rgb(r, g, b) with channels from 0 to 255, or rgba(r, g, b, a) with an alpha from 0 to 1. Named colors are not accepted.

Theme Downloads

Six ready-made theme files are hosted here. They are free to use and to modify.

Graphite Starter — the Graphite built-in as a full-token starting point for your own edits.
Amber Deck Starter — the Amber Deck built-in, likewise.
Indigo Glass Starter — the Indigo Glass built-in, likewise.
Sunset — a warm theme that sets every token.
Ocean — a cool blue-green theme that sets every token.
Rose Line — a three-color theme, and a worked example of inheritance.

The starters carry "Starter" names so they do not collide with the built-ins in the popover. Rose Line is the whole merge story in one file — its full contents:

{
  "name": "Rose Line",
  "accent": "#e2688f",
  "glow": "rgba(150, 40, 80, 0.44)",
  "text": "#f4e6ec"
}

It sets an accent, one glow, and the title-text color — nothing else. Every other token inherits from Graphite, which is why a file this small is a complete, valid theme.

The downloadable files are all JSON, but the same theme can also be written as plain lines — either separator works:

name: Rose Line
accent = #e2688f
glow: rgba(150, 40, 80, 0.44)
text = #f4e6ec

Loading a Theme

Download a file, open the Appearance popover, and choose Open Theme…. Themes load from any location — there is no special folder. Dragging a theme file onto the player window works too, as does opening one from the Finder.

A loaded theme keeps working even if you later move, rename, or delete the file — the app stores the theme's text, not a path. A theme rejected via drag-and-drop fails without an alert; open the Appearance popover and its status line shows the reason.

Older .dwskin color-theme files still open the same way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does dwanim it need an account?

No. There is no account and no sign-in.

Does it connect to the internet?

No. The app has no network permission at all — it is sandboxed without a network entitlement, so it is technically incapable of making a network connection.

Does it come with skins?

dwanim it does not include, host, or distribute any skins — they are made by other people, and many are preserved by an independent online museum.

What audio formats does it play?

MP3, AAC (.m4a and .aac), ALAC, FLAC (.flac), WAV, AIFF, and CAF.

Does it work without any skins?

Yes, fully. The Cadence deck is the primary interface and is complete on its own; classic mode is optional.

Do Chinese and Japanese track names display correctly?

Yes, in both interfaces. The app itself is localized in English, Traditional Chinese, and Japanese.

Is it a subscription?

No. dwanim it is a one-time purchase — no subscription and no in-app purchases.

Troubleshooting

A track appears in the playlist but finishes instantly without sound: this happens with FLAC audio inside an Ogg container. dwanim it plays FLAC in its native .flac container.
A .wma file can be selected in the open panel but will not play — the system decoder does not accept it.
A theme file you dragged onto the window did not apply: open the Appearance popover — its status line shows the reason.
If a problem persists, contact us with details.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, feedback, or run into a problem while using dwanim it, we are here to help.

Reach us through the contact form on our website.

We typically respond within 1–3 business days.

When reporting a technical issue, please include:

Your macOS version
What you were doing when the problem occurred
The file involved, if the problem concerns a specific audio, playlist, skin, or theme file