diff --git a/src/App.tsx b/src/App.tsx
index 86e7a323..49ee7e44 100644
--- a/src/App.tsx
+++ b/src/App.tsx
@@ -306,10 +306,16 @@ function App() {
     triggerIncrementalIndex()
   }, [vault, triggerIncrementalIndex])
 
+  const { notifyThemeSaved } = themeManager
+  const onNotePersisted = useCallback((path: string, content: string) => {
+    vault.clearUnsaved(path)
+    notifyThemeSaved(path, content)
+  }, [vault, notifyThemeSaved])
+
   const { handleSave: handleSaveRaw, handleContentChange, savePendingForPath, savePending } = useEditorSaveWithLinks({
     updateEntry: vault.updateEntry,
     setTabs: notes.setTabs, setToastMessage, onAfterSave,
-    onNotePersisted: vault.clearUnsaved,
+    onNotePersisted,
   })
   useEffect(() => { contentChangeRef.current = handleContentChange }, [handleContentChange])
 
diff --git a/src/hooks/useEditorSave.ts b/src/hooks/useEditorSave.ts
index 066781ea..51ea173c 100644
--- a/src/hooks/useEditorSave.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/useEditorSave.ts
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ interface EditorSaveConfig {
   setTabs: (fn: SetStateAction<any[]>) => void
   setToastMessage: (msg: string | null) => void
   onAfterSave?: () => void
-  /** Called after content is persisted — used to clear unsaved state. */
-  onNotePersisted?: (path: string) => void
+  /** Called after content is persisted — used to clear unsaved state and live-reload themes. */
+  onNotePersisted?: (path: string, content: string) => void
 }
 
 /**
@@ -41,8 +41,9 @@ export function useEditorSave({ updateVaultContent, setTabs, setToastMessage, on
     if (!pending) return false
     if (pathFilter && pending.path !== pathFilter) return false
     await saveNote(pending.path, pending.content)
+    const savedContent = pending.content
     pendingContentRef.current = null
-    onNotePersisted?.(pending.path)
+    onNotePersisted?.(pending.path, savedContent)
     return true
   }, [saveNote, onNotePersisted])
 
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ export function useEditorSave({ updateVaultContent, setTabs, setToastMessage, on
       const saved = await flushPending()
       if (!saved && unsavedFallback) {
         await saveNote(unsavedFallback.path, unsavedFallback.content)
-        onNotePersisted?.(unsavedFallback.path)
+        onNotePersisted?.(unsavedFallback.path, unsavedFallback.content)
         setToastMessage('Saved')
         onAfterSave()
         return
diff --git a/src/hooks/useEditorSaveWithLinks.ts b/src/hooks/useEditorSaveWithLinks.ts
index dc388996..29d70ab6 100644
--- a/src/hooks/useEditorSaveWithLinks.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/useEditorSaveWithLinks.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ export function useEditorSaveWithLinks(config: {
   setTabs: Parameters<typeof useEditorSave>[0]['setTabs']
   setToastMessage: (msg: string | null) => void
   onAfterSave: () => void
-  onNotePersisted?: (path: string) => void
+  onNotePersisted?: (path: string, content: string) => void
 }) {
   const { updateEntry } = config
   const saveContent = useCallback((path: string, content: string) => {
diff --git a/src/hooks/useThemeManager.test.ts b/src/hooks/useThemeManager.test.ts
index 0658a1b9..15aca1f2 100644
--- a/src/hooks/useThemeManager.test.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/useThemeManager.test.ts
@@ -441,6 +441,55 @@ describe('useThemeManager', () => {
     expect(result.current.isDark).toBe(false)
   })
 
+  it('notifyThemeSaved updates CSS vars when active theme is saved', async () => {
+    const { result } = renderHook(() =>
+      useThemeManager('/vault', entries, allContent)
+    )
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(result.current.activeThemeId).toBe(THEME_PATH_DEFAULT)
+    })
+    expect(document.documentElement.style.getPropertyValue('--background')).toBe('#FFFFFF')
+
+    const updatedContent = `---
+type: Theme
+Description: Light theme
+background: "#1a1a2e"
+foreground: "#e0e0e0"
+primary: "#155DFF"
+sidebar: "#2a2a3e"
+text-primary: "#e0e0e0"
+---
+
+# Default Theme
+`
+    act(() => {
+      result.current.notifyThemeSaved(THEME_PATH_DEFAULT, updatedContent)
+    })
+
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(document.documentElement.style.getPropertyValue('--background')).toBe('#1a1a2e')
+    })
+    expect(document.documentElement.style.getPropertyValue('--sidebar')).toBe('#2a2a3e')
+  })
+
+  it('notifyThemeSaved is a no-op for non-active theme path', async () => {
+    const { result } = renderHook(() =>
+      useThemeManager('/vault', entries, allContent)
+    )
+    await waitFor(() => {
+      expect(result.current.activeThemeId).toBe(THEME_PATH_DEFAULT)
+    })
+    expect(document.documentElement.style.getPropertyValue('--background')).toBe('#FFFFFF')
+
+    act(() => {
+      result.current.notifyThemeSaved(THEME_PATH_DARK, DARK_THEME_CONTENT)
+    })
+
+    // Background should still be the default theme's white, not dark
+    await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 50))
+    expect(document.documentElement.style.getPropertyValue('--background')).toBe('#FFFFFF')
+  })
+
   it('calls ensure_vault_themes on mount with vaultPath', async () => {
     renderHook(() => useThemeManager('/vault', entries, allContent))
     await waitFor(() => {
diff --git a/src/hooks/useThemeManager.ts b/src/hooks/useThemeManager.ts
index e67cfc64..a3ce7ef8 100644
--- a/src/hooks/useThemeManager.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/useThemeManager.ts
@@ -124,6 +124,8 @@ export interface ThemeManager {
   reloadThemes: () => Promise<void>
   /** Update a single frontmatter property on the active theme note. */
   updateThemeProperty: (key: string, value: string) => Promise<void>
+  /** Notify that the active theme note was saved with new content (live-reload on Cmd+S). */
+  notifyThemeSaved: (path: string, content: string) => void
 }
 
 /** Manages loading and persisting the active theme path from vault settings. */
@@ -275,6 +277,10 @@ export function useThemeManager(
 
   const reloadThemes = useCallback(async () => { await reload() }, [reload])
 
+  const notifyThemeSaved = useCallback((path: string, content: string) => {
+    if (path === activeThemeId) setCachedThemeContent(content)
+  }, [activeThemeId])
+
   const updateThemeProperty = useCallback(async (key: string, value: string) => {
     if (!activeThemeId) return
     try {
@@ -290,6 +296,6 @@ export function useThemeManager(
   return {
     themes, activeThemeId, activeTheme,
     activeThemeContent: cachedThemeContent,
-    isDark, switchTheme, createTheme, reloadThemes, updateThemeProperty,
+    isDark, switchTheme, createTheme, reloadThemes, updateThemeProperty, notifyThemeSaved,
   }
 }