diff --git a/.chezmoiignore b/.chezmoiignore
index 08b96bc..61e9808 100644
--- a/.chezmoiignore
+++ b/.chezmoiignore
@@ -10,3 +10,12 @@ Library
 # pi: keep config, never commit secrets/sessions
 .pi/agent/auth.json
 .pi/agent/sessions
+
+# kitty: the light/dark mode is per-machine, and the *-theme.auto.conf files
+# are generated from it plus .config/kitty/themes. Tracking them would make
+# every machine flag the others' mode. run_after_kitty-theme-mode.sh
+# regenerates them after apply.
+.config/kitty/theme-mode
+.config/kitty/dark-theme.auto.conf
+.config/kitty/light-theme.auto.conf
+.config/kitty/no-preference-theme.auto.conf
diff --git a/private_dot_config/kitty/private_dark-theme.auto.conf b/private_dot_config/kitty/private_dark-theme.auto.conf
deleted file mode 100644
index fc08e36..0000000
--- a/private_dot_config/kitty/private_dark-theme.auto.conf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-background            #1c2836
-foreground            #ffffff
-cursor                #bbbbbb
-selection_background  #b4d5ff
-color0                #000000
-color8                #545454
-color1                #f9555f
-color9                #fa8b8e
-color2                #20af89
-color10               #34bb99
-color3                #fdf029
-color11               #ffff55
-color4                #589cf5
-color12               #589cf5
-color5                #934d95
-color13               #e75598
-color6                #1e9ee6
-color14               #3978bb
-color7                #bbbbbb
-color15               #ffffff
-selection_foreground #1c2836
-
-# START_AUTOGENERATED_TAB_STYLE
-# Feel free to update these colors manually and remove these comments.
-active_tab_foreground   #1c2836
-active_tab_background   #2e84e6
-inactive_tab_foreground #2e84e6
-inactive_tab_background #1c2836
-# END_AUTOGENERATED_TAB_STYLE
-
-macos_titlebar_color background
diff --git a/private_dot_config/kitty/private_executable_apply-theme-mode.sh b/private_dot_config/kitty/private_executable_apply-theme-mode.sh
index 5039f4e..e23f51f 100644
--- a/private_dot_config/kitty/private_executable_apply-theme-mode.sh
+++ b/private_dot_config/kitty/private_executable_apply-theme-mode.sh
@@ -54,8 +54,13 @@ for appearance in dark light no-preference; do
     [ -f "$canonical" ] || continue
 
     generated="$config_dir/$appearance-theme.auto.conf"
+    # stat -f is BSD/macOS, stat -c is GNU; this also runs on Linux boxes.
     mode_bits=600
-    [ -f "$generated" ] && mode_bits=$(stat -f '%Lp' "$generated")
+    if [ -f "$generated" ]; then
+        mode_bits=$(stat -f '%Lp' "$generated" 2>/dev/null \
+            || stat -c '%a' "$generated" 2>/dev/null \
+            || echo 600)
+    fi
 
     tmp=$(mktemp "$generated.tmp.XXXXXX")
     trap 'rm -f "$tmp"' EXIT HUP INT TERM
diff --git a/private_dot_config/kitty/private_executable_repair-auto-themes.sh b/private_dot_config/kitty/private_executable_repair-auto-themes.sh
index 666492f..d12bc99 100644
--- a/private_dot_config/kitty/private_executable_repair-auto-themes.sh
+++ b/private_dot_config/kitty/private_executable_repair-auto-themes.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ for appearance in dark light no-preference; do
     trap 'rm -f "$tmp"' EXIT HUP INT TERM
     awk '$1 != "macos_titlebar_color"' "$config_file" > "$tmp"
     printf '\nmacos_titlebar_color background\n' >> "$tmp"
-    chmod "$(stat -f '%Lp' "$config_file")" "$tmp"
+    # stat -f is BSD/macOS, stat -c is GNU; this also runs on Linux boxes.
+    chmod "$(stat -f '%Lp' "$config_file" 2>/dev/null \
+        || stat -c '%a' "$config_file" 2>/dev/null \
+        || echo 600)" "$tmp"
     mv -f "$tmp" "$config_file"
     trap - EXIT HUP INT TERM
 done
diff --git a/private_dot_config/kitty/private_light-theme.auto.conf b/private_dot_config/kitty/private_light-theme.auto.conf
deleted file mode 100644
index fc08e36..0000000
--- a/private_dot_config/kitty/private_light-theme.auto.conf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-background            #1c2836
-foreground            #ffffff
-cursor                #bbbbbb
-selection_background  #b4d5ff
-color0                #000000
-color8                #545454
-color1                #f9555f
-color9                #fa8b8e
-color2                #20af89
-color10               #34bb99
-color3                #fdf029
-color11               #ffff55
-color4                #589cf5
-color12               #589cf5
-color5                #934d95
-color13               #e75598
-color6                #1e9ee6
-color14               #3978bb
-color7                #bbbbbb
-color15               #ffffff
-selection_foreground #1c2836
-
-# START_AUTOGENERATED_TAB_STYLE
-# Feel free to update these colors manually and remove these comments.
-active_tab_foreground   #1c2836
-active_tab_background   #2e84e6
-inactive_tab_foreground #2e84e6
-inactive_tab_background #1c2836
-# END_AUTOGENERATED_TAB_STYLE
-
-macos_titlebar_color background
diff --git a/private_dot_config/kitty/private_no-preference-theme.auto.conf b/private_dot_config/kitty/private_no-preference-theme.auto.conf
deleted file mode 100644
index fc08e36..0000000
--- a/private_dot_config/kitty/private_no-preference-theme.auto.conf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-background            #1c2836
-foreground            #ffffff
-cursor                #bbbbbb
-selection_background  #b4d5ff
-color0                #000000
-color8                #545454
-color1                #f9555f
-color9                #fa8b8e
-color2                #20af89
-color10               #34bb99
-color3                #fdf029
-color11               #ffff55
-color4                #589cf5
-color12               #589cf5
-color5                #934d95
-color13               #e75598
-color6                #1e9ee6
-color14               #3978bb
-color7                #bbbbbb
-color15               #ffffff
-selection_foreground #1c2836
-
-# START_AUTOGENERATED_TAB_STYLE
-# Feel free to update these colors manually and remove these comments.
-active_tab_foreground   #1c2836
-active_tab_background   #2e84e6
-inactive_tab_foreground #2e84e6
-inactive_tab_background #1c2836
-# END_AUTOGENERATED_TAB_STYLE
-
-macos_titlebar_color background
diff --git a/private_dot_config/kitty/theme-mode b/private_dot_config/kitty/theme-mode
deleted file mode 100644
index 4520e2f..0000000
--- a/private_dot_config/kitty/theme-mode
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-dark
diff --git a/run_after_kitty-theme-mode.sh b/run_after_kitty-theme-mode.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1f9a742
--- /dev/null
+++ b/run_after_kitty-theme-mode.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# The kitty *-theme.auto.conf files are generated from .config/kitty/themes and
+# the per-machine .config/kitty/theme-mode, both of which .chezmoiignore keeps
+# out of the source state. Regenerate them here so a freshly applied machine
+# ends up with theme files kitty can read.
+#
+# apply-theme-mode.sh is idempotent, and defaults to `auto` when there is no
+# theme-mode file, so a new machine simply follows its OS until told otherwise.
+
+set -eu
+
+config_dir="${KITTY_CONFIG_DIRECTORY:-$HOME/.config/kitty}"
+apply="$config_dir/apply-theme-mode.sh"
+
+# Nothing to do on machines without this kitty config applied.
+[ -x "$apply" ] || exit 0
+[ -d "$config_dir/themes" ] || exit 0
+
+# Never let a theming problem fail the whole apply.
+if ! "$apply" "$config_dir"; then
+    echo "warning: could not regenerate kitty theme files" >&2
+fi
+
+exit 0