Apps as themes

It is absolutely possible to ship whole themes inside an app. All you have to do is include your theme configuration (in the form of a theme.json file) inside your apps Resources folder.
So the folder structure of a theme may look like this:

└── DemoTheme
      └── Resources
            └── ...
            └── theme.json
      └── manifest.xml

Themes vs. "ordinary" apps

If your app provides a theme.json file, it is considered to be a theme. All the changes you make to the Storefront's appearance inside your theme will be visible only if your theme is assigned to the Storefront. In contrast, if you don't provide a theme.json file, your app is an "ordinary" app. The changes will be applied to all sales channels automatically, as long as your app is active.

Migrating existing themes

If you already created Shopware 6 themes via plugins, it is effortless to migrate them to the app system. Don't worry - you don't have to do all work twice. Instead of providing a composer.json and plugin base class, provide a manifest.xml file with the metadata for your app. After you created a new folder for your app and added the manifest.xml, you can copy the YourThemePlugin/src/Resources folder from your plugin to the YourThemeApp/Resources folder inside your app. It should not be necessary to change anything inside your template or Javascript code at all.