diff --git a/app/lish/createPub/createPublication.ts b/app/lish/createPub/createPublication.ts
index 18ed3a9a..a705a0e6 100644
--- a/app/lish/createPub/createPublication.ts
+++ b/app/lish/createPub/createPublication.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import { Vercel } from "@vercel/sdk";
 import { isProductionDomain } from "src/utils/isProductionDeployment";
 import { string } from "zod";
 import { getPublicationType } from "src/utils/collectionHelpers";
+import { PubThemeDefaultsRGB } from "components/ThemeManager/themeDefaults";
 
 const VERCEL_TOKEN = process.env.VERCEL_TOKEN;
 const vercel = new Vercel({
@@ -94,6 +95,13 @@ export async function createPublication({
       url,
       ...(description && { description }),
       ...(iconBlob && { icon: iconBlob }),
+      basicTheme: {
+        $type: "site.standard.theme.basic",
+        background: { $type: "site.standard.theme.color#rgb", ...PubThemeDefaultsRGB.background },
+        foreground: { $type: "site.standard.theme.color#rgb", ...PubThemeDefaultsRGB.foreground },
+        accent: { $type: "site.standard.theme.color#rgb", ...PubThemeDefaultsRGB.accent },
+        accentForeground: { $type: "site.standard.theme.color#rgb", ...PubThemeDefaultsRGB.accentForeground },
+      },
       preferences: {
         showInDiscover: preferences.showInDiscover,
         showComments: preferences.showComments,
diff --git a/app/lish/createPub/updatePublication.ts b/app/lish/createPub/updatePublication.ts
index 44291293..81a87aa2 100644
--- a/app/lish/createPub/updatePublication.ts
+++ b/app/lish/createPub/updatePublication.ts
@@ -314,8 +314,18 @@ export async function updatePublicationTheme({
       },
     };
 
+    // Derive basicTheme from the theme colors for site.standard.publication
+    const basicTheme: NormalizedPublication["basicTheme"] = {
+      $type: "site.standard.theme.basic",
+      background: { $type: "site.standard.theme.color#rgb", r: theme.backgroundColor.r, g: theme.backgroundColor.g, b: theme.backgroundColor.b },
+      foreground: { $type: "site.standard.theme.color#rgb", r: theme.primary.r, g: theme.primary.g, b: theme.primary.b },
+      accent: { $type: "site.standard.theme.color#rgb", r: theme.accentBackground.r, g: theme.accentBackground.g, b: theme.accentBackground.b },
+      accentForeground: { $type: "site.standard.theme.color#rgb", r: theme.accentText.r, g: theme.accentText.g, b: theme.accentText.b },
+    };
+
     return buildRecord(normalizedPub, existingBasePath, publicationType, {
       theme: themeData,
+      basicTheme,
     });
   });
 }
diff --git a/components/ThemeManager/PublicationThemeProvider.tsx b/components/ThemeManager/PublicationThemeProvider.tsx
index 33ab9579..48dfe2f4 100644
--- a/components/ThemeManager/PublicationThemeProvider.tsx
+++ b/components/ThemeManager/PublicationThemeProvider.tsx
@@ -11,14 +11,7 @@ import {
   useNormalizedPublicationRecord,
 } from "app/lish/[did]/[publication]/dashboard/PublicationSWRProvider";
 import { blobRefToSrc } from "src/utils/blobRefToSrc";
-
-const PubThemeDefaults = {
-  backgroundColor: "#FDFCFA",
-  pageBackground: "#FDFCFA",
-  primary: "#272727",
-  accentText: "#FFFFFF",
-  accentBackground: "#0000FF",
-};
+import { PubThemeDefaults } from "./themeDefaults";
 
 // Default page background for standalone leaflets (matches editor default)
 const StandalonePageBackground = "#FFFFFF";
diff --git a/components/ThemeManager/themeDefaults.ts b/components/ThemeManager/themeDefaults.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..df775809
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/ThemeManager/themeDefaults.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+/**
+ * Default theme values for publications.
+ * Shared between client and server code.
+ */
+
+// Hex color defaults
+export const PubThemeDefaults = {
+  backgroundColor: "#FDFCFA",
+  pageBackground: "#FDFCFA",
+  primary: "#272727",
+  accentText: "#FFFFFF",
+  accentBackground: "#0000FF",
+} as const;
+
+// RGB color defaults (parsed from hex values above)
+export const PubThemeDefaultsRGB = {
+  background: { r: 253, g: 252, b: 250 }, // #FDFCFA
+  foreground: { r: 39, g: 39, b: 39 }, // #272727
+  accent: { r: 0, g: 0, b: 255 }, // #0000FF
+  accentForeground: { r: 255, g: 255, b: 255 }, // #FFFFFF
+} as const;