Static frontend files are shipped with pleroma. If you want to overwrite or update these without problems during upgrades, you can write your custom versions to the static directory.
If you use a From Source installation and want to manage your custom files in the git repository, you can remove the `instance/` entry from `.gitignore`.
Add `$static_dir/instance/thumbnail.jpeg` with your selfie or other neat picture. It will be available on `http://your-domain.tld/instance/thumbnail.jpeg` and can be used by external applications.
You can change the background of your Pleroma instance by uploading it to `$static_dir/`, and then changing `background` in [your configuration](../cheatsheet/#frontend_configurations) accordingly.
If you want to give a brand to your instance, You can change the logo of your instance by uploading it to the static directory `$static_dir/static/logo.png`.
Note the extra `static` folder for the terms-of-service.html
Terms of Service will be shown to all users on the registration page. It's the best place where to write down the rules for your instance. You can modify the rules by adding and changing `$static_dir/static/terms-of-service.html`.
To overwrite the CSS stylesheet of the OAuth form and other static pages, you can upload your own CSS file to `instance/static/static.css`. This will completely replace the CSS used by those pages, so it might be a good idea to copy the one from `priv/static/instance/static.css` and make your changes.