Stylesmith

One click for a complete look in VS Code and your terminal: a color theme, pixel file icons and editor settings that belong together, with a matching Nerd Font if you want one. One click to undo it.

Pick a preset, such as a green-phosphor terminal, a neon city at night or a calm blue-grey studio, and Stylesmith applies it through VS Code's own settings. It can install the matching Nerd Font for you after you confirm, and the optional Oh My Posh prompt and Vim color scheme give your terminal the same colors. Stylesmith: Disable puts your own theme, icons and settings back.

Every theme is checked for contrast and color blindness: contrast for text, syntax and markers, and simulated color blindness for errors, warnings, git and terminal colors (see the ergonomics page for exactly what is and isn't tested). By default, Problem Lens shows problems on their line with shapes and words, not color alone.

Stylesmith uses only VS Code's extension API. It does not modify VS Code installation files: it never injects CSS or JavaScript into the workbench or alters product.json. Glow, scanlines and other effects that need such changes aren't available.

Features

• Twenty-four color themes; pixel file icons for each of them, in its own colors, plus Stylesmith Pixel in each language's colors, with icons for common project files and folders (manifests, CI, AI agent instructions and skills, BPMN models, Robocorp robots, tests by category); and a pixel product icon theme, Stylesmith Pixel, for VS Code's own interface icons (the activity bar, view actions, the status bar). All are contributed through the extension manifest.
• Problem Lens diagnostics shown with editor decorations, gutter icons, inline messages, and a status bar item.
• Presets that select a Stylesmith theme and icon theme, plus supported editor settings.
• Native VS Code settings for smooth caret animation, current-line highlighting, bracket guides, compact layout where supported, block cursors in the editor and terminal, dimming unfocused editors, readable terminal contrast (7:1), sticky scroll, and a calm minimap.
• Optional font selection through VS Code's editor.fontFamily and terminal.integrated.fontFamily settings. The selected Nerd Font family must be installed on your system: install it yourself, or let Stylesmith install it for your user account after you confirm (see Installing a font).

Security model

Stylesmith does not load workspace-provided or remote CSS/JavaScript. It does not inspect project files or settings to decide what code to run. The extension only changes global user settings through VS Code's configuration API and stores reversible setting state in its extension storage. Its color themes, icon themes, and decorations use documented extension contributions and APIs.

As with any extension, installing Stylesmith means trusting its published extension code. The reduced scope does not make all extension code risk-free; review SECURITY.md and the source before enterprise deployment.

Use

Choose a Stylesmith color theme, file icon theme or product icon theme from the normal VS Code selectors (Preferences: Product Icon Theme for the interface icons), click the Stylesmith status-bar button (or run Stylesmith: Show Menu), or run Stylesmith: Apply Preset… to choose a preset. Stylesmith: Enable applies the selected native settings; Stylesmith: Disable restores the settings Stylesmith manages, including the color theme and file icon theme a preset chose. These operations do not require a window reload.

Problem Lens runs independently and updates as diagnostics change. Configure it under stylesmith.problems. With stylesmith.problems.errorSignal on, the status bar briefly shows the new error count whenever it goes up. With stylesmith.terminal.failSignal on, it does the same when a command in the integrated terminal fails, showing its exit code; with stylesmith.terminal.doneSignal on, it briefly shows the duration when a command finishes after running for at least 10 seconds. Both terminal signals need VS Code's shell integration (on by default for bash, zsh, fish and PowerShell), and a command stopped with Ctrl+C doesn't count.

With stylesmith.undoHighlight on, the lines an undo changed are tinted for a moment. With stylesmith.pasteHighlight on, the lines a multi-line paste added are tinted the same way. Themes can change the tints with the stylesmith.undoHighlightBackground and stylesmith.pasteHighlightBackground colors.

With stylesmith.saveReceipt on, a manual save is noted at the end of the cursor's line for two seconds, like a terminal log: ▸ saved 14:02:11. Auto-saves get no note, and a Problem Lens message on the line takes precedence. Themes can change its color with stylesmith.saveReceiptForeground.

Run Stylesmith: Preset Gallery, or choose it in the Stylesmith menu, to see every preset inside VS Code before you apply one: a code sample in its theme's colors, its story, its file icon theme, its settings and its recommended font, with filter buttons for Dark, Light and High contrast, an Apply button, an inline Install button when its font isn't installed yet, and a Disable button. The gallery page loads nothing from outside and can only ask Stylesmith to apply a preset, install a known font after you confirm, or disable.

Run Stylesmith: Boot Sequence to see a short boot log typed out in a terminal tab, in the style of the active theme's preset (a memory check for Phosphor Terminal, a self-test for Amber Monitor, a shelter console for Vault); any key closes it. With workbench.reduceMotion set to on, the whole log appears at once.

Run Stylesmith: Digital Rain to watch characters fall down a terminal tab, in your theme's terminal greens; any key closes it. It draws only while its tab is the active terminal in a focused window. With workbench.reduceMotion set to on, it shows one still frame. Stylesmith can't read the system's reduced-motion preference, so set that setting if you want no animation.

Presets and themes

A preset sets a color theme, a file icon theme for the Explorer, and native VS Code settings. It leaves VS Code's own interface icons (the Activity Bar's) alone; the Stylesmith Pixel product icon theme is there to choose yourself. Every color theme also works on its own. The Themes page shows each one.

Presets

• Night City: Neon pinks and cyans on deep indigo, the look of a city at night, with pixel file icons and a block cursor in the terminal.
• Phosphor Terminal: A late-1970s green-phosphor video terminal: green on near-black, pixel icons in the same greens, a dense, compact layout, and block cursors that blink without animation.
• Amber Monitor: An early-1980s amber monochrome monitor: warm amber tones, matching pixel icons, a compact layout, and block cursors that blink without animation.
• Black ICE: A cold white-phosphor screen with ice-blue accents and matching pixel icons, and only the calmer editor settings.
• Monolith: Blue-grey stone with one soft blue accent, and only the quiet editor settings. Editors you aren't working in are dimmed, so the one in use stands out.
• Glass Lab: Warm concrete greys, soft off-white text and one coral accent, with the quiet editor settings and dimmed unfocused editors.
• Vault: Deep navy and bright vault yellow, an optimistic 1950s vision of the future, with a block cursor in the terminal.
• Simulation: A greyed, green-cast city where only the code glows: a late-1990s film world, with a block cursor in the terminal.
• Steel and Rust: Cold blue-grey steel and dim light, with rust for what matters: the real world outside the simulation, with dimmed unfocused editors.
• Brass: Brass and copper on dark bronze, with verdigris in the strings, and only the calm settings, for slow and careful thinking.
• Tea Garden: A sunlit greenhouse: off-white with a hint of green, moss text, and leaf, mustard and terracotta accents, with a smooth cursor, the current line and a calm minimap.
• Sunroom: Soft sunlight on pale walls: warm cream, muted grey-blue structure and terracotta accents, with unfocused editors dimmed.
• Countdown: A deep blue-black night sky with sun-gold keywords and every number in red, like a countdown, with unfocused editors dimmed.
• Overlay: A security unit's view of the world: cyan interface overlays and amber alerts on dark slate, with a block cursor in the terminal.
• Deep Desert: Sand and ochre under a harsh sun, on the black of rock interiors, with one deep blue for the moments that change the flow.
• Haze: Orange dust over cold concrete, with teal rain: a muted, modern noir, with unfocused editors dimmed.
• Grid: Light lines on black: cyan for the code you trust, and orange for the adversary, only where the flow changes, in a compact layout.

Color themes

• Stylesmith Neon Night: Neon signs reflected on wet streets at night: hot pink and cyan accents and yellow strings on a deep indigo background.
• Stylesmith Phosphor: A late-1970s video terminal with green phosphor: one green range on near-black, with comments dimmed like a fading trace.
• Stylesmith Amber: An early-1980s monochrome monitor with amber phosphor: warm amber and orange tones on a dark brown-black background.
• Stylesmith ICE: A cold white-phosphor screen at night: blue-white text, accents and syntax on a blue-black background.
• Stylesmith Monolith: Blue-grey stone and a single soft blue accent: a calm, minimal dark theme, with syntax in quiet greys, sage and tan.
• Stylesmith Glass Lab: Warm concrete greys, soft off-white text and one coral accent. Errors lean magenta and deleted lines orange, so neither reads as the accent.
• Stylesmith Vault: A deep navy shelter with warm off-white text and a bright yellow accent: the upbeat look of a 1950s vision of the future.
• Stylesmith Simulation: A charcoal city with a faint green cast: greyed text and syntax, keywords in glowing code green, a warm red for return, break and throw, and blue for constants.
• Stylesmith Steel and Rust: Cold blue-grey steel and dim light: steel-blue keywords, rust for numbers and control flow, and muted brass strings.
• Stylesmith Brass: Dark bronze-brown with warm cream text: brass keywords, copper functions and numbers, and verdigris strings and types.
• Stylesmith Tea Garden: Light: warm off-white with a hint of green, dark moss text, leaf-green keywords, terracotta strings and mustard numbers.
• Stylesmith Sunroom: Light: pale warm cream, grey-blue keywords and types, terracotta strings and ochre numbers, warm and muted.
• Stylesmith Countdown: Deep blue-black night sky, pale starlight text, sun-gold keywords, pale cyan types, and one red: every number.
• Stylesmith Overlay: Dark slate with cyan keywords like interface overlays, and amber strings and numbers like alerts. Utilitarian, not neon.
• Stylesmith Deep Desert: Near-black brown with sand text, spice-orange keywords, ochre strings, and a deep blue for return, break and throw.
• Stylesmith Haze: Cold grey concrete with haze-orange keywords and teal strings; everything else muted.
• Stylesmith Grid: Near-black with cyan keywords and pale cyan text, and orange for return, break and throw. Clean and geometric.

Installing a font

Choosing a font that isn't installed in the Stylesmith menu, clicking Install on a card in Stylesmith: Preset Gallery, or running Stylesmith: Install Font…, offers to install it for your user account. Nothing is downloaded unless you choose Install in the confirmation dialog, which shows what is downloaded, from where, and where it goes.

• The files come from this repository's fonts-3.5.1-r2 release: the Nerd Fonts 3.5.1 Mono Regular and Bold files, unchanged. Each file's size and SHA-256 are built into Stylesmith, and a file that doesn't match is refused before anything is written.
• They go to your own font folder, without administrator rights: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts on Windows (registered under HKCU), ~/Library/Fonts on macOS, and ~/.local/share/fonts/stylesmith on Linux.
• On macOS the font works right away. On Windows and Linux, quit and reopen VS Code: only then does VS Code see a new font.
• The fonts are under the SIL Open Font License (and the BSD 3-Clause License for 3270); each font's license is saved in Stylesmith's own storage.
• Stylesmith: Remove Installed Fonts… removes the fonts Stylesmith installed, and nothing else.

Settings

All Stylesmith settings are global user settings. The font settings select a family name; that font must be installed on your system.

All settings in settings.json

{
	"stylesmith.fonts.enabled": false,
	"stylesmith.fonts.family": "JetBrainsMono",
	"stylesmith.effects.smoothCursor": true,
	"stylesmith.effects.currentLine": true,
	"stylesmith.effects.bracketGuides": true,
	"stylesmith.effects.compactLayout": false,
	"stylesmith.effects.blockCursor": false,
	"stylesmith.effects.blockTerminalCursor": false,
	"stylesmith.effects.dimUnfocused": false,
	"stylesmith.effects.readableTerminal": false,
	"stylesmith.effects.stickyScroll": false,
	"stylesmith.effects.calmMinimap": false,
	"stylesmith.problems.enabled": true,
	"stylesmith.problems.minimumSeverity": "warning",
	"stylesmith.problems.inlineMessages": true,
	"stylesmith.problems.gutterIcons": true,
	"stylesmith.problems.statusBar": true,
	"stylesmith.problems.errorSignal": false,
	"stylesmith.terminal.failSignal": false,
	"stylesmith.terminal.doneSignal": false,
	"stylesmith.statusbar": true,
	"stylesmith.undoHighlight": false,
	"stylesmith.pasteHighlight": false,
	"stylesmith.saveReceipt": false
}

Settings Stylesmith changes for you

Stylesmith manages the following VS Code settings while enabled. Disable restores the saved value, unless the user changed that setting while Stylesmith was active; in that case, the newer user value is preserved. Stylesmith also keeps such a change when it re-applies its settings at startup or after a Stylesmith setting changes; running Stylesmith: Enable applies its values again.

VS Code setting	Stylesmith option
workbench.colorTheme, workbench.iconTheme	the preset you apply
workbench.productIconTheme	Pixel product icons in the Stylesmith menu
editor.fontFamily, terminal.integrated.fontFamily	stylesmith.fonts.enabled, stylesmith.fonts.family
editor.cursorSmoothCaretAnimation, editor.cursorBlinking	stylesmith.effects.smoothCursor
editor.renderLineHighlight	stylesmith.effects.currentLine
editor.guides.bracketPairs	stylesmith.effects.bracketGuides
window.density.layout	stylesmith.effects.compactLayout
editor.cursorStyle	stylesmith.effects.blockCursor
terminal.integrated.cursorStyle, terminal.integrated.cursorBlinking	stylesmith.effects.blockTerminalCursor
accessibility.dimUnfocused.enabled	stylesmith.effects.dimUnfocused
terminal.integrated.minimumContrastRatio	stylesmith.effects.readableTerminal
editor.stickyScroll.enabled, terminal.integrated.stickyScroll.enabled	stylesmith.effects.stickyScroll
editor.minimap.renderCharacters, editor.minimap.showSlider	stylesmith.effects.calmMinimap

Settings that are not available in the installed VS Code version are skipped. Stylesmith writes user (global) settings only, so a workspace or folder value for the same setting takes precedence in that workspace.

Run Stylesmith: Disable before uninstalling Stylesmith. VS Code gives an uninstalled extension no way to change settings, so values it applied otherwise stay in your user settings.

Development

npm install
npm run compile
npm test
npm run lint

The browser tests (npm run test:browser) need Playwright's headless Chromium, once per machine:

npx playwright-core install chromium-headless-shell

See SECURITY.md for the security boundary and recovery notes.

Credits

Stylesmith began as a fork of Custom CSS and JS Loader by Belleve Invis, whose MIT license also carries Roberto Huertas's copyright. Both notices are kept in LICENSE.txt.

Visual Studio Code is a trademark of Microsoft. Stylesmith is not affiliated with Microsoft. Theme and preset names and stories describe their inspiration in our own words and don't refer to any film, game or product.