23 Best VS Code Themes in 2024
Tags: webdev, vscode, programming, productivity
Published: 2024-03-06 10:01:10

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is an open-source code editor developed by Microsoft.

It has been my favorite code editor since 2018, while previously I was using Sublime Text.

The set of features of VS Code and the deep integration with TypeScript (from Microsoft too) made it my favorite and daily choice.

I can confirm that is currently broadly adopted by the community of frontend developers (React, Vue, Angular, but not only).

The different story is for the backend developers, who usually prefer IntelliJ products.

Considering VS Code is the editor we use daily, we want to select the best theme possible for some reasons:

- nice color scheme (aesthetics is important)
- improve the readability of the code
- reduce eye strain
- increase productivity

Follows a selection of 23 themes, some of them very popular, others not that much.

Scroll the list until the end, you never know when you can find the theme you’ll fall in love with.

I won’t tell you which is my favorite theme to avoid influencing you 🙂

Before the list, let’s discover how to install a new theme on VS Code.

# How to install a theme in VS Code

- Open the Extension tab (Shift + Cmd + X)
- Type the theme name
- Click on Install
- Select and Set the Color Theme

Let’s get started with the themes.

# Themes

## 1. One Dark Pro


![One Dark Pro Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/pn8hrw4lhyxy5ypr0iwj.png)

Installs: 8,878,463

Widely used theme, which is the Atom’s dark theme with a black background.

## 2. Dracula Official


![Dracula Official Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/a2wkfl9gibu5xcu3nv6k.png)

Installs: 6,678,172

One of the most popular themes in the development space.

## 3. GitHub Theme Dark


![GitHub Theme Dark](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/srqihwj5thjr59r6ofc0.png)

Installs: 11,813,086

Designed by GitHub, this theme replicates the UI of the GitHub’s website.

## 4. GitHub Theme Light

![GitHub Theme Light](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/frl9ptf5apdyjrzo74vn.png)

Installs: 11,813,086

Light variant of the GitHub website theme.

## 5. Winter Is Coming

![Winter Is Coming Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/l30hv7esdcy2pic5oy4r.png)

Installs: 2,707,566

This theme mixes pleasant and high-contrast colors, with font styles, like italics.

## 6. Night Owl

![Night Owl Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/loqropuqkkya84fkcanm.png)

Installs: 2,443,039

This theme has a dark blue background, with contrasting text colors. It has a light variant called Light Owl.

## 7. Monokai Pro

![Monokai Pro Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/furo6puionsg9wjk6lfn.png)

Installs: 2,711,098

One of the most known themes (I remember using it with Sublime Text).

It’s made of three main colors, dark red, yellow and light blue. 

## 8. One Monokai

![One Monokai Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/e04w8hooh5c3jxdphyyg.png)

Installs: 2,117,317

This theme is a spin-off of Monokai Pro.

## 9. Shades of Purple

![Shades of Purple Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/y0dtdws4opxymdwxeg76.png)

Installs: 1,756,519

If you like purple, you’ll love this theme.

## 10. Ayu

![Ayu Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ouytrg8d4acpnutv4rm6.png)

Installs: 2,331,017

Highly contrasted theme with pleasant text colours, orange, green, and light blue.

## 11. Palenight

![Palenight Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/iz21gdgdr47r2pga63yh.png)

Installs: 639,141

This theme is on the shades of purple, but not as heavily purple as Shades of Purple.

## 12. Cobalt2

![Cobalt2 Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/fwj8tcuzlkf4feeobxlh.png)

Installs: 1,436,181

Super high contrast theme, with almost fluorescent colors.

## 13. SynthWave '84

![SynthWave '84 Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hlwgdmbkiexc8e2xw5fx.png)

Installs: 1,743,153

Iconic theme if you like the 80s and the synthwave style.

## 14. Noctis

![Noctis Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/nuhwt3rrrj5zjvlbpwn7.png)

Installs: 1,004,008

Theme designed on the shades of green.

## 15. Panda

![Panda Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/19xpt69drcztpv9sokjx.png)

Installs: 928,562

If you like pandas and the Japanese world, you’ll love Panda.

## 16. Nord

![Nord Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/vzd6cgyqydhmonimhb6t.png)

Installs: 905,995

The theme Nord wasn’t to bring you the colors or a nordic landscape into your code editor.

Soft and cold colors are making this theme very stylish.

## 17. Sublime Material

![Sublime Material Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/kdl1jcv2vyejgoa2gfoo.png)

Installs: 821,819

## 18. Slack Theme

![Slack Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2ostd0puypa4q3zyuojh.png)

Installs: 395,047

If you want to keep using the Slack theme in your code editor, this is the perfect theme for you.

It comes in many variants.

## 19. Tokyo Night

![Tokyo Night Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/18b0lxbh81vc602qmyl4.png)

Installs: 1,359,936

Popular theme that reminds me of movies like Ghost in the Shell. So stylish.

## 20. Rouge

![Rouge Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/pvhotfwkfhzegm1ql2vi.png)

Installs: 34,931

VSCode theme created for a dark, material feel with a flushed color palette. Inspiration was drawn from Atom's Material.

## 21. Poimandres

![Poimandres Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/niym1gphofdhjbxkddhy.png)

Installs: 52,108

Poimandres is a minimal, frameless dark-theme inspired mostly by [blueberry](https://github.com/peymanslh/vscode-blueberry-dark-theme). This theme tries to focus on semantic meaning instead of color variety. You'll find that it colors things like errors, voids, throws and deletes in red, types are slighty darker so that the spotlight is on the code, green new's, etc.

## 22. Flate

![Flate Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hhnll9cb86u00nnql0q9.png)

Installs: 15,435

Colorful and dark theme. I love the contrast between the syntax keywords like `import` and `from` and the variables names.

## 23. Bluloco Dark

![Bluloco Dark Theme](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/7g2vfma4afar9ymfufb3.png)

Installs: 337,834

A fancy but yet sophisticated dark designer color scheme / theme for Visual Studio Code.

This theme features a much more comprehensive usage of syntax scopes and color consistency, with due regard to aesthetics, contrast, and readability. Originally forked from the beautiful One Dark Theme, enhanced with the meaningful intuitive Bluloco color palette.

# Conclusion

That’s all for this sequence of great themes for Visual Studio Code.

If you liked them, or you want to suggest more themes, feel free to reach out to me via [email](https://www.notion.so/46bae42e4fe747cc9d4969677e84bbcf?pvs=21) or on [Twitter/X](https://x.com/ikoichi).