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# Themes
First you'll need to place selected themes in your `themes` directory (i.e `~/.config/helix/themes`), the directory might have to be created beforehand.
To use a custom theme add `theme = <name>` to your [`config.toml`](./configuration.md) or override it during runtime using `:theme <name>`.
The default theme.toml can be found [here](https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/blob/master/theme.toml), and user submitted themes [here](https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/blob/master/runtime/themes).
## Creating a theme
First create a file with the name of your theme as file name (i.e `mytheme.toml`) and place it in your `themes` directory (i.e `~/.config/helix/themes`).
Each line in the theme file is specified as below:
```toml
key = { fg = "#ffffff", bg = "#000000", modifiers = ["bold", "italic"] }
```
where `key` represents what you want to style, `fg` specifies the foreground color, `bg` the background color, and `modifiers` is a list of style modifiers. `bg` and `modifiers` can be omitted to defer to the defaults.
To specify only the foreground color:
```toml
key = "#ffffff"
```
if the key contains a dot `'.'`, it must be quoted to prevent it being parsed as a [dotted key](https://toml.io/en/v1.0.0#keys).
```toml
"key.key" = "#ffffff"
```
Possible modifiers:
| Modifier |
| --- |
| `bold` |
| `dim` |
| `italic` |
| `underlined` |
| `slow\_blink` |
| `rapid\_blink` |
| `reversed` |
| `hidden` |
| `crossed\_out` |
Possible keys:
| Key | Notes |
| --- | --- |
| `attribute` | |
| `keyword` | |
| `keyword.directive` | Preprocessor directives (\#if in C) |
| `keyword.control` | Control flow |
| `namespace` | |
| `punctuation` | |
| `punctuation.delimiter` | |
| `operator` | |
| `special` | |
| `property` | |
| `variable` | |
| `variable.parameter` | |
| `type` | |
| `type.builtin` | |
| `type.enum.variant` | Enum variants |
| `constructor` | |
| `function` | |
| `function.macro` | |
| `function.builtin` | |
| `comment` | |
| `variable.builtin` | |
| `constant` | |
| `constant.builtin` | |
| `string` | |
| `number` | |
| `escape` | Escaped characters |
| `label` | For lifetimes |
| `module` | |
| `ui.background` | |
| `ui.cursor` | |
| `ui.cursor.insert` | |
| `ui.cursor.select` | |
| `ui.cursor.match` | Matching bracket etc. |
| `ui.cursor.primary` | Cursor with primary selection |
| `ui.linenr` | |
| `ui.linenr.selected` | |
| `ui.statusline` | |
| `ui.statusline.inactive` | |
| `ui.popup` | |
| `ui.window` | |
| `ui.help` | |
| `ui.text` | |
| `ui.text.focus` | |
| `ui.info` | |
| `ui.info.text` | |
| `ui.menu` | |
| `ui.menu.selected` | |
| `ui.selection` | For selections in the editing area |
| `ui.selection.primary` | |
| `warning` | LSP warning |
| `error` | LSP error |
| `info` | LSP info |
| `hint` | LSP hint |
These keys match [tree-sitter scopes](https://tree-sitter.github.io/tree-sitter/syntax-highlighting#theme). We half-follow the common scopes from [macromates language grammars](https://macromates.com/manual/en/language_grammars) with some differences.
For a given highlight produced, styling will be determined based on the longest matching theme key. So it's enough to provide function to highlight `function.macro` and `function.builtin` as well, but you can use more specific scopes to highlight specific cases differently.
## Color palettes
You can define a palette of named colors, and refer to them from the
configuration values in your theme. To do this, add a table called
`palette` to your theme file:
```toml
ui.background = "white"
ui.text = "black"
[palette]
white = "#ffffff"
black = "#000000"
```
Remember that the `[palette]` table includes all keys after its header,
so you should define the palette after normal theme options.
The default palette uses the terminal's default 16 colors, and the colors names
are listed below. The `[palette]` section in the config file takes precedence
over it and is merged into the default palette.
| Color Name |
| --- |
| `black` |
| `red` |
| `green` |
| `yellow` |
| `blue` |
| `magenta` |
| `cyan` |
| `gray` |
| `light-red` |
| `light-green` |
| `light-yellow` |
| `light-blue` |
| `light-magenta` |
| `light-cyan` |
| `light-gray` |
| `white` |
|
