50 perceptually uniform dark themes built on OKLCH color science
10 seed palettes × 5 harmony modes
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Caligo is a professional dark theme collection for Visual Studio Code, built on color science principles. Unlike traditional hand-picked color schemes, Caligo uses OKLCH — a perceptually uniform color space — to generate mathematically harmonious themes that are easy on the eyes and maintain consistent readability.
Choose from 50 carefully crafted themes: 10 distinctive seed palettes × 5 color harmony variants.
Traditional themes rely on trial-and-error hex codes. Caligo leverages OKLCH for predictable, perceptually uniform colors:
- Consistent brightness — Colors at equal lightness values look equally bright
- Preserved readability — Harmony transformations maintain contrast ratios
- Mathematical precision — "Colors that look equally different, are equally different"
- 50 themes from 10 seed palettes × 5 color harmonies
- High contrast — designed with accessibility in mind using APCA-W3 contrast validation
- Semantic highlighting — intent-aware colors for declarations, mutations, control flow
- Consistent syntax — harmonized bracket pairs, git diff, and terminal colors
- Zero configuration — works beautifully out of the box
Beyond basic syntax colors, Caligo provides intent-based highlighting:
| Intent | Purpose | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Declaration | Definitions | const, function, class |
| Mutation | State changes | =, ++, -- |
| Control Flow | Logic | if, for, return |
| Data | Values | Literals, constants |
Requires language server support (TypeScript, Python/Pylance, Rust, etc.)
- Open Extensions (
Cmd+Shift+X/Ctrl+Shift+X) - Search for "Caligo"
- Click Install
- Open Command Palette → Preferences: Color Theme → Select any Caligo theme
Or from command line:
code --install-extension AnselmHahn.caligo-vscode-theme
Each palette is designed to evoke a distinct visual character and mood:
| Palette | Character |
|---|---|
| Aurora Noir | Cyan-teal aurora over deep ocean |
| Cinder | Warm amber glow from smoldering embers |
| Deep Sable | Rich earth tones with deep warmth |
| Eclipse | Solar corona against void black |
| Graphite Flux | Industrial steel with electric accents |
| Mandarian | Vibrant citrus energy |
| Midnight Atelier | Artist's studio at night |
| Nebula Night | Cosmic dust and starlight |
| Obsidian Glow | Volcanic glass with inner fire |
| Void Ember | Smoldering darkness |
Each palette has 5 harmony variants: Balanced, Analogous, Triadic, Split-Complementary, Monochromatic
- Web Gallery — Interactive theme browser
- Contributing — Development setup & guidelines
- Quick Start — Developer quick start guide
© 2026 Anselm Hahn. MIT Licensed.
Built with ❤️ for developers who code after dark 🌙
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