R3BL Theme

A carefully crafted dark theme for VS Code, optimized for Rust and Markdown development with enhanced readability and visual appeal.

Features

• Rust-Optimized Colors: Specially designed syntax highlighting for Rust code with distinct colors for keywords, types, functions, and macros
• Dark Theme Excellence: Professional dark color scheme that reduces eye strain during long coding sessions
• Rich Markdown Support: Beautiful rendering of documentation comments and markdown tables
• Semantic Highlighting: Automatically installs R3BL Semantic Configuration for enhanced Rust highlighting
• Consistent UI: Carefully selected colors for sidebar, tabs, status bar, and terminals
• Bracket Pair Colorization: Clear visual distinction for nested code blocks
• Selection & Search: High-contrast selection and search highlighting

Screenshots

Full editor view with sidebar, tabs, and Rust code highlighting

Rust-specific syntax highlighting with distinct keyword, type, and function colors

Beautiful rendering of documentation comments with code examples

Markdown-style tables in comments with clear formatting

Rust-specific syntax highlighting with distinct keyword, type, and function colors

Clear variable and parameter highlighting

Async function highlighting with type parameters and trait bounds

Complex type annotations with clear visual hierarchy

Selection highlighting with bracket pair colorization

Installation

From Extension Pack (Recommended)

Install the R3BL Extension Pack which includes this theme along with other R3BL tools.

Standalone Installation

1. Open VS Code
2. Press Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P on macOS)
3. Type: ext install R3BL.r3bl-theme
4. Press Enter

From VSIX File

code --install-extension r3bl-theme-x.x.x.vsix

Usage

Activate the Theme

1. Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Type "Color Theme"
3. Select "Preferences: Color Theme"
4. Choose "R3BL Theme"

Or use the keyboard shortcut:

• Press Ctrl+K Ctrl+T (or Cmd+K Cmd+T on macOS)
• Select "R3BL Theme"

Enhanced Semantic Highlighting

This theme automatically installs the R3BL Semantic Configuration extension, which provides enhanced semantic highlighting specifically designed to complement this theme's color palette.

The semantic configuration extension:

• Automatically detects when R3BL Theme is active
• Applies optimized semantic highlighting for Rust (functions, methods, structs, enums, etc.)
• Can be enabled/disabled via commands: R3BL: Enable/Disable Semantic Highlighting

No additional setup required - just activate the R3BL Theme and enjoy enhanced syntax highlighting!

Color Palette

The theme uses a carefully selected color palette:

Recommended Settings

For the best experience with this theme:

{
    "editor.semanticHighlighting.enabled": true,
    "editor.bracketPairColorization.enabled": true,
    "editor.guides.bracketPairs": "active",
    "workbench.colorTheme": "R3BL Theme"
}

Optimized For

Primary Languages

• Rust - Enhanced syntax highlighting for keywords, types, macros, and test functions
• Markdown - Beautiful rendering of documentation and README files

Also Works Great With

• TypeScript/JavaScript
• Python
• Go
• JSON/YAML
• Shell scripts
• And more!

What Makes It Different

Rust-First Design

Unlike generic themes, R3BL Theme is built specifically for Rust developers:

• Distinct colors for pub, fn, impl, trait, and other Rust keywords
• Clear visual distinction between owned types, references, and lifetimes
• Macro highlighting that stands out
• Test function backgrounds for easy test identification

Semantic Awareness

Works with VS Code's semantic highlighting to provide context-aware colors based on the language server's understanding of your code, not just regex patterns.

Eye Comfort

• Carefully calibrated contrast ratios
• No harsh whites or overly bright colors
• Consistent darkness across all UI elements
• Reduced blue light in the color palette

Comparison with Other Themes

Customization

Want to tweak the theme? Add to your settings.json:

{
    "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
        "[R3BL Theme]": {
            "editor.background": "#1e1e1e",
            "editor.foreground": "#d4d4d4"
        }
    },
    "editor.tokenColorCustomizations": {
        "[R3BL Theme]": {
            "textMateRules": [
                {
                    "scope": "keyword.control.rust",
                    "settings": {
                        "foreground": "#YOUR_COLOR"
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

Release Notes

See CHANGELOG.md for detailed release notes and version history.

License

MIT

Contributing

Found a color that doesn't look quite right? Have a suggestion for improvement? Please open an issue at: https://github.com/r3bl-org/r3bl-vscode-extensions/issues

Code in color, code in style!