Void Protocol OLED
A true-black VS Code theme built for OLED displays. Every idle surface — editor,
sidebar, activity bar, tabs, terminal, panel, status bar, title bar, minimap,
command palette, inputs, dropdowns — is pure #000000. Nothing is ever gray.
Panels are separated only by thin #1C0033 border lines.
Purple only shows up where something is alive: the selected file, the active
tab, the current line, a text selection, the cursor, a hovered row, an active
activity-bar icon, and the status bar. Everything else stays dark and quiet.
Design language
| Surface |
Treatment |
| All backgrounds |
#000000 |
| Panel borders |
#1C0033 |
| Selected file (explorer) |
#7C3AED @ ~18% + 2px left border #A855F7 |
| Active tab |
2px top border #A855F7 + #7C3AED @ ~8% background |
| Current line highlight |
#7C3AED @ ~10% |
| Text selection |
#A855F7 @ ~35% |
| Find match |
#5B21B6 |
| Active activity bar icon |
#7C3AED |
| Cursor |
#C084FC |
| Hover state |
#14001F |
| Status bar text / prominent |
#A855F7 / #C084FC |
| Buttons / links / badges |
#7C3AED |
| Line numbers / active line number |
#3A2255 / #C084FC |
| Indent guides / active |
#1C0033 / #7C3AED |
Syntax
| Token |
Color |
| Keywords / storage |
#A855F7 (bold italic) |
| Functions / methods |
#22D3EE (bold italic) |
| Strings |
#34D399 |
| Numbers / constants |
#FB923C |
| Types / classes / decorators |
#F472B6 |
| Variables / parameters |
#D8CFE8 |
| Comments |
#4A2A6A (italic) |
| Operators / punctuation |
#8B5CF6 |
Git & diagnostics
- Added
#34D399 · Modified #FB923C · Deleted #F87171
- Error
#F87171 · Warning #FB923C · Info #22D3EE
Bracket pair colorization
Cycles through #A855F7 → #22D3EE → #F472B6.
Terminal
ANSI colors are mapped onto the same palette on a pure black background,
so the integrated terminal reads as an extension of the editor, not a
separate gray box.
Installing
Option A — from a .vsix package (recommended for permanent use)
Package the extension (requires vsce):
npm install -g @vscode/vsce
cd void-protocol-oled
vsce package
This produces void-protocol-oled-1.0.0.vsix in the project folder.
Install it into VS Code:
code --install-extension void-protocol-oled-1.0.0.vsix
Or in VS Code: open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X) → ... menu (top
right) → Install from VSIX... → select the file.
Reload VS Code, then set the theme: Ctrl+K Ctrl+T (or Preferences: Color
Theme from the Command Palette) → Void Protocol OLED.
Option B — copy into your local extensions folder (no packaging needed)
Copy the whole void-protocol-oled folder into your VS Code extensions
directory:
Copy-Item -Recurse "C:\Users\sanke\void-protocol-oled" "$env:USERPROFILE\.vscode\extensions\void-protocol-oled-1.0.0"
Restart VS Code, then select the theme via Ctrl+K Ctrl+T.
Testing locally before installing (Extension Development Host)
Open the void-protocol-oled folder in VS Code:
code "C:\Users\sanke\void-protocol-oled"
Press F5 (or Run and Debug → Run Extension from the sidebar). This
launches a second VS Code window titled [Extension Development Host]
with the theme already loaded as an unpublished extension.
In that new window, open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) → Preferences:
Color Theme → select Void Protocol OLED.
Open a few files (with git changes, some errors/warnings, a terminal panel)
to check every surface. Edit themes/void-protocol-oled-color-theme.json
in the original window and reload the Dev Host window (Ctrl+R inside
it) to see changes without restarting the debug session.
No launch.json is required — VS Code auto-detects a theme extension from
package.json and offers the "Run Extension" target automatically. If it
doesn't appear, ensure the VS Code Extension Development
tooling is installed (it ships with VS Code by default; no extra install
needed for theme-only extensions).
