Snowdrop Theme

A soft, easy-on-the-eyes light theme for VS Code, inspired by iOS.

Snowdrop uses Apple's gentle off-white grays instead of harsh pure white, and a syntax palette built from Apple's accessible system colors — so every token is clearly readable, all day long.

✨ Highlights

• Not too bright — editor background #F5F5F7, never pure white. Sidebar and title bar step slightly darker, so your code is always the calmest area on screen.
• Every color is readable — all syntax colors meet WCAG AA (4.5:1); the Contrast variant meets AAA (7:1). Verified automatically on every build — including on the highlighted current line.
• Distinct hues for every role — keywords, types, functions, properties, strings, numbers and comments never look alike.
• Tuned for C# — Roslyn semantic tokens (records, interfaces, extension methods, events, XML doc comments, preprocessor, excluded code), plus TypeScript/JavaScript, Python, Java, Go, Rust, C/C++, PHP, HTML, CSS/SCSS, JSON, YAML, TOML, SQL, Shell, PowerShell and Markdown.
• Customizable — five sidebar styles (light to dark frame), accent color, italic comments, bold keywords, borderless mode and custom background, applied instantly with no reload.

📦 Install

1. Open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X), search for Snowdrop Theme and click Install.
2. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P), run Preferences: Color Theme and pick Snowdrop Light, Snowdrop Paper or Snowdrop Contrast.

Or from a terminal: code --install-extension somaraj.snowdrop-theme

🎨 Three variants

🖼️ Sidebar styles

Prefer a darker frame around your code? Run Snowdrop: Choose Sidebar Style to preview each style live, or set snowdrop.sidebarStyle. The editor, panel and terminal always stay light, and every style works with all three variants and every accent color.

In the dark styles, a few colors VS Code shares between the sidebar and light areas (list highlights, icons, Git file colors) use mid-tones that stay readable on both backgrounds: at least 3:1 contrast everywhere.

🌈 Syntax palette

🔤 Recommended font

A theme can't change your font, but Snowdrop can set it up for you:

1. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Run Snowdrop: Apply Recommended Font
3. Choose a font stack and confirm. You'll see exactly which settings change.

The recommended stack is SF Mono → JetBrains Mono → Cascadia Code → Consolas. The first one installed on your system is used:

• SF Mono is preinstalled on macOS and matches the iOS look most closely.
• JetBrains Mono is free and the most readable choice on Windows and Linux. It has a tall x-height and clearly distinct 0O, 1lI and {}.
• Cascadia Code ships with Windows Terminal and Windows 11.

Or add it manually to settings.json:

"editor.fontFamily": "'SF Mono', 'JetBrains Mono', 'Cascadia Code', Consolas, monospace",
"editor.fontSize": 14,
"editor.lineHeight": 1.6,
"editor.letterSpacing": 0.2,
"editor.fontLigatures": true

⚙️ Customization

Open Settings and search for snowdrop, or run Snowdrop: Customize. Changes apply instantly.

These options only affect Snowdrop themes. Your other themes are never touched, and any color you've set yourself in workbench.colorCustomizations always takes priority. To undo everything, run Snowdrop: Reset Customizations.

Going further

You can override any color with VS Code's built-in settings. Scope them to Snowdrop so other themes stay unchanged:

"workbench.colorCustomizations": {
  "[Snowdrop Light]": {
    "editor.lineHighlightBackground": "#E8E8ED",
    "sideBar.background": "#F0F0F3"
  }
},
"editor.tokenColorCustomizations": {
  "[Snowdrop*]": {
    "strings": "#B3261E",
    "textMateRules": [
      { "scope": "comment", "settings": { "foreground": "#5A5A5F" } }
    ]
  }
},
"editor.semanticTokenColorCustomizations": {
  "[Snowdrop*]": {
    "rules": { "parameter": { "foreground": "#7F6545", "italic": false } }
  }
}

🧩 Commands

💡 Tips for C# developers

For the richest highlighting, install the C# or C# Dev Kit extension and keep editor.semanticHighlighting.enabled on (the default). Snowdrop then colors records, interfaces, events, extension methods, static members, XML doc comments and #if-excluded code precisely.

❓ FAQ

Why are there only three Snowdrop entries in the theme picker? The sidebar styles and accent colors are settings that apply on top of any variant, so the picker stays short. Run Snowdrop: Choose Sidebar Style, or search snowdrop in Settings.

I changed a Snowdrop setting, but one color didn't change. A color you set yourself in workbench.colorCustomizations always wins over Snowdrop's options. Also check your workspace settings (.vscode/settings.json), which override user settings.

Where are Snowdrop's changes stored? In your user settings.json, under theme-scoped keys such as "[Snowdrop Light]". Snowdrop never touches other themes. Snowdrop: Reset Customizations removes everything it added.

Does it work with Remote SSH, WSL, Dev Containers and Codespaces? Yes. The extension runs on your local machine, where your user settings live.

The colors look different from the screenshots. Make sure semantic highlighting is on (editor.semanticHighlighting.enabled) and the language's extension is installed. The screenshots use JetBrains Mono at 14px.

🤝 Feedback

Found a token that's hard to read, or a language that looks off? Open an issue with a screenshot. Pull requests are welcome too. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

See the CHANGELOG for release notes.

License

MIT