Auto Color

What it does

Auto Color picks a color theme per workspace and applies it to the window: pastel title, activity, and status bars and a matching tint on the editor, sidebar, tabs, terminal, and related UI. Your syntax theme still controls most text; this mainly changes backgrounds so each project looks distinct.

What counts as a “workspace” here: whatever VS Code or Cursor treats as the current workspace—almost always a folder you opened (File → Open Folder). That one folder (and its .vscode/settings.json) gets one palette. If you open another window with a different folder, that’s a different workspace and can have a different color. A multi-root workspace (a .code-workspace file with several folders) is still one workspace for this extension: colors and settings are stored with that workspace, and the first folder in the list is what the default tint is derived from (unless you use Randomize).

Why it’s useful (VS Code and Cursor)

VS Code: With several windows open, you can see which folder you’re in from the bar color and overall cast instead of reading the title.

Cursor: Same idea when you run multiple Cursor windows (different repos, or one “agent” window and one “editing” window). The tint makes it harder to paste, run terminal commands, or continue the wrong chat in the wrong project.

File it writes

The extension saves colors through workspace settings. That usually creates or updates:

.vscode/settings.json

Inside that file it adds a workbench.colorCustomizations object with the hex colors for this workspace. Anything else in that file is left alone. If you disable Auto Color for the workspace or turn it off globally, it removes only the keys it added (and a few legacy keys), not your whole settings file.

Security

No network — colors are computed locally; nothing is sent to a server.
No trust prompt required — Auto Color runs without asking you to “trust” the workspace first.
Reporting — see SECURITY.md.

Commands

Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows/Linux):

Command	What it does
Auto Color: Enable (all windows)	Turns the extension on everywhere. Applies colors in the current workspace if you have a folder open.
Auto Color: Disable (all windows)	Turns it off for all windows and clears this extension’s color keys from the current workspace’s `workbench.colorCustomizations`.
Auto Color: Enable for this workspace	Turns coloring back on for this workspace only (still requires the global switch to be on).
Auto Color: Disable for this workspace	Stops coloring this workspace and clears this extension’s keys here.
Auto Color: Set color scope	All bars: title + activity + status plus the workbench tint. Head and footer only: title + status only; activity bar, editor, sidebar, tabs, panel, and other tinted areas go back to your theme defaults.
Auto Color: Randomize color	Picks a new random palette and saves it in workspace settings so it stays after reload.
Auto Color: Reset to default color	Removes the random override so the color is derived from the workspace folder path again.

Settings UI

Open Settings (Cmd+, / Ctrl+,), search Auto Color, or browse Extensions → Auto Color. You get the same options as the commands: global on/off, color scope (dropdown with short descriptions), disable for this workspace, and random seed. Use the Workspace tab when you want scope or per-workspace options for the current folder only.

Install

Requires VS Code 1.85+ (Cursor is compatible). Search the Marketplace for Auto Color or install from a .vsix.

Marketplace icon: color wheel from UXWing (license), resized to 128×128.

Examples

Visual Studio Code example

Visual Studio Code example — Auto Color, teal tint

Cursor example

Cursor example — Auto Color, purple tint

Repository: wyvernsystems/auto-color-vscode-extension · MIT · Security

Auto Color

Wyvern Systems LLC

Auto Color

What it does

Why it’s useful (VS Code and Cursor)

File it writes

Security

Commands

Settings UI

Install

Examples

Visual Studio Code example

Cursor example