Black Prism

A high-contrast dark VS Code theme with genuinely gray surfaces and vivid, colorful syntax.

Illustrative browser mockup showing the theme palette, not a screenshot of VS Code.

The editor stays charcoal rather than navy or purple. Pink keywords, mint functions, amber strings, violet constants, cyan types, and peach parameters make code easy to scan. Comments remain readable. Borders and focus indicators remain visible.

Install

From the repository root:

code --install-extension ./black-prism/black-prism.vsix

Then run Preferences: Color Theme and choose Black Prism. This is a separate extension; existing themes are not replaced.

Surfaces

The normal and no-folder status bars use fresh green with near-black text (#151518), measuring 9.51:1 contrast. Debugging retains its distinct pink status bar.

Syntax and contrast

The original syntax palette is preserved. Editor selections use white text on blue for clear readability. Other highlight backgrounds retain their checked syntax contrast. See VALIDATION.md for measured results.

More visible highlights

Preview and package

Open this folder in VS Code and press F5 to launch an Extension Development Host. Choose Black Prism there and open a file under samples/. preview.html is an illustrative palette/workbench mockup, not proof of native rendering.

vsce package --no-dependencies --out black-prism.vsix

The extension is declarative and includes no runtime code. Native high-contrast mode is used for explicit borders and focus cues. Language extensions can override token styles. Extension-owned webviews control their own interiors and may not fully adopt the theme; this package does not inject CSS or modify VS Code.

Marketplace assets

• icon.png: 512 x 512 PNG extension icon, configured in package.json.
• images/screenshot.png: illustrative palette preview embedded above.
• design/icon.svg: editable source, excluded from the VSIX.

Push the icon and preview image to the public repository before publishing. The packaging command resolves README image links under https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jenna-studio/vscode-custom-themes/main/black-prism/.