🥀 Carmilla

Crypt warmth for nights of code.

An original dark theme with a boudoir/wine identity — a rosé-wine background and warm accents: carmine, wisteria, absinthe mint, peach velvet and champagne.

🔗 See the live showcase

The name Carmilla is a tribute to Sheridan Le Fanu's gothic novella (1872), a classic of vampire literature.

Why it exists

Most dark themes lean to the cold side of the spectrum (icy blues and purples). Carmilla does the opposite: thermal coherence — everything leans warm. The detail that defines its identity is the comments in Ash Mauve, which converse with the background instead of clashing with it.

Preview

Carmilla theme showcase: palette, editor mockup and token map

Palette

Token	Hex	Use
Crypt	`#16101A`	Deepest background — page, gutter
Boudoir	`#2E1B2D`	Main background — editor, panels
Velvet	`#3A2438`	Elevated surface — cards, status bar
Selection	`#523950`	Current line, selection, ranges
Pearl	`#F5EADA`	Primary text / foreground
Carmine	`#FF5FA2`	Keywords, storage (`const`, `class`, `return`)
Wisteria	`#D5A6FF`	Language instances (`this`, `super`, `null`)
Verdigris	`#5ED0D8`	Classes, types, support
Absinthe	`#7AE0A6`	Functions, methods
Champagne	`#EDD795`	Strings, template literals
Peach Velvet	`#FFAE8A`	Numbers, booleans
Pomegranate	`#E84B6E`	Errors, deletions, alerts
Ash Mauve	`#9E83A4`	Comments, disabled code

Full specification, design rationale and TextMate mapping in PALETTE.md.

Flavors

The extension ships two themes. Carmilla is the rosé-wine base. Carmilla Amethyst is a violet reading of it — the signature accent becomes an orchid purple, Amethyst #C474D3 (hover #D38CDC), and the wine backgrounds rotate to dusk violet (editor #2A1B2E) at identical lightness, so every contrast figure carries over. The content colours stay constant across flavors: a flavor reads as the same theme in a different light.

Installation

Open the Extensions view in VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+X), search for Carmilla, and click Install — or run:

code --install-extension muowl.carmilla

Then activate it under Color Theme (Ctrl+K Ctrl+T) → Carmilla.

License

MIT. Every colour is original to this palette — no third-party attribution required.

Carmilla

Felipe Lazzarini