Highlight any text in your code files and have it persist across sessions. Select text, pick a color, done.
Features
Right-click → Highlight Selection — highlight in your default color instantly
Color swatches in CodeLens — four color buttons appear above the line whenever you select text; sorted by most recently used
More colors picker — 12 curated colors optimised for dark themes (high contrast, won't wash out syntax highlighting)
Hover to remove — hover over any highlight and click the trash icon to remove it
Highlights follow your edits — as you add or remove lines, highlights stay anchored to the correct text
Persists across sessions — highlights survive closing and reopening VS Code
Usage
Select any text in a code file
Either:
Right-click → Highlight Selection (uses your default color)
Right-click → Highlight (Pick Color) to choose
Click a color swatch in the CodeLens that appears above the line
To remove: hover over the highlighted text and click Remove highlight
To clear a whole file: right-click → Clear All Highlights in File
Color Picker
The picker groups colors into Recently used (your last 8) and Suggested — a palette chosen specifically for dark editor themes so highlighted text stays readable.
Settings
Setting
Default
Description
highlighter.defaultColor
#FFD600 (Yellow)
Color used by "Highlight Selection"
Keyboard Shortcuts
No defaults are set to avoid conflicts. Open Keyboard Shortcuts (Cmd+K Cmd+S), search Highlighter, and bind your preferred keys to:
