02 de março de 2026·5 min de leitura

Theme Recommendations - VS Code

Themes I'm currently using and others I suggest checking out.

#Recommendations#Themes#tools

I'm someone who is quite particular about the colors and styles of things. I can't explain exactly why, but that's just how I am. Everything I use, I care about how it looks — and that's often annoying, because I spend a lot of time customizing until I get it to a place I actually like.

And the worst part isn't even the customization itself — it's the fact that over time I'll get tired of it and want to change it again... and again... and this loop just keeps going.

Whether it's changing the appearance of Windows, Obsidian, my terminal, etc. — take a look at how my Windows currently looks, by the way:

You must be wondering: is that a Windows?

Yeah, that's my Windows. I like the macOS style, which is what I work on, so I wanted to give my Windows the same look and feel — and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Only God knows how long it'll last, but this is what it looks like for now.

NOTE

If you're interested, the software is MyDockFinder. You can find it on Steam, for example.

I used to run Fedora (KDE) and made that look a lot like macOS too. When I decided to go back to Windows full-time (I'll talk about that in another post soon) I wanted to bring that characteristic with me, and this was the best alternative I found.

Continuing the intro... as I said, I'm pretty obsessed with this theme thing, so I wanted to share all the themes I've mapped out — including the ones I currently use, the ones I've used before, and the ones I've never tried but have saved for maybe someday.

If you're kind of like me, this could be your thing. If you don't have this problem and are just looking for some cool themes to check out, this works great for that too.

Themes

I'll split the section into:

Currently using — constantly rotating between them
Used before — no longer using, but I recommend
Haven't tested — haven't used yet, but looks interesting.

Currently using

As I mentioned, I'm always switching things up, so these are the ones I'm currently using. I swap between them whenever I get tired of one.

Cursor dark

This is the main theme I'm using right now.

When I was using Cursor, what I liked most was the visual, and when I switched back to VSCode I immediately looked for the theme to match it.

I really like it overall — it has a dark but not overly dark background, and the colors are very easy on the eyes in general. The syntax highlighting is complete and also very good. Highly recommend it.

You can find it here: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=cedricverlinden.cursor-dark

Min theme

It has a very pleasant background too and, while I'm not the biggest fan of its syntax highlighting, it's far from bad.

Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=miguelsolorio.min-theme

Vesper

This one goes against what I said about my preference for lighter dark backgrounds. The contrast here is much stronger. Even so, I do enjoy using it sometimes.

Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=raunofreiberg.vesper

Used before or Recommend

Islands Dark

This is one I'm really looking forward to being officially released. It's a project I saw some people talking about on Twitter/X and I was dying to try it.

It looks great visually and takes the VSCode aesthetic in a different direction. It doesn't just change the theme — it uses custom CSS to directly alter the VSCode style. I'll leave the example from the project's own repo.

I'm only not using it right now because when I was using it I ran into some compatibility issues and decided to wait until it's officially released on the VSCode marketplace.

If you want to try it, I highly recommend it: https://github.com/bwya77/vscode-dark-islands

One Dark Pro

I think along with the next one, this is probably one of the most well-known. It's very easy on the eyes and has good coloring. I used it briefly since I always preferred something darker, but I do recommend it.

Note: It comes with some extra options beyond what's shown in the screenshot.

Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=zhuangtongfa.Material-theme

Dracula

I think by far the most famous one. And for good reason — it's an excellent theme, even if the colors are quite bold.

Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=dracula-theme.theme-dracula

Monokai Pro

I used this a lot in 2023, right after my Dracula phase. It was a very good alternative at the time.

Note: It comes with some extra options beyond what's shown in the screenshot.

Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=monokai.theme-monokai-pro-vscode

One Monokai

I didn't use this one as extensively as some others here, but I'd recommend it to anyone who likes the One Dark style.

Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=azemoh.one-monokai

One Dark Theme

This one, out of the One Dark variations, is the one I used the most. Probably because it has a darker background.

Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=azemoh.theme-onedark

Xcode themes

Looking at it now, I genuinely wonder how I liked it — being totally honest. Maybe it fits better with C++ code, I don't know. I used it a lot back then, but nowadays I find it a bit odd. That said, I do recommend it.

Note: It comes with some extra options beyond what's shown in the screenshot.

Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=MateoCERQUETELLA.xcode-12-theme

Bearded

This is another one I used extensively, especially in 2024. Despite having very strong contrast in most of its themes, it really won me over at a certain point.

This is a pack with many themes — you'll probably find one you like.

Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=BeardedBear.beardedtheme

Flate

Extremely pleasant. Even though I feel like I didn't use it that much, I think it's very good.

Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=hiukky.flate

Vira Theme (formerly Material)

Very well known, comes with a solid pack. My favorite was Palenight, but the others are interesting too.

Link: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vira.vsc-vira-theme

Haven't tested

That's it — hope you find a theme that becomes your new favorite. If you want to check out icon themes, I'd recommend Material Icon Theme and Quill Icons — those are the ones I'm currently using.

Cheers!