🎨 Themes & Appearance¶

How to select, switch, and customize the look of your Vim.

Quick Switch¶

Open your vimrc (<leader>ev) and change one line:

let g:dotvim_theme = 'solarized8'

Save and reload (:source $MYVIMRC or <leader>sv).

Available Themes¶

Theme	Value	Vibe
Solarized (default)	`'solarized8'`	The classic blue-tinted dark theme. Precision-engineered contrast.
Gruvbox	`'gruvbox'`	Warm, retro, earthy tones. Easy on the eyes for long sessions.
Catppuccin Mocha	`'catppuccin_mocha'`	Pastel, modern, soft. Popular in the Neovim community.
Everforest	`'everforest'`	Soft green, nature-inspired. Low contrast, high comfort.
NewProggie	`'newproggie'`	The original theme from this repo. Minimal, dark, no frills.

How It Works¶

The theme system uses a single variable g:dotvim_theme that controls:

Colorscheme which color palette loads
Airline theme statusbar automatically matches
Plugin-specific settings contrast levels, highlight groups, etc.

" In vimrc this is all you need to change:
let g:dotvim_theme = 'solarized8'

" The rest is handled automatically:
" - colorscheme loads
" - airline theme matches
" - transparency applies (if enabled)

Transparency¶

Terminal transparency is on by default. Your terminal's background (wallpaper, blur, opacity) shows through Vim.

Disable Transparency (Use Solid Background)¶

let g:dotvim_transparent = 0

Enable Transparency (Default)¶

let g:dotvim_transparent = 1

When transparent, these highlight groups have their background cleared: - Normal, NonText, LineNr, SignColumn, EndOfBuffer, Folded, CursorLineNr

Note: Transparency depends on your terminal emulator supporting it (most modern ones do: Alacritty, Kitty, WezTerm, Windows Terminal, iTerm2).

Light Mode¶

Some themes support light backgrounds. To switch:

set background=light

Works well with: - solarized8 the iconic solarized light palette - gruvbox warm light variant - everforest soft green light

Add this line before the colorscheme loads (or just put it near the top of your vimrc).

Try a Theme Without Committing¶

Switch temporarily in a running session:

:colorscheme gruvbox
:colorscheme solarized8
:colorscheme catppuccin_mocha
:colorscheme everforest
:colorscheme newproggie

This lasts until you close Vim. To make it permanent, update g:dotvim_theme in vimrc.

Preview All Installed Themes¶

" Cycle through all available colorschemes
:colorscheme <Tab>

Press <Tab> repeatedly to cycle through options. Press <Enter> to apply.

Adding Your Own Theme¶

Install via vim-plug add to the plugins section in vimrc:

Plug 'folke/tokyonight.nvim'    " Example: Tokyo Night

Run :PlugInstall
Set it:

let g:dotvim_theme = 'tokyonight'

(Optional) Add airline matching in the theme selection block:

elseif g:dotvim_theme ==# 'tokyonight'
  let g:airline_theme = 'tokyonight'

Recommended Terminal + Theme Pairings¶

Terminal	Theme	Why
Alacritty + transparency	`solarized8`	Clean blue tones with wallpaper bleed
Kitty (opaque)	`gruvbox`	Warm and cozy, no transparency needed
Windows Terminal + acrylic	`catppuccin_mocha`	Pastels pop against frosted glass
tmux + minimal	`everforest`	Low contrast, easy on eyes in splits
Any terminal, SSH session	`newproggie`	Minimal, works in 256-color mode

Font Recommendations¶

Themes look best with a proper Nerd Font (required for devicons):

Font	Style
JetBrains Mono Nerd	Clean, modern, great ligatures
FiraCode Nerd	Popular, excellent ligatures
Hack Nerd	Classic monospace, no ligatures
Iosevka Nerd	Narrow, fits more columns
CaskaydiaCove Nerd	Microsoft's Cascadia Code + Nerd glyphs

Install from: https://www.nerdfonts.com/font-downloads

"A good theme is one you forget is there. It should serve the code, not compete with it."