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ds_amber

An amber CRT theme for VS Code. Warm phosphor, and no blue near the text.

An amber phosphor monitor, as a VS Code theme.

Before green won, plenty of terminals glowed amber, and people chose them for long sessions because warm light is easier on the eyes. This one keeps that: the ground is warm black, and amber carries the frequent tokens — functions, properties, ordinary identifiers — so the screen reads orange at a glance.

The sparks stay warm too, with one deliberate exception: types are teal, the complement of amber, so a type is never mistaken for a call. There is no blue anywhere near the text, which makes this the one to leave on late at night.

Palette

rolecolourcontrast
keyword, storage, this#FF7B4A7.7:1 · italic
function, method#FFB23F11.0:1
type, class, interface#6FD6C811.4:1
string#D9E57F14.5:1
number, constant#FF94B09.5:1
property#FFC97A13.1:1
annotation, decorator#C7A5F29.5:1 · italic
variable#FFDDAA15.2:1
parameter#E8B77A10.8:1 · italic
comment#A4815B5.5:1 · italic

Italics are structural

Comments, keywords, storage, this, parameters, annotations and attributes are the things you skim past or read as scaffolding. Slanting them separates them without spending another colour.

Contrast is measured, not judged

tool/build_themes.py refuses to write the theme if any syntax colour, UI label or terminal colour falls below 4.5:1 on its own background, or if two roles a reader must tell apart sit too close together. The lowest here is the comment colour at 5.52:1.

Font

A theme cannot set your font — editor.fontFamily is a user setting. The italics are designed around Victor Mono, whose italic is cursive, but any monospace face with a real italic works:

"editor.fontFamily": "Victor Mono, JetBrains Mono, monospace",
"editor.fontSize": 15,
"editor.lineHeight": 1.7

The family

Six themes, each a different screen or medium, built the same way: one palette, contrast measured at build time, nothing below 4.5:1.

theme
ds_retrogreen CRT with colour sparks
ds_amberamber phosphor, warm and blue-free — this one
ds_synthwaveneon on deep indigo
ds_paperink on warm paper — the light one
ds_blueprintchalk lines on a navy drawing sheet
ds_noirsilver greys, one red, one gold

MIT licensed, source on GitHub, free like everything else here.