Living Code

Calm slate. Living color.
A color scheme where the background stays quiet and the code comes alive.
For editors, terminals, browsers and the web.

This is the core of Living Code: the palette, the color math that resolves it, semantic roles, the [lc] brand and shared tooling. It is agnostic to any app. Each port lives in its own repository in living-code-theme, and living-code.dev lists them all.

Choose a flavor

Every flavor shares the same slate foundation and semantic roles. Night is the default.

Flavor	Appearance	Syntax and accents
Night	Dark slate, full palette	Cool structure, green strings, copper numbers and amber warnings. The default.
Frost	Lifted, bluer slate	Lower-chroma accents with green strings and copper numbers.
Paper	Near-white slate	Darker accents with green strings and copper numbers.
Signal	Dark slate, one accent	Minimal variant of Night: teal keywords and tags, everything else neutral.

Install

Install the port for your app: find it on living-code.dev/ports or in the organization's repositories. Each port's README has its installation steps. Nobody needs to clone this repository to use the theme.

Design

• The ground stays calm. Backgrounds, panels, selections, punctuation and comments live on one slate ramp, so the eye goes to the code, not the chrome.
• Cool for structure, warm for data. Teal, aqua and steel mark keywords, functions and types; moss, amber and copper mark strings, numbers and warnings.
• Same roles everywhere. Each port maps the same semantic roles (keyword, string, error, border...), so a theme feels the same in your editor, terminal and browser.
• Built in OKLCH. Every palette value is defined in OKLCH; hex and RGB are derived. The build checks 24 text roles for WCAG AA contrast (≥ 4.5:1) against each flavor's background.

Flavors

Living Code Night

The default. Dark slate ground, teal structure, green strings and gray comments. Amber warnings and copper numbers keep their warm contrast.

Palette

Neutrals

	Name	Hex	OKLCH	Used for
	crust	#020405	oklch(0.1 0.01 240)	sidebars, tab bars, status lines
	base	#05080b	oklch(0.13 0.01 240)	background
	mantle	#090e11	oklch(0.16 0.01 240)	floats, cards, popups
	surface0	#12171a	oklch(0.2 0.01 240)	line highlight, inactive tabs
	surface1	#1d2226	oklch(0.25 0.01 240)	borders, ANSI black
	surface2	#2d3438	oklch(0.32 0.012 240)	selection
	overlay	#50565b	oklch(0.45 0.012 240)	line numbers, punctuation
	comment	#747c80	oklch(0.58 0.012 235)	comments, operators
	subtext	#9ba0a2	oklch(0.7023 0.0065 223.49)	muted text, ANSI white
	text2	#c8cfd4	oklch(0.85 0.01 240)	properties, parameters
	text	#e2e9ee	oklch(0.93 0.01 240)	foreground

Accents

	Name	Hex	OKLCH	Used for
	teal	#00a692	oklch(0.65 0.15 180)	accent · cursor · borderActive · heading
	mint	#52d7c1	oklch(0.8 0.12 180)	hint · keyword · builtin
	aqua	#9ae0dd	oklch(0.86 0.07 192)	function · link
	steel	#80b6d3	oklch(0.75 0.07 232)	info · type · namespace
	amber	#f0be6d	oklch(0.83 0.115 78)	lineNumberActive · match · warning · modified · code
	copper	#e18c5f	oklch(0.72 0.12 48)	number · constant · escape
	flare	#e96560	oklch(0.67 0.165 25)	error · removed
	moss	#8acb83	oklch(0.78 0.12 142)	success · added · string
	orchid	#bf91cd	oklch(0.72 0.1 318)	regex · decorator · tag
	rose	#ddaec3	oklch(0.8 0.06 350)	Available for custom accents

ANSI

	black	red	green	yellow	blue	magenta	cyan	white
normal
bright

Living Code Frost

Night on a lifted, bluer slate with a third less chroma. Calmer for long sessions; the warm/cool split survives at low saturation.

Palette

Neutrals

	Name	Hex	OKLCH	Used for
	crust	#050a0f	oklch(0.14 0.015 245)	sidebars, tab bars, status lines
	base	#0a1016	oklch(0.17 0.015 245)	background
	mantle	#10171c	oklch(0.2 0.015 245)	floats, cards, popups
	surface0	#171e24	oklch(0.23 0.015 245)	line highlight, inactive tabs
	surface1	#232a30	oklch(0.28 0.015 245)	borders, ANSI black
	surface2	#333c43	oklch(0.35 0.018 245)	selection
	overlay	#50565b	oklch(0.45 0.012 240)	line numbers, punctuation
	comment	#7d8489	oklch(0.61 0.012 235)	comments, operators
	subtext	#9ba0a2	oklch(0.7023 0.0065 223.49)	muted text, ANSI white
	text2	#c8cfd4	oklch(0.85 0.01 240)	properties, parameters
	text	#e2e9ee	oklch(0.93 0.01 240)	foreground

Accents

	Name	Hex	OKLCH	Used for
	teal	#43a997	oklch(0.67 0.0975 180)	accent · cursor · borderActive · heading
	mint	#8ad5c6	oklch(0.82 0.078 180)	hint · keyword · builtin
	aqua	#b6e2df	oklch(0.88 0.0455 192)	function · link
	steel	#98bacd	oklch(0.77 0.0455 232)	info · type · namespace
	amber	#e9c897	oklch(0.85 0.0748 78)	lineNumberActive · match · warning · modified · code
	copper	#d49c80	oklch(0.74 0.078 48)	number · constant · escape
	flare	#d68079	oklch(0.69 0.1073 25)	error · removed
	moss	#a2cb9d	oklch(0.8 0.078 142)	success · added · string
	orchid	#bc9ec6	oklch(0.74 0.065 318)	regex · decorator · tag
	rose	#d9bac8	oklch(0.82 0.039 350)	Available for custom accents

ANSI

	black	red	green	yellow	blue	magenta	cyan	white
normal
bright

Living Code Paper

Daylight. Same two temperatures on near-white slate, lightness inverted so every syntax color keeps WCAG AA contrast.

Palette

Neutrals

	Name	Hex	OKLCH	Used for
	crust	#e0e5e9	oklch(0.92 0.008 240)	sidebars, tab bars, status lines
	base	#f4f7f9	oklch(0.975 0.004 240)	background
	mantle	#ebeff2	oklch(0.95 0.006 240)	floats, cards, popups
	surface0	#e3e9ed	oklch(0.93 0.008 240)	line highlight, inactive tabs
	surface1	#d2d8dd	oklch(0.88 0.01 240)	borders, ANSI black
	surface2	#c2ccd3	oklch(0.84 0.015 240)	selection
	overlay	#92999f	oklch(0.68 0.012 240)	line numbers, punctuation
	comment	#6b7378	oklch(0.55 0.012 235)	comments, operators
	subtext	#50565a	oklch(0.45 0.01 240)	muted text, ANSI white
	text2	#2e3437	oklch(0.32 0.01 240)	properties, parameters
	text	#12171a	oklch(0.2 0.01 240)	foreground

Accents

	Name	Hex	OKLCH	Used for
	teal	#187d6e	oklch(0.53 0.09 180)	accent · cursor · borderActive · heading
	mint	#0f695e	oklch(0.47 0.08 182)	hint · keyword · builtin
	aqua	#1f7074	oklch(0.5 0.075 200)	function · link
	steel	#2b6991	oklch(0.5 0.09 240)	info · type · namespace
	amber	#8f6213	oklch(0.53 0.105 75)	lineNumberActive · match · warning · modified · code
	copper	#a04f27	oklch(0.52 0.12 45)	number · constant · escape
	flare	#a74541	oklch(0.52 0.13 25)	error · removed
	moss	#3b7a35	oklch(0.52 0.12 142)	success · added · string
	orchid	#81558e	oklch(0.52 0.1 318)	regex · decorator · tag
	rose	#845b6e	oklch(0.52 0.06 350)	Available for custom accents

ANSI

	black	red	green	yellow	blue	magenta	cyan	white
normal
bright

Living Code Signal

A minimal variant of Night with a single accent. Teal marks keywords, tags and focus; everything else stays on the slate ramp. No warm literals or multicolor diagnostics.

Accent names such as amber, copper and moss remain available for port compatibility, but in Signal they are aliases of teal or neutral colors. Diagnostics are told apart by labels, signs and underlines instead of hue.

Palette

Neutrals

	Name	Hex	OKLCH	Used for
	crust	#020405	oklch(0.1 0.01 240)	sidebars, tab bars, status lines
	base	#05080b	oklch(0.13 0.01 240)	background
	mantle	#090e11	oklch(0.16 0.01 240)	floats, cards, popups
	surface0	#12171a	oklch(0.2 0.01 240)	line highlight, inactive tabs
	surface1	#1d2226	oklch(0.25 0.01 240)	borders, ANSI black
	surface2	#2d3438	oklch(0.32 0.012 240)	selection
	overlay	#50565b	oklch(0.45 0.012 240)	line numbers, punctuation
	comment	#747c80	oklch(0.58 0.012 235)	comments, operators
	subtext	#9ba0a2	oklch(0.7023 0.0065 223.49)	muted text, ANSI white
	text2	#c8cfd4	oklch(0.85 0.01 240)	properties, parameters
	text	#e2e9ee	oklch(0.93 0.01 240)	foreground

Accent

	Name	Hex	OKLCH	Used for
	teal	#00a692	oklch(0.65 0.15 180)	accent · cursor · borderActive · match · modified · keyword · builtin · decorator · tag · heading · link

ANSI

	black	red	green	yellow	blue	magenta	cyan	white
normal
bright

Syntax roles

Role	Night	Frost	Paper	Signal
keyword	mint	mint	mint	teal
function	aqua	aqua	aqua	text
type	steel	steel	steel	text2
string	moss	moss	moss	text
number	copper	copper	copper	text
decorator	orchid	orchid	orchid	teal
property	text2	text2	text2	text2
operator	comment	comment	comment	comment
comment	comment	comment	comment	comment

The table shows resolved roles for every flavor. The full role map (UI, diagnostics, markup) is in palette/flavors.mjs: defaultRoles plus each flavor's roles overrides.

Ports ship every flavor, except browser themes (Firefox and Chrome), which ship Night and Paper only: in a browser's few theme slots, Frost and Signal look the same as or barely different from Night, and both stores reject duplicate themes.

Using the palette in something else

Any app can follow the theme: read palette.json (hex, OKLCH, RGB, roles and ANSI for every flavor), or map these semantic roles onto the app's own color slots:

Slot	Role	Night
background / foreground	bg / fg	#05080b / #e2e9ee
panels, sidebars	bgDeep, bgAlt	#020405, #090e11
accent, cursor, focus ring	accent	#00a692
selection	selection	#2d3438
borders	border / borderActive	#1d2226 / #00a692
error / warning / info / success	error …	#e96560 #f0be6d #80b6d3 #8acb83

From JavaScript, install @living-code/palette; for CSS custom properties, @living-code/css.

Recolor images

Turn any image, such as a wallpaper, into a Living Code version. Requires ImageMagick 7.

node scripts/recolor.mjs wallpaper.jpg --flavor night --mode lut

Mode	Result
lut	Starts with the theme's slate ramp. Shadows and muted areas stay neutral; colorful midtones receive the selected flavor's accents over that base. Lightness is fitted to the theme's range. Tune the accent amount with --color (default: 0.65). Core accents are teal, mint, aqua, steel, amber and copper; --accents all includes the remaining accents.
gradient	Maps brightness onto dark slate, an accent and light text. Pick the accent with --accent amber.
remap	Posterizes to the exact palette colors. Add --no-dither for flat areas.
all	Writes one file per mode.

In lut mode, --color 0 uses only the slate ramp; --color 1 allows stronger accents while still protecting shadows and muted areas. Unlike --strength, lowering --color does not bring back the original photo's colors. It controls accent blending, not a fixed percentage of the image's area. Other controls are --spread (hue blending), --keep-light (brightness preservation) and --smooth (color-noise smoothing). Use --flavor signal for slate and teal only; compatibility names such as amber do not add warm hues in Signal.

Output defaults to <image>-<flavor>-<mode>.png next to the input. Run with --help for every option.

Report a problem or request a port

You want to	Where
Report wrong colors or a broken install in one app	That app's repository: open its page on living-code.dev/ports, then Report an issue
Ask for Living Code in another app	Request a port
Change a color or role in every app	Palette or color feedback

Contributing a port

Each port is its own repository in living-code-theme with a root port.json and a README following the shared template; the website discovers it automatically. Start with Creating and contributing a port, the metadata/README contract, or CONTRIBUTING.md to find the right repository.

Map roles, never colors: take every color from a semantic role in palette.json, so the same kind of token gets the same color in every app.

Development

Requires Node 22.22 or newer and pnpm 12.9.0. Run pnpm install --frozen-lockfile for maintainer tooling. Palette generation uses only Node built-ins; port tooling dependencies are development-only.

Command	What it does
pnpm build	Regenerates palette.json, the portable port palette, this README, swatches, brand SVGs and the landing export from palette/flavors.mjs.
pnpm check	Fails if a generated file is stale or a text role drops below 4.5:1. CI runs it.
pnpm test	Runs the test suite.
pnpm preview	Live palette preview with sliders and exports at http://localhost:4173/preview/.
pnpm screenshots	Recaptures assets/preview-*.png from the palette preview only, with headless Chrome (CHROME_BIN overrides google-chrome); app captures live in each port.
pnpm icons:brand	Rasterizes the brand SVGs to PNG and ICO. See assets/brand.
pnpm new:port <directory> --name "App" --group "Editors" --emoji "📝"	Scaffolds a port's README, metadata and license, not its implementation or maintenance harness.
pnpm package:ports --ports-root <directory>	Plans publication packaging from port-owned metadata. Add --output <new-directory> --apply to collect packages, checksums and submission instructions; never publishes. See Packaging and publication.
pnpm palette:update:ports --ports-root <directory>	Plans a local palette rollout. Explicit --apply invokes each clean port's own updater, build, check and tests; never commits or pushes.
pnpm sync:ports --landing <checkout>	Discovers public ports and writes validated snapshots/captures to the website. Supports --dry-run, --refresh and optional --r2 storage.
pnpm preview:port <directory> --landing <checkout>	Validates a local port and previews it in an isolated website copy.
pnpm export:landing --landing <checkout>	Delivers the generated theme JSON, CSS and hosted port schema to the website. Run pnpm build first.
pnpm test:standalone --landing <checkout>	Installs, builds and tests only the website in isolation. Supports --keep.
pnpm test:scale --landing <checkout>	Exercises 400 synthetic ports, immutable publication and a real isolated offline website build/test. Supports --keep and --report <new-file>.

To change a color, edit palette/flavors.mjs and run pnpm build. Do not edit generated files directly.

A palette change does not touch any port: each port repository owns its generator, application mappings, tests and files. Core exports app-agnostic resolved inputs in exports/ports/palette.json. A port explicitly adopts a committed core revision with pnpm palette:update /path/to/core, then regenerates and reviews its own files. Normal port builds use the checked-in pin and never read a sibling checkout or fetch from GitHub. For an explicitly reviewed multi-port update, use the batch palette rollout, which delegates to port-owned commands instead of generating application formats in core. The website takes committed inputs from exports/landing/. After pnpm build, run pnpm export:landing --landing <checkout> and review the changes there. Port discovery, validation, templates and preview/verification runners live here in core; landing contains Astro and website presentation only. No normal website build imports core or needs GitHub access. New ports require automatic native 2560×1600 captures and direct flavor-selected installation. See Port repositories for authoring and Port publication and capacity for the split index/documents, batched discovery, optional external capture storage and 400-port acceptance check.

License

MIT © Elliot Luque