Candela

Color, measured for tired eyes.

A family of light schemes for terminals and editors, plus dark companions, tuned so you can read code all day — without the glare of pure white or the harshness of pure black.

Supports iTerm2, Alacritty, Kitty, WezTerm, Windows Terminal, Ghostty, Warp, VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Zed, Obsidian, Sublime Text, Neovim, Vim, Emacs, Xcode, Helix, and Slack.

Browse the galleryDownload latest release

Install from the VS Code Marketplace, Open VSX (VSCodium, Cursor, Windsurf), JetBrains Marketplace, or Sublime Package Control. Preview on VS Code Themes.

ink : paper ≥ 7:1 (AAA) · every token ≥ 4.5:1 (AA)
never #ffffff · never #000000

billing.ts — 1 error, 1 warning
// billing.ts
type Invoice = { id: string; cents: number }
​
function totalDue(invoices: Invoice[]): number {
  return invoices
    .filter((i) => i.cents > 0)
    .reduce((sum, i) => sum + i.cetns, 0)  // no 'cetns'
}
​
const unused = totalDue([])  // warning: never read

open in the gallery — Sepia Paper · warm

Why most light themes hurt

They're too bright and too saturated. Candela is for people who like dark mode but can't use it comfortably — prescription lenses, astigmatism, glare sensitivity, plain eye strain. A few hard rules fix both:

Every rule is explained, with sources, in the vision research.

  • Soft paper, never pure white. Off-white backgrounds kill the glare.
  • Dark-gray ink, never pure black. AAA contrast without the harshness.
  • Desaturated accents. Saturated text is what makes astigmatic eyes see colored fringes.
  • Blue and orange carry the meaning. They stay distinct for almost every kind of color blindness.
  • Same colors, same meaning, every theme. Switching never makes you relearn the screen.

Light and dark pairs

Designed as a set, so moving between day and night keeps every color in the same role.

Graphite Monomonochrome+1
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Azure Monodark / monochrome+1
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Hearth Dawnwarm / low-blue
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Hearth Duskdark / warm low-blue
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Arclight Dawnacuity-first / high-contrast
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Arclight Duskdark / acuity-first
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Harbor Dawnwarm / gold-led
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Harbor Duskdark / warm-blue
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0

Standalone themes

Complete in one mode. A palette does not need a twin to be finished — most of these were never meant to have one.

Sepia Paperwarm
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Slate Mistcool
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Sageneutral
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Solarized Litewarm
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Blossompastel-warm
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Lagooncool
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Meadowfresh
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Apricotwarm
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Periwinklepastel-cool
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Ink & Coralhigh-contrast
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
E-Ink Slateneutral / ultra-low chroma
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Nocturnedark / cool
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Borealisdark / pastel
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Nightshadedark / purple
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Blue Hourdark / indigo
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Emberdark / warm retro
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Moss & Magentadark / vivid
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0
Amber Monodark / monochrome+1
def total(cents) = cents / 100.0

Every palette is authored in one JSON source. Fork one or build your own in the Theme Editor, download a ready-made archive from the latest release, or read the install guide on GitHub.