Dark Modern Neue for Visual Studio Code

Preview

See more details

Default Dark Modern Neue

Dark Modern Neue — High Contrast

Dark Modern Neue — Minimal

How I made it

I couldn't stand the bright, saturated green that Dark, Dark+, and Dark Modern use for comments:

So the first thing I did was replace it with a soft italic gray — comments should whisper, not shout.

From there I updated the base colors with warmer, desaturated tones for a more modern feel, drawing inspiration from the Dark 2026 palette released in February. I also looked closely at how Cursor styles its Anywhere theme — which I've also ported to VS Code (check it out here).

See Dark Modern and Dark Modern Neue comparison table

Token	Dark Modern	NEW! Dark Modern Neue
Comments
Strings
Keywords / Storage
Functions
Types / Classes
Variables
Constants / Enums
Numbers
Control flow
Properties
Regex

Then came a High Contrast variant built entirely on Tailwind colors used by shadcn-ui, with strong chromatic separation for maximum token differentiation.

See Dark Modern Neue and the High Contrast alt comparison table

Token	Default	High Contrast
Comments
Strings
Keywords / Storage
Functions
Types / Classes
Variables
Constants / Enums
Numbers
Control flow
Properties
Regex

And finally, my personal favorite: a monochrome and super minimalistic variant in the spirit of Vercel's aesthetic — near-zero color, inverted hierarchy, with a single elegant teal accent reserved for strings.

See Dark Modern Neue Minimal table

Token	Minimal
Comments
Strings
Keywords / Storage
Functions
Types / Classes
Variables
Constants / Enums
Numbers
Control flow
Properties
Regex

Installation

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
3. Search for Dark Modern Neue
4. Click Install
5. Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) → Preferences: Color Theme
6. Select your preferred variant

Recommended Settings

Paste all of this on your settings.json and you will get the cleanest and minimalistic VS Code ever.

settings.json

{
  "window.zoomLevel": 0.6,

  "editor.fontFamily": "CommitMono",
  "editor.fontSize": 13,
  "editor.lineHeight": 1.5,
  "editor.letterSpacing": 0.15,

  // Jetbrains Mono settings
  // "editor.fontFamily": "JetBrains Mono",
  // "editor.fontSize": 13,
  // "editor.lineHeight": 1.5,
  // "editor.letterSpacing": 0.2,

  // Cascadia Code settings
  // "editor.fontFamily": "Cascadia Code SemiLight",
  // "editor.fontSize": 14,
  // "editor.letterSpacing": 0.25,
  // "editor.lineHeight": 1.5,

  "editor.fontLigatures": true,
  "editor.fontVariations": true,
  "editor.tabSize": 4,
  "editor.unicodeHighlight.nonBasicASCII": false,
  "editor.occurrencesHighlight": "off",
  "editor.selectionHighlight": false,
  "editor.cursorBlinking": "smooth",
  "editor.cursorSmoothCaretAnimation": "on",
  "editor.wordWrap": "off",
  "editor.bracketPairColorization.independentColorPoolPerBracketType": false,
  "editor.semanticHighlighting.enabled": true,
  "editor.scrollbar.horizontal": "hidden",
  "editor.scrollbar.vertical": "visible",
  "editor.scrollbar.verticalScrollbarSize": 12,
  "editor.stickyScroll.enabled": false,
  "editor.minimap.enabled": false,
  "editor.autoClosingBrackets": "always",
  "editor.bracketPairColorization.enabled": false,

  "workbench.productIconTheme": "feather-vscode",
  "workbench.iconTheme": "jetbrains-file-icon-theme-dark",
  "workbench.preferredDarkColorTheme": "Visual Studio Dark Modern Neue",
  "workbench.colorTheme": "Visual Studio Dark Modern Neue",
  "workbench.activityBar.location": "top",
  "workbench.tree.renderIndentGuides": "onHover",
  "workbench.tree.indent": 12,
  "workbench.tree.enableStickyScroll": false,
  "workbench.statusBar.visible": true,
  "workbench.editor.showTabs": "multiple",
  "workbench.layoutControl.enabled": false,
  "workbench.startupEditor": "none",
  "workbench.tips.enabled": false,
  "workbench.sideBar.location": "left",
  "workbench.editor.decorations.colors": true,
  "workbench.secondarySideBar.defaultVisibility": "hidden",

  "window.titleBarStyle": "custom",
  "window.menuStyle": "inherit",
  "window.customTitleBarVisibility": "windowed",
  "window.menuBarVisibility": "compact",
  "window.commandCenter": false,
  "window.title": " ",

  "terminal.integrated.fontFamily": "CommitMono",
  "terminal.integrated.fontLigatures.enabled": false,
  "terminal.integrated.cursorStyle": "line",
  "terminal.integrated.cursorStyleInactive": "none",

  "breadcrumbs.enabled": false
}

Get the fonts I've mentioned down below:

CommitMono (I use this one😎)	Jetbrains Mono	Cascadia Code updated!
Download	Download	Download

Feedback

Dark Modern Neue family is an open source project, and contributions are welcome!

There are many ways to contribute, from reporting bugs and submitting enhancement suggestions to improving the themes by submitting pull requests.

Found a specific issue with a token or color? Open an issue on GitHub and include the language, scope, and a screenshot if possible.

---

Copyright © 2026 Alberto Cantero