Overview

The Github Theme is a community-driven theme for Neovim, designed to support LSP (Language Server Protocol), Treesitter, and various plugins. It offers multiple themes, including colorblind-friendly options.

Here are the available themes:

github-nvim-theme	github-vscode-theme	Github Web UI	Primer
github_dark	Github Dark	-	-
github_light	Github Light	-	-
github_dark_dimmed	Github Dark Dimmed	Dark dimmed	dark_dimmed
github_dark_default	Github Dark Default	Dark default	dark
github_light_default	Github Light Default	Light default	light
github_dark_high_contrast	Github Dark High Contrast	Dark high contrast	dark_high_contrast
github_light_high_contrast	Github Light High Contrast	Light high contrast	light_high_contrast
github_dark_colorblind	Github Dark Colorblind (Beta)	Dark Protanopia & Deuteranopia	dark_colorblind
github_light_colorblind	Github Light Colorblind (Beta)	Light Protanopia & Deuteranopia	light_colorblind
github_dark_tritanopia	-	Dark Tritanopia	dark_tritanopia
github_light_tritanopia	-	Light Tritanopia	light_tritanopia

Usage

The Github Theme is a colorscheme for Vim, and it can be used like any other colorscheme. To use the theme as is, simply set it using the :colorscheme command:

:colorscheme github_dark

The Github Theme is highly customizable, and it provides four main components that can be customized: option, palette, spec, and group.

Configuration

The Github Theme allows you to set individual components separately instead of using the default setup function.

Setup

The setup() function is used to configure the Github Theme by setting its options.

require('github-theme').setup({
  options = {
    dim_inactive = true,
  }
})

Overrides

The individual components, such as palettes, specs, and groups, can be overridden separately to customize the theme according to your preferences.

local override = require('github-theme').override
override.palettes({
  github_dark = {
    red = '#ff0000',
  },
  github_light = {
    comment = '#636e7b',
  },
})
override.specs({
  github_dark = {
    syntax = {
      keyword = 'magenta'
    }
  }
})
override.groups({
  all = {
    IncSearch = { bg = 'palette.cyan' },
  },
})

Overrides for palettes and specs are defined per style. The purpose of overriding these components is to change the colors used in specific styles. Groups, on the other hand, are not defined per style and primarily use the colors defined in the palette and spec objects to set values using templates.

Setup

The setup function in the Github Theme serves as a convenient wrapper for configuring the theme using the individual components. It accepts separate keys for each component and calls the appropriate initialization or override function.

local options = {
  dim_inactive = true,
}
local palettes = {
  github_dark = {
    red = '#ff0000',
  },
  github_light = {
    comment = '#636e7b',
  },
}
local specs = {
  github_dark = {
    syntax = {
      keyword = 'magenta'
    }
  }
}
local groups = {
  all = {
    IncSearch = { bg = 'palette.cyan' },
  },
}
require('github-theme').setup({
  options = options,
  palettes = palettes,
  specs = specs,
  groups = groups,
})

Templates

Templates in the Github Theme allow you to reference other lower-level objects in the theme's configuration. Instead of setting an absolute color value, you can refer to the value of a lower-level object. The foundation of the Github Theme is the palette. A palette serves as the base for other components. Palettes are used as the template source for spec objects, and spec objects are used as the template source for group objects.

If a value does not start with the # symbol, it is treated as a template path. In Lua, everything is a table, so palettes and specs are Lua tables. A template path is composed of keys used to index into the table, separated by . characters.

Example:

-- Specs use palettes as the template source
local specs = {
  github_dark = {
    syntax = {
      -- The value does not start with `#`, so it is treated as a template.
      keyword = 'magenta',

      -- Adding either `.bright` or `.base` will change the value
      conditional = 'magenta.bright',

      number = 'orange',
    },
    git = {
      -- A color defined using `#` can also be used
      changed = '#f4a261',
    }
  }
}

-- Groups use specs as the template source
local groups = {
  all = {
    -- The template path is parsed as [`syntax`, `string`]. This is similar to calling into a Lua table, like:
    -- `spec.syntax.string`.
    String = { fg = 'syntax.string' },

    -- If `link` is defined, it will be applied over any other values defined
    Whitespace = { link = 'Comment' }

    -- Specs are used as the template. Specs have their palettes as a field that can be accessed.
    IncSearch = { bg = 'palette.cyan' },
  },
}

require('github-theme').setup({ specs = specs, groups = groups })

Option

options.compile_path {path}

Specifies the output directory {path} where the compiled results will be written to. The default value is vim.fn.stdpath("cache")/github-theme.

options.compile_file_suffix {suffix}

Specifies the string appended to the compiled file. Each style outputs to its own file, and these files will have the {suffix} appended at the end. The default value is _compiled.

options.hide_end_of_buffer {bool}

When set to true, it changes the foreground color of the EndOfBuffer highlight group. This allows you to mimic the effect of hiding the end of the buffer by using the color of the colorscheme background. The default value is true.

options.hide_nc_statusline {bool}

When set to true, it hides the StatusLineNC highlight group and makes it minimal. The default value is true.

options.transparent {bool}

If set to true, it disables setting the background of Normal, NormalNC, and other highlight groups. This allows you to use the colors of the colorscheme while using the background of your terminal. The default value is false.

options.terminal_colors {bool}

If set to true, it defines the terminal colors for the built-in terminal (vim.g.terminalcolor). The default value is true.

options.dim_inactive {bool}

If set to true, it sets the background of non-current windows to be darker. Refer to :h hl-NormalNC for more information.

options.module_default {bool}

Specifies the default value of a module that has not been overridden in the modules table.

options.styles {table}

The styles table contains a list of syntax components and their corresponding styles. These styles can be any combination of |highlight-args|. The available syntax components are:

comments
conditionals
constants
functions
keywords
numbers
operators
strings
types
variables

Example:

local options = {
  styles = {
    comments = 'italic',
    functions = 'italic,bold',
  }
}

options.inverse {table}

The inverse table contains a list of highlight types. If a highlight type is enabled, it inverses the foreground and background colors instead of applying the normal highlight group. The available highlight types are: match_paren, visual, and search. For example, if search is enabled, it inverses the foreground and background colors for highlighted search terms.

options.darken {table}

The darken table contains settings for buffer background color. Enabling floats allows floating windows to have a darkened background. The default value is true.

Another setting is for sidebars, which is configured in the sidebars sub-table.

options.darken.sidebars {table}

The sidebars sub table of darken contains settings for sidebar-like windows. It has two configurations: enabled is used to assign a darker background to the listed windows, and list specifies the windows to be included in the list.

Example:

local options = {
  darken = {
    floats = false,
    sidebars = {
      enabled = true,
      list = {'qf', 'netrw'} -- default is {}
    }
  }
}

options.modules {table}

modules store configuration information for various plugins and other neovim modules. A module can either be a boolean or a table that contains additional configuration for that module. If the value is a table it also has a field called enable that will tell github theme to load it. See modules for more information.

By default modules will be enabled. To change this behaviour change options.module_default to false.

Palette

A palette is the base color definitions of a style. Each style defines its own palette to be used by the other components. A palette defines base colors, as well as foreground and background shades. Along with the foreground and background colors a palette also defines other colors such as selection and comment colors.

The base colors are shade table that define a base, bright color. These base colors are: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, pink.

Key	Description
black	Shade Table (Base, Bright)
red	Shade Table (Base, Bright)
green	Shade Table (Base, Bright)
yellow	Shade Table (Base, Bright)
blue	Shade Table (Base, Bright)
magenta	Shade Table (Base, Bright)
cyan	Shade Table (Base, Bright)
white	Shade Table (Base, Bright)
orange	Orange Color
pink	Shade Table (Base, Bright)
comment	Comment color
bg0	Darker bg (status line and float)
bg1	Default bg
bg2	Lighter bg (colorcolumn folds)
bg3	Lighter bg (cursor line)
bg4	Lighter bg (Conceal)
fg0	Lighter fg
fg1	Default fg
fg2	Darker fg (status line)
fg3	Darker fg (line numbers, fold columns)
sel0	visual selection bg
sel1	Popup sel bg
sel2	search bg

Spec

A spec or specification is a mapping of a palette values to a logical group that is used by the group.

The base of a spec is a re-export of the palette's fg bg and sel. The values that are re-exported are: bg0, bg1, bg2, bg3, bg4, fg0, fg1, fg2, fg3, sel0, sel1, sel2.

spec.syntax

The syntax table maps palette color values to syntax values to be used by the group.

Key	Description
bracket	Brackets and Punctuation
builtin0	Builtin variable
builtin1	Builtin type
builtin2	Builtin const
comment	Comment
conditional	Conditional and loop
const	Constants, imports and booleans
dep	Deprecated
field	Field
func	Functions and Titles
ident	Identifiers
keyword	Keywords
number	Numbers
operator	Operators
preproc	PreProc
regex	Regex
statement	Statements
string	Strings
type	Types
variable	Variables

spec.diag

The diag table maps palette colors to vim diagnostic colors values. These values are: error, warn, info and hint.

spec.diag_bg

The diag_bg table maps palette colors to vim diagnostic background colors. These values are: error, warn, info and hint.

spec.diff

The diff table maps palette colors to vimdiff highlight colors. These values are: add, delete, change and text.

spec.git

The git table maps palette colors to git colors. These values are: add, removed, changed, conflict, and ignored.

Group

A group is the definition of a highlight-group. The key of the group table is the highlight-group that will be defined, and the table value is the arguments to the |:highlight| command.

Key	Help	Description
fg	\|highlight-guifg\|	The color value of the foreground of the highlight group
bg	\|highlight-guibg\|	The color value of the background of the highlight group
sp	\|highlight-guisp\|	The color for underlines and undercurls
blend	\|highlight-blend\|	Override the blend level for a highlight group within the popupmenu or floating windows.
style	\|highlight-gui\|	The style of the highlight group. Ex `italic`, `bold`, etc
link	\|highlight-link\|	Link one `highlight-group` to another

If the value of link is present and is not empty, github theme will link the group to the corresponding value.

Modules

Modules are a way to adding extra information for various plugins or features. This also allows them to be enabled or disabled. There are two types of modules, base modules and extended modules. A base modules do not have any other information and are just a boolean denoting if it is enabled. An extended module is a module that has extra customization information. It is a table that contains the additional configuration as well as a field called enable to determine if the module is applied.

Current list of modules are:

cmp
coc
dapui
dashboard
diagnostic
diffchar
fidget
fzf
gitgutter
gitsigns
indent_blankline
lsp_trouble
mini
native_lsp
neogit
neotree
notify
nvimtree
telescope
treesitter
treesitter_context
whichkey

Neovim specific modules

The following modules are enabled by default only when on neovim, diagnostic, native_lsp, treesitter. These modules are part of the core neovim experience and are linked to by other modules. This also means that they will still be enabled when setting module_default to false.

Extended modules

modules.coc

This module sets highlight groups from neoclide/coc.nvim.

key	type	default	description
enable	boolean	`true`	Enable the module to be included
background	boolean	`true`	Set virtual text background color

modules.diagnostic

This module sets highlight groups from vim.diagnostic.

key	type	default	description
enable	boolean	`true`	Enable the module to be included
background	boolean	`true`	Set virtual text background color

modules.native_lsp

This module sets highlight groups from neovim's builtin lsp.

key	type	default	description
enable	boolean	`true`	Enable the module to be included
background	boolean	`true`	Set virtual text background color

Color

Github Theme exposes a color utility library to help with manipulating colors. This library can be required using the following module:

local Color = require('github-theme.lib.color')

color.from_hex({hex})

Create a Color object from either a {hex} number or a css-style hex string ("#RRGGBB[AA]").

color.from_rgba({red}, {green}, {blue}, {alpha})

Create a Color object from a RGBA value. The {red}, {green} and {blue} components ranging from [0,255]. {alpha} is optional and defaults to 1. The {alpha} value's is from [0,1].

color.from_hsv({hue}, {sat}, {value}, {alpha})

Create a Color object from a HSV value. The {hue} is a float ranging [0,360]. {sat} and {value} are floats ranging from [0,100]. {alpha} is optional and defaults to 1. The {alpha} value's is from [0,1].

color.from_hsl({hue}, {sat}, {lightness}, {alpha})

Create a Color object from a HSL value. The {hue} is a float ranging [0,360]. {sat} and {lightness} are floats ranging from [0,100]. {alpha} is optional and defaults to 1. The {alpha} value's is from [0,1].

color:to_hex({with_alpha})

Convert a Color object to a integer number. If {with_alpha} is true the hex value will be returned with the alpha value added. This is defaulted to false.

color:to_css({with_alpha})

Convert a Color object to a css_style string ("#RRGGBB[AA]"). If {with_alpha} is true the hex value will be returned with the alpha value added. This is defaulted to false.

color:to_rgba()

Convert a Color object to a RGBA table. The resulting table will have red, green, blue and alpha components as keys of the table.

color:to_hsv()

Convert a Color object to a HSV table. The resulting table will have hue, saturation and value components as keys of the table.

color:to_hsl()

Convert a Color object to a HSL table. The resulting table will have hue, saturation and lightness components as keys of the table.

color:blend({other}, {factor})

Returns a new Color that is a linear blend between two colors. {other} is the other color to blend. {factor} is the percentage of the {other} color that will be blended. This percentage is represented [0,1] where 0 is no color blending and 1 is entirely the {other} color.

color:shade({factor})

Returns a new Color that has been shaded by the {factor}. The factor is a percentage from [-1,1] where -1 is black and 1 is white.

color:brighten({value})

Returns a new Color with {value} added to the value (hsv) of the current color. This returns a lighter version of of the current color if {value} is positive and a darker color is {value} is negative. {value} is Float [-100, 100].

color:lighten({value})

Returns a new Color with {value} added to the lightness (hsl) of the current color. This returns a lighter version of of the current color if {value} is positive and a darker color is {value} is negative. {value} is Float [-100, 100].

color:saturate({value})

Returns a new Color with {value} added to the saturation (hsv) of the current color. This returns either a more or less saturated version depending of +/- v. {value} is Float [-100, 100].

color:rotate({value})

Returns a new Color with {value} added to the hue (hsv) of the current color. The resulting value of hue will be wrapped from [0,360], meaning that if the value exceeds 360 it will be wrapped back to 0.

Compile

Github Theme is a highly customizable and configurable colorscheme. This does however come at the cost of complexity and execution time.

Github Theme pre-computes the result of your configuration and saves the lua bytecode in a cache to be used on next load. This significantly speeds up github theme's execution time. Changes to your configuration will be re-computed and cached automatically.

By default Github Theme writes the compiled results into the system's cache directory. On unix this is $XDG_CACHE_HOME/nvim/github-theme and on windows this is %localappdata%\\Temp\\nvim\\github-theme.

Compile commands

compile()

Compile github theme settings for each style and write compiled file to compile_path.

:GithubThemeCompile

Compile github theme settings for each style and write compiled file to compile_path.

Interactive

Github Theme makes it easy to make changes to its config and see the results. For this Github Theme exposes the command:

GithubThemeInteractive

This command will attach an autocmd to the current buffer that executes on BufferWritePost. The autocmd will clear Github theme's internal state and re-source it's config from the newly saved file. It will then reset the colorscheme.

There are a few things to note:

This requires executing luafile on the current file. Any syntax errors will throw errors.
If you are using packer and have Github theme's config in a config = function() end block, this will not work as packer would require to be re-compiled and the compiled file sourced.

:GithubThemeInteractive

Enable Github Theme configuration reloading on buffer save.

Files

Usage.md

Latest commit

History

Usage.md

File metadata and controls

Overview

Usage

Configuration

Setup

Overrides

Setup

Templates

Option

options.compile_path {path}

options.compile_file_suffix {suffix}

options.hide_end_of_buffer {bool}

options.hide_nc_statusline {bool}

options.transparent {bool}

options.terminal_colors {bool}

options.dim_inactive {bool}

options.module_default {bool}

options.styles {table}

options.inverse {table}

options.darken {table}

options.darken.sidebars {table}

options.modules {table}

Palette

Spec

spec.syntax

spec.diag

spec.diag_bg

spec.diff

spec.git

Group

Modules

Neovim specific modules

Extended modules

modules.coc

modules.diagnostic

modules.native_lsp

Color

color.from_hex({hex})

color.from_rgba({red}, {green}, {blue}, {alpha})

color.from_hsv({hue}, {sat}, {value}, {alpha})

color.from_hsl({hue}, {sat}, {lightness}, {alpha})

color:to_hex({with_alpha})

color:to_css({with_alpha})

color:to_rgba()

color:to_hsv()

color:to_hsl()

color:blend({other}, {factor})

color:shade({factor})

color:brighten({value})

color:lighten({value})

color:saturate({value})

color:rotate({value})

Compile

Compile commands

compile()

:GithubThemeCompile

Interactive

:GithubThemeInteractive