Crypt warmth for nights of code.
An original dark theme with a boudoir/wine identity — a rosé-wine background and warm accents: carmine, wisteria, absinthe mint, peach velvet and champagne.
The name Carmilla is a tribute to Sheridan Le Fanu's gothic novella (1872), a classic of vampire literature.
Why it exists
Most dark themes lean to the cold side of the spectrum (icy blues and purples). Carmilla does the opposite: thermal coherence — everything leans warm. The detail that defines its identity is the comments in Ash Mauve, which converse with the background instead of clashing with it.
Preview
Palette
| Token | Hex | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Crypt | #16101A |
Deepest background — page, gutter |
| Boudoir | #2E1B2D |
Main background — editor, panels |
| Velvet | #3A2438 |
Elevated surface — cards, status bar |
| Selection | #523950 |
Current line, selection, ranges |
| Pearl | #F5EADA |
Primary text / foreground |
| Carmine | #FF5FA2 |
Keywords, storage (const, class, return) |
| Wisteria | #D5A6FF |
Language instances (this, super, null) |
| Verdigris | #5ED0D8 |
Classes, types, support |
| Absinthe | #7AE0A6 |
Functions, methods |
| Champagne | #EDD795 |
Strings, template literals |
| Peach Velvet | #FFAE8A |
Numbers, booleans |
| Pomegranate | #E84B6E |
Errors, deletions, alerts |
| Ash Mauve | #9E83A4 |
Comments, disabled code |
Full specification, design rationale and TextMate mapping in
PALETTE.md.
Flavors
The extension ships two themes. Carmilla is the rosé-wine base. Carmilla Amethyst is a
violet reading of it — the signature accent becomes an orchid purple, Amethyst #C474D3
(hover #D38CDC), and the wine backgrounds rotate to dusk violet (editor #2A1B2E) at identical
lightness, so every contrast figure carries over. The content colours stay constant across
flavors: a flavor reads as the same theme in a different light.
Installation
Open the Extensions view in VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+X), search for Carmilla, and click Install — or run:
code --install-extension muowl.carmilla
Then activate it under Color Theme (Ctrl+K Ctrl+T) → Carmilla.
License
MIT. Every colour is original to this palette — no third-party attribution required.