synthwave3000.nvim

Neon dreams. Real contrast ratios.

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✨ Features

• ♿ WCAG AAA on dark, AA on light — every accent verified against its background
• 🌗 First-class light mode — not an afterthought; same hue families, recalibrated lightness
• ⚡ One-line install, zero required config — colorscheme synthwave3000 and you're done
• 🎛 Override anything — palette, highlights, per-variant, via on_colors / on_highlights
• 🪟 Transparent background support — Normal, sidebars, floats, statusline section C
• 🖥 Neovim 0.10 / 0.11 / 0.12 compatible
• 🎨 Lualine theme ships at standard lua/lualine/themes/ path for auto-discovery

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📸 Gallery — dark, light, transparent (click to expand)

Variant	Preview
Dark — the canonical sunset
Light — the violet hour
Transparent — float on your wallpaper

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📦 Installation

lazy.nvim:

{
  "Web-Dev-Codi/synthwave3000.nvim",
  lazy = false,
  priority = 1000,
  opts = {},
  config = function(_, opts)
    require("synthwave3000").setup(opts)
    vim.cmd.colorscheme("synthwave3000")
  end,
}

Other plugin managers

packer.nvim:

use {
  "Web-Dev-Codi/synthwave3000.nvim",
  config = function()
    require("synthwave3000").setup({})
    vim.cmd.colorscheme("synthwave3000")
  end,
}

vim-plug:

Plug 'Web-Dev-Codi/synthwave3000.nvim'
" After plug#end():
lua require("synthwave3000").setup({}); vim.cmd.colorscheme("synthwave3000")

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🚀 Usage

require("synthwave3000").setup({
  style = "auto",     -- "dark" | "light" | "auto" (follows vim.o.background)
  transparent = false, -- transparent backgrounds for Normal, sidebars, floats
})
vim.cmd.colorscheme("synthwave3000")

Lualine

The theme ships a lualine theme file at lua/lualine/themes/synthwave3000.lua. Lualine auto-discovers it:

require("lualine").setup({
  options = { theme = "synthwave3000" },
})

The lualine theme respects transparent and background from your colorscheme config.

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⚙️ Configuration

You don't need to call setup() unless you want to change something. The defaults are:

require("synthwave3000").setup({
  -- Mode ----------------------------------------------------------
  style = "auto",         -- "dark" | "light" | "auto" (follows vim.o.background)
  transparent = false,     -- transparent bg for Normal, sidebars, floats, lualine section C
  background = nil,        -- override the Normal background (nil = palette default)
  terminal_colors = true,  -- set terminal ANSI color palette

  -- Styles --------------------------------------------------------
  styles = {
    comments  = { italic = true },
    keywords  = { bold = true },
    functions = { bold = true },
    variables = {},
    strings   = {},
    types     = { bold = true },
    operators = {},
  },

  -- Plugin toggles (all enabled by default) -----------------------
  -- These exist for opt-out, not opt-in. synthwave3000 already looks
  -- Disable a toggle only if you want to override with your own setup.
  plugins = {
    telescope        = true,   nvim_tree        = true,
    neo_tree         = true,   bufferline       = true,
    gitsigns         = true,   diffview         = true,
    cmp              = true,   blink_cmp        = true,
    mini             = true,   indent_blankline = true,
    which_key        = true,   noice            = true,
    notify           = true,   trouble          = true,
    flash            = true,   snacks           = true,
    dashboard        = true,   aerial           = true,
    dap              = true,   neogit           = true,
    render_markdown  = true,
  },

  -- Customization -------------------------------------------------
  on_colors = nil,         -- function(palette) — mutate palette before highlight gen
  on_highlights = nil,     -- function(groups, palette) — override highlight groups
})

Customization examples

on_colors = function(c)
  c.pink = "#ff69b4"
end

on_highlights = function(hl, c)
  hl.Comment = { fg = c.comment, italic = false }
end

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🔌 Compatible Plugins

These plugins have been visually verified.

Plugin	Highlights
telescope.nvim	40+ groups — picker borders, results, prompt
nvim-tree.lua	40+ groups — file tree, git icons
neo-tree.nvim	Float border, normal, indent markers
bufferline.nvim	40+ groups — tabs, separators, diagnostics, modified
gitsigns.nvim	Sign column, diff hunks
diffview.nvim	Diff panel backgrounds
nvim-cmp	Completion menu, documentation
blink.cmp	40+ groups — menu, docs, signature help
mini.nvim	80+ groups — pickers, statusline, files, diff, starter
indent-blankline.nvim	Indent guides, scope
which-key.nvim	Popup, groups, descriptions
noice.nvim	Cmdline popup, confirm, lsp progress
nvim-notify	Notification borders (severity-colored)
trouble.nvim	Diagnostic list backgrounds
flash.nvim	Uses theme defaults (hub groups)
snacks.nvim	100+ groups — picker, dashboard, indent, notifier
dashboard-nvim	Dashboard text, keys, footer
aerial.nvim	Symbol outline, float border
nvim-dap / nvim-dap-ui	Debugger UI float border
neogit	Git status buffer
render-markdown.nvim	Headings, code blocks, links, checkboxes

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🎨 Palette

Dark mode

Key	Swatch	Hex	Description
bg		#262335	Main background
bg_dark		#0D0221	Sidebar / float / statusline
bg_darker		#171520	Statusline inactive / tabline fill
bg_panel		#2a2139	Popup menu background
fg		#ffffff	Primary foreground
fg_dim		#b6b1b1	Dimmed / inactive text
comment		#848bbd	Comments
pink		#FF00FF	Accent — borders, titles, selection
cyan		#00FFFF	Functions, special values, links
green		#33FF33	Added / success / git staged
yellow		#fede5d	Warnings / changed / keywords
orange		#f97e72	Unsaved changes / operators
red		#fe4450	Errors / deleted / types
purple		#8C1EFF	Special identifiers / modules

Light mode

Key	Swatch	Hex	Description
bg		#f5f0ff	Main background
bg_dark		#e8e0f0	Sidebar / float / statusline
bg_darker		#ddd4e8	Statusline inactive / tabline fill
bg_panel		#f0ebf8	Popup menu background
fg		#1a1a2e	Primary foreground
fg_dim		#5a5a7a	Dimmed / inactive text
comment		#7c7fa0	Comments
pink		#c445a3	Accent — borders, titles, selection
cyan		#007777	Functions, special values, links
green		#2d8f5e	Added / success / git staged
yellow		#b0901f	Warnings / changed / keywords
orange		#c0552a	Unsaved changes / operators
red		#c62828	Errors / deleted / types
purple		#7c5295	Special identifiers / modules

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♿ Accessibility

synthwave3000 takes accessibility seriously — uncommon for neon themes.

• Dark mode: all accents ≥ 7:1 against backgrounds (WCAG AAA)
• Light mode: all accents ≥ 4.5:1 against backgrounds (WCAG AA)
• Border colors and UI chrome pass WCAG 2.1 SC 1.4.11 (3:1 non-text contrast)
• No information is conveyed by color alone — error highlights pair with icons/signs

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🪟 Transparency

When transparent = true:

Element	Behavior
Normal, NormalNC	bg = "NONE"
NormalFloat, sidebars (SignColumn, FoldColumn)	bg = "NONE"
StatusLine, WinBar, TabLine section C	bg = "NONE"
Lualine section C	bg = "NONE"
Pmenu, floating windows	Use palette bg_panel (keeps readability)
Bufferline section A, B	Keep colored backgrounds
Statusline section A (mode indicator)	Keep colored background
Lualine sections A, B	Keep colored backgrounds

Border colors are not affected by transparency — they remain pink regardless.

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🧪 Testing

nvim --headless -u tests/minimal_init.lua -c "PlenaryBustedFile tests/synthwave3000_spec.lua"

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📄 License

MIT

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_{Made with neon and Lua. If it made your editor a little more electric, ⭐.
If a plugin still looks off, that's a bug we want to know about — open an issue.}

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