Finishing Touches

Let’s round out the theme with status colours and the remaining UI surfaces.

Status Colours

Add a status group to your variables:

vars:
  status:
    error: $$red
    warning: $$yellow
    success: $$green
    info: $$cyan

These are semantic aliases — if you later decide errors should be orange instead of red, you change it in one place.

More UI Properties

Add these to your theme.colors:

theme:
  colors:
    errorForeground: $(status.error)
    list.errorForeground: $(status.error)
    list.warningForeground: $(status.warning)
    statusBar.background: $(std.bg.accent)
    statusBar.foreground: $(std.fg)
    activityBar.background: $(std.bg)
    activityBar.foreground: $(accent)
    sideBar.background: $(std.bg.panel)
    sideBar.foreground: $(std.fg)
    input.background: $(std.bg)
    input.foreground: $(std.fg)
    input.border: $(std.outline)
    button.background: $(std.bg.accent)
    button.foreground: $(std.fg)

The Complete Theme

Here’s the full ocean.yaml at this point:

config:
  name: "Ocean"
  type: dark

palette:
  blue: "#2d5a87"
  cyan: "#4a9eff"
  gray: "#3c3c3c"
  white: "#e6e6e6"
  red: "#ff6b6b"
  green: "#51cf66"
  yellow: "#ffd93d"

vars:
  accent: $$cyan

  std:
    fg: $$white
    fg.inactive: fade($(std.fg), 60)
    bg: "#1a1a2e"
    bg.panel: lighten($(std.bg), 15)
    bg.accent: darken($(accent), 70)
    outline: fade($(accent), 30)
    shadow: fade($(std.bg), 80)

  status:
    error: $$red
    warning: $$yellow
    success: $$green
    info: $$cyan

theme:
  colors:
    editor.background: $(std.bg)
    editor.foreground: $(std.fg)
    editorGroupHeader.tabsBackground: $(std.bg.panel)
    tab.activeBackground: $(std.bg)
    tab.activeForeground: $(std.fg)
    tab.inactiveBackground: $(std.bg.panel)
    tab.inactiveForeground: $(std.fg.inactive)
    focusBorder: $(std.outline)
    panel.border: $(std.outline)
    editorOverviewRuler.border: $(std.outline)
    widget.shadow: $(std.shadow)
    titleBar.activeBackground: $(std.bg.accent)
    titleBar.activeForeground: $(std.fg)
    titleBar.inactiveBackground: $(std.bg.accent)
    titleBar.inactiveForeground: $(std.fg.inactive)
    errorForeground: $(status.error)
    list.errorForeground: $(status.error)
    list.warningForeground: $(status.warning)
    statusBar.background: $(std.bg.accent)
    statusBar.foreground: $(std.fg)
    activityBar.background: $(std.bg)
    activityBar.foreground: $(accent)
    sideBar.background: $(std.bg.panel)
    sideBar.foreground: $(std.fg)
    input.background: $(std.bg)
    input.foreground: $(std.fg)
    input.border: $(std.outline)
    button.background: $(std.bg.accent)
    button.foreground: $(std.fg)

  tokenColors:
    - name: Comments
      scope: comment
      settings:
        foreground: $(std.fg.inactive)
        fontStyle: italic

    - name: Keywords
      scope: keyword, storage.type
      settings:
        foreground: $(accent)

    - name: Strings
      scope: string
      settings:
        foreground: $$green

    - name: Numbers
      scope: constant.numeric
      settings:
        foreground: $$yellow

    - name: Functions
      scope: entity.name.function
      settings:
        foreground: $$cyan

    - name: Classes
      scope: entity.name.class, entity.name.type
      settings:
        foreground: $$blue
        fontStyle: bold

  semanticTokenColors:
    variable.declaration:
      foreground: $(std.fg)
      fontStyle: italic
    function.declaration:
      foreground: $(accent)
      fontStyle: bold
    "string:escape": $$yellow

Installing in VS Code

To try your theme:

1. Create a folder in your VS Code extensions directory:
   • Linux/macOS: ~/.vscode/extensions/ocean-theme/
   • Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions\ocean-theme\
2. Copy ocean.color-theme.json into that folder
3. Create a package.json alongside it:

{
  "name": "ocean-theme",
  "displayName": "Ocean",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "engines": { "vscode": "^1.80.0" },
  "categories": ["Themes"],
  "contributes": {
    "themes": [{
      "label": "Ocean",
      "uiTheme": "vs-dark",
      "path": "./ocean.color-theme.json"
    }]
  }
}

1. Reload VS Code and select Ocean from the theme picker

Alternatively, use the Yeoman VS Code Extension Generator (yo code) to scaffold a proper extension.

Build It

npx @gesslar/sassy build ocean.yaml

You’ve got a complete, maintainable dark theme built from a single source of truth. One last thing to learn — watch mode for live development.