README.md

April 18, 2026 · View on GitHub

Image A modern Neovim colorscheme plugin featuring beautifully crafted pastel themes with rich customization, plugin integrations, and flexible styling.

✨ Features

  • 🎨 Beautiful pastel color schemes
  • 🌗 Automatic dark/light background support
  • 🧩 Built-in highlights for many popular plugins
  • ⚙️ Fully customizable colors, highlights, and styles
  • 🪶 Lightweight and fast
  • 🔍 Per-filetype configuration support
  • 🚫 Fine-grained exclusion system

🎨 Palettes

pasteldark
pastelblack
pastelsoft
pastelrose
pastelmint
pastelfrost

Check more vimcolorschemes

📦 Installation

Install using your preferred plugin manager.

  • lazy.nvim
{
  "ankushbhagats/pastel.nvim",
  lazy = false, -- disable lazy loading 
  priority = 1000, -- load immediately at startup
  opts = {}, -- your configuration comes here
  config = true -- call setup function with provided opts
}
  • packer.nvim
use {
  "ankushbhagats/pastel.nvim",
  config = function()
    require("pastel").setup()
  end
}

🎨 Usage

  • Apply a colorscheme Applies the selected colorscheme directly (no background-based switching).
vim.cmd.colorscheme("pasteldark")
  • Enable automatic background switching Dynamically selects a colorscheme based on the current 'background' (light or dark).
vim.cmd.colorscheme("pastel")
  • Force set a colorscheme via plugin config
{
  palette = "pastelsoft"
}

⚙️ Default Configuration

require("pastel").setup({
  background = {
    dark = "pasteldark",
    light = "pastelsoft",
  },
  palette = nil, 
  termguicolors = true,
  style = {
    transparent = false,
    inactive = true,
    border = true,
    float = true,
    border = true,
    bold = true,
    italic = false,
    underline = true,
    invert_title = false,
    simple_syntax = false,
    dynamic_statusline = false,
  },
  colors = {
    common = {},
    global = {},
  },
  highlights = {
    global = {},
  },
  exclude = {
    core = {},
    plugins = {},
  },
  filetypes = {},
})

🎨 Available Color Schemes

pasteldark pastelblack pastelsoft pastelfrost pastelrose pastelcloud pastelglow pastelshell pastelcool pastelgold pastelsilk pastelcream pastelmint pastelsnow pastelfog pastelpop pastelwarm pastelforest pastelrice pastelwhite

🧠 Style System

The "style" table controls UI appearance.

Special Behavior

You can use ""*"" to apply a setting globally:

style = {
  bold = "*",       -- enable bold everywhere
  italic = false,   -- disable all italics
  underline = true, -- use default underline behavior
}
  • ""*"" → apply everywhere
  • "true" → use default behavior
  • "false" → disable completely

🎯 Colors Customization

Modify base colors globally or per colorscheme.

Global colors:

colors = {
  global = {
    yellow = "#eedd00",
    cyan = "#aaffff",
  }
}

Per-colorscheme colors

colors = {
  pasteldark = {
    blue = "#11aaee",
    red = "#ffa0a0",
  }
}

🎨 Highlights Customization

Highlights accept functions.

Global highlights:

highlights = {
  global = function(hl, c)
      hl.Normal = { bg = "#333a3b", fg = "#808980" }
      hl.Comment.italic = true
      hl.GitSignsChange.fg = c.blue
  end
}

Per-colorscheme highlights

highlights = {
  pasteldark = function(hl, c)
      hl.CursorLine.bg = "#302920"
  end
}

🚫 Exclude System

Disable specific highlight group file/plugin.

exclude = {
  core = {
    syntax = true,
  },
  plugins = {
    telescope = true,
  },
}

📁 Filetype-specific Config

Apply custom settings per filetype.

filetypes = {
  lua = {
    colors = {
      purple = "#ffccff",
    },
    style = {
      italic = true,
    },
  },
  markdown = {
    highlights = function(hl, c)
        hl.Title.bold = true
    end,
  },
}

🧩 Supported Plugin Highlights

"pastel.nvim" ships with built-in highlight support for a wide range of popular plugins.

  • Total Count: 45

📦 UI & Navigation

  • aerial
  • bufferline
  • dashboard-nvim
  • neo-tree
  • nvim-tree
  • nvim-window-picker
  • symbols-outline
  • which-key

🔍 Search & Motion

  • fzf
  • hop
  • flash
  • lightspeed
  • telescope

🧠 Completion & LSP

  • coc
  • mason
  • blink-cmp
  • nvim-cmp
  • nvim-navic

🐛 Debugging & Testing

  • neotest
  • nvim-dap
  • nvim-dapui

🌿 Git

  • gitsigns
  • gitgraph
  • neogit

🎨 Syntax & Treesitter

  • treesitter
  • treesitter-context
  • nvim-ts-rainbow
  • nvim-ts-rainbow2
  • rainbow-delimiters

📝 Editing Enhancements

  • indent-blankline
  • indentmini
  • vim-illuminate
  • vim-visual-multi
  • vimwiki
  • todo-comments

🔔 UI Enhancements

  • noice
  • nvim-notify
  • snacks
  • render-markdown

⚙️ Utility & Misc

  • lazy
  • mini
  • miniicons
  • ministarter
  • avante
  • beacon

💡 You can disable any plugin highlights using the "exclude.plugins" option:

require("pastel").setup({
  exclude = {
    plugins = {
      telescope = true,
      gitsigns = true,
    },
  },
})

🛠 Example Configurations

Minimal setup

require("pastel").setup()
vim.cmd("colorscheme pasteldark")

Transparent background

require("pastel").setup({
  style = {
    transparent = true,
  },
})

Everything bold & italic globally

require("pastel").setup({
  style = {
    bold = "*",
    italic = "*",
  },
})

Override colors + highlights

require("pastel").setup({
  colors = {
    global = {
      green = "#0d0d0d",
    },
  },
  highlights = {
    global = function(hl, c)

        hl.Normal.bg = c.red
        hl.CursorLine.bg = "#1a1a1a"
    end,
  },
})

📌 Notes

  • "termguicolors" should be enabled for best experience
  • Works with both dark and light backgrounds
  • Highly customizable without sacrificing performance

❤️ Contributing

Feel free to open issues or submit PRs to improve themes, add integrations, or enhance features.

📄 License

GNU General Public License v3

📝 Credits

Highlights adapted from AstroTheme. Thanks to the original authors.