Slatewave (Xcode)

May 4, 2026 · View on GitHub

Slatewave (Xcode)

A dark Xcode theme built around a slate foundation and a teal signature, with sky / rose / purple / amber accents. Part of the Slatewave family — one palette across editors, terminals, prompts, notes, and more.

Slate below, teal above.

Palette

Foundation — slate

The editor and console live in the slate scale.

Hex	Tailwind	Where
`#1e293b`	slate-800	block-dim background, current line, inline-code background
`#282c34`	slate-editor	source editor & console background
`#3a3f4c`	slate-guide	invisibles, borders

Text — slate (inverse)

Hex	Tailwind	Where
`#64748b`	slate-500	comments, MARKs
`#94a3b8`	slate-400	doc comments, console executable output
`#e2e8f0`	slate-200	plain text, identifiers, console input

Signature — teal

	Hex	Tailwind	Where
	`#5eead4`	teal-300	primary accent — strings, cursor, selection, debugger prompt, headings
	`#99f6e4`	teal-200	types, classes, inline code

Accents

	Hex	Role
	`#38bdf8`	keywords, type declarations, links, strong markup
	`#7dd3fc`	functions, other declarations
	`#b388ff`	macros, system variables, doc-comment keywords, emphasis
	`#fb7185`	numbers, characters, constants
	`#fbbf24`	attributes, preprocessor, markup, instruction pointer

Syntax mapping

Token	Color	Style
Comments	`#64748b`	italic
Doc comments	`#94a3b8`	italic
Doc-comment keywords	`#b388ff`	bold italic
Keywords	`#38bdf8`	—
Type declarations	`#38bdf8`	—
Other declarations	`#7dd3fc`	—
Types & classes	`#99f6e4`	—
Functions	`#7dd3fc`	—
Strings	`#5eead4`	—
Numbers, constants, characters	`#fb7185`	—
Macros & system variables	`#b388ff`	—
Attributes	`#fbbf24`	italic
Preprocessor	`#fbbf24`	—
Plain text / identifiers	`#e2e8f0`	—
MARKs	`#64748b`	italic
URLs	`#38bdf8`	—

Installation

Xcode loads custom themes from ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/UserData/FontAndColorThemes/.

git clone https://github.com/kevinlangleyjr/xcode-slatewave.git
mkdir -p ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/UserData/FontAndColorThemes
cp xcode-slatewave/Slatewave.xccolortheme ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/UserData/FontAndColorThemes/

Then in Xcode:

Settings… → Themes (⌘, then click the Themes tab)
Pick Slatewave under the Custom section in the sidebar

If Xcode is already open when you copy the file, restart it so the theme appears.

Customize

Theme files are XML plists. Color values are space-separated R G B A floats in the 0.0 – 1.0 range.

To tweak a color without forking, duplicate the theme inside Xcode (right-click the theme → Duplicate) and edit it from the Themes pane. Or edit the file directly:

$EDITOR ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/UserData/FontAndColorThemes/Slatewave.xccolortheme

Common keys:

DVTSourceTextBackground — editor background
DVTSourceTextSelectionColor — selection
DVTSourceTextSyntaxColors → xcode.syntax.string — string color
DVTSourceTextSyntaxColors → xcode.syntax.keyword — keyword color

Slatewave family

One palette. Every tool.

Editors — VSCode · JetBrains · Sublime Text · Zed · Neovim · Helix
Terminals — Alacritty · Ghostty · iTerm2 · WezTerm · Windows Terminal · Kitty
Prompts — Oh My Posh · Powerlevel10k · Starship
Multiplexer — tmux
CLI — bat · delta · LSD · btop
Notes — Obsidian · Logseq · MarkEdit · Anytype
Launchers — Alfred · Raycast
Chat — Slack

See getslatewave.com for the full family.

License

WTFPL — Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License. See LICENSE.