What is solarized?

altercation/solarized — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-24

★ 15,982Vim scriptAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((solarized))
    What it is
      16-color palette
      Dark mode
      Light mode
    Design goals
      Reduce eye strain
      Balanced brightness
      Consistent modes
    Supported tools
      Vim Emacs
      Terminal emulators
      Image editors
    Use cases
      Daily coding
      Long reading sessions
      Custom ports

mindmap root((solarized)) What it is 16-color palette Dark mode Light mode Design goals Reduce eye strain Balanced brightness Consistent modes Supported tools Vim Emacs Terminal emulators Image editors Use cases Daily coding Long reading sessions Custom ports

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Apply a consistent, eye-friendly color scheme to your Vim or Emacs setup for long coding sessions.

USE CASE 2

Theme your terminal emulator with Solarized's balanced palette to reduce eye strain in bright or dim environments.

USE CASE 3

Use the raw color values to port Solarized to any tool not already included in the repository.

What is it built with?

Vim script

How does it compare?

	altercation/solarized	mhinz/vim-galore	vim-syntastic/syntastic
Stars	15,982	17,839	11,223
Language	Vim script	Vim script	Vim script
Setup difficulty	easy	easy	moderate
Complexity	1/5	1/5	3/5
Audience	developer	developer	developer

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Installation steps vary per editor and terminal, follow the per-app instructions included in the repository.

So what is it?

Solarized is a color scheme, a carefully chosen set of 16 colors designed to make text editors, terminals, and other coding tools easier on your eyes. It was built with a specific goal: reduce eye strain without sacrificing readability. The creator used a scientific color model to select colors with precisely balanced brightness relationships, so text stays easy to read whether you are in a bright office or a dim room. One of its key features is that it comes in both a dark background mode and a light background mode, and the colors are designed so both modes feel consistent and equally readable. Switching between them does not feel jarring because the same color relationships are preserved in both. This is less common than it sounds, many color schemes only look good in one mode. Solarized was designed for wide compatibility. It works in many different tools, including several text editors (such as Vim, Emacs, and others listed in the readme), terminal applications, and even design tools like image editors, with downloadable palette files. If your specific tool is not in the list, you can use the raw color values to create your own version. It is primarily aimed at developers and anyone who spends long hours reading and writing text or code on screen. The full README is longer than what was provided.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Help me install the Solarized Dark color scheme in Neovim and set it as the default in my init.lua.

Prompt 2

I want to apply Solarized Light to my terminal emulator on macOS. Which color palette file should I use and how do I import it?

Prompt 3

I use an editor not listed in the Solarized repo. Give me the 16 hex color values I need to create my own Solarized port.

Prompt 4

Set up Solarized in both my Vim config and my iTerm2 profile so the colors match exactly between the editor and the terminal background.

Frequently asked questions