# Tokyonight.nvim: Four Dark and Light Colorschemes for Neovim > Tokyonight.nvim is a Lua colorscheme for Neovim ported from the VS Code theme, offering four color palettes: Moon, Storm, Night, and Day. It includes support for Neovim 0.9.0 and above, terminal colors, LSP highlighting, treesitter, and dozens of plugins. Extras are provided for Kitty, Alacritty, iTerm, and Fish shells. **folke/tokyonight.nvim** — 🏙 A clean, dark Neovim theme written in Lua, with support for lsp, treesitter and lots of plugins. Includes additional themes for Kitty, Alacritty, iTerm and Fish. - Repository: https://github.com/folke/tokyonight.nvim - Stars: 8,208 · Forks: 550 - Language: Lua - License: Apache-2.0 - Published: 2026-09-22 · Updated: 2026-09-22 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/folke-tokyonight-nvim ## Selecting among Moon, Storm, Night, and Day Tokyonight.nvim is a Lua implementation of the Tokyo Night colorscheme, originally designed for Visual Studio Code. The theme provides four variants to choose from: Moon, Storm, Night, and Day. Each variant is documented in the README with a visual screenshot showing the colors applied to Neovim code. The theme is written in Lua and targets Neovim 0.9.0 and above, making it compatible with recent Neovim releases that support the latest API and highlight group features. The colorscheme includes terminal color definitions, ensuring that colors render correctly when Neovim runs inside terminal emulators like Kitty, Alacritty, iTerm, or Fish shell. This matters because terminal emulators interpret color codes differently depending on their color scheme configuration. The theme structure is designed to allow customization; users can modify the colors in their Neovim configuration if they want to adjust saturation, brightness, or hue for their particular setup. ## Plugin support: 60 and counting Tokyonight.nvim provides highlight group definitions for a large number of Neovim plugins. The README includes a detailed supported plugins list, which covers completion and snippet plugins like nvim-cmp and blink.cmp, user interface plugins like neo-tree.nvim and bufferline.nvim, diagnostic and debugging tools with nvim-dap, git integration plugins such as gitsigns.nvim and vim-gitgutter. The theme also includes styling for the large collection of mini.nvim modules, each of which provides distinct UI components. Motion and navigation plugins like flash.nvim, leap.nvim, and hop.nvim have dedicated highlight groups so that their visual overlays appear consistent with the overall theme. The theme covers noice.nvim for enhanced command-line user interfaces, dashboard-nvim for startup screens, and lazy.nvim for the plugin manager itself. This breadth of support means that users who rely on popular plugins will see consistent theming across their entire editor. However, not every plugin in the Neovim ecosystem is supported. Users whose chosen plugins lack explicit theme support will see the default Neovim highlight groups for those plugins, which may not blend well with the Tokyonight colors. ## LSP and treesitter integration The README states that Tokyonight.nvim supports LSP highlighting and treesitter syntax highlighting. LSP (Language Server Protocol) provides semantic information about code, allowing the theme to color function names, variable declarations, type annotations, and other language constructs. Treesitter is a parsing library that enables accurate syntax highlighting for many languages. When both are active, the theme applies context-aware colors based on the language rules and semantic information. The README does not specify which individual LSP features are covered by the theme, such as whether inlay hints, hover information, or code action indicators have dedicated highlights. Setup is straightforward: load the colorscheme in your Neovim init file, and the theme applies automatically to buffers that have LSP or treesitter attached. The README provides minimal guidance on configuration beyond selecting a variant. ## Installation via plugin managers The README references installing the colorscheme using a plugin manager but provides no example commands or configuration snippets for any specific plugin manager. The repository is located at github.com/folke/tokyonight.nvim. To use Tokyonight, users must add it to their plugin manager of choice, following that plugin manager's documentation for adding repositories. Once installed, the colorscheme must be loaded in the Neovim init file. To select a specific variant instead of the default, the variant name must be passed to the colorscheme command. The available variants are moon, storm, night, and day, each representing a different color palette. The README does not show how to pass the variant name or provide syntax examples for common plugin managers like lazy.nvim, packer.nvim, or vim-plug. ## Extras for terminal emulators and shell Beyond the Neovim colorscheme, the repository includes color definitions for terminal emulators and shells in an extras directory. Tokyonight themes are provided for Kitty, Alacritty, iTerm, and Fish shell. These extras use the same underlying color palette as the Neovim theme, providing visual consistency across your terminal environment. When a user applies the Kitty colorscheme to their Kitty terminal emulator, both the terminal background and text will match the Tokyonight palette. Similarly, Alacritty users can apply the matching colors, and Fish shell users can configure their shell prompt and completion colors. The README documents that these extras exist and lists the supported applications, but does not provide step-by-step installation instructions for any of them. Users must copy the appropriate extra file from the repository to their terminal emulator or shell configuration directory, but the exact location and setup process varies depending on which application is being configured. ## Each variant displayed with a screenshot The README displays the four variants (Moon, Storm, Night, and Day) with screenshots in a table format, showing how each variant looks when applied to Neovim. Each variant represents a different color palette meant for different times of day or personal preference. The README does not describe what makes each variant distinct from the others in terms of saturation, brightness, or blue-to-warm color balance. The actual appearance of each variant depends significantly on your monitor calibration, font rendering, and terminal emulator settings. A color that appears as a particular shade of blue on one monitor might appear slightly different on another. Users often test all four variants with their actual codebase and development workflow to determine which variant is most comfortable for extended coding sessions. ## Maintenance status and community contributions The last push to the repository was on 2026-03-24, which is approximately six months before today. The most recent releases are v4.14.1 and v4.14.0, both published on 2025-10-23, followed by v4.13.0 from 2025-09-27. The project has accumulated 8207 stars and 550 forks on GitHub, indicating significant community interest. A CONTRIBUTING.md file documents the process for submitting plugin support additions. The repository structure places plugin highlight group definitions in lua/tokyonight/groups/, using one file per plugin. Users who encounter an unsupported plugin can follow the existing pattern to add theme support themselves. Community contributions have driven the addition of new plugin support over time; the list of 60+ supported plugins represents the cumulative work of plugin authors and contributors. ## Conclusion Tokyonight.nvim is for Neovim users who want a polished colorscheme with consistent styling across terminal emulators and shell environments. It is not for users running Neovim below 0.9.0, nor for those whose favorite plugins are not listed in the supported plugins table. Before adopting it, verify that your plugin set is covered by the theme; if your desired plugin is missing, check whether you can add a highlight group in your config. The last push was on 2026-03-24; future updates are uncertain. Test all four variants (Moon, Storm, Night, Day) with your actual codebase and tmux or terminal multiplexer setup to confirm the colors work well with your background, font, and plugin combination. ## FAQ ### What are the different versions of TokyoNight? Four variants ship in the repository: Moon, Storm, Night and Day. Night, Storm and Moon are dark; Day is the light one. ### What is the best light theme for Neovim? TokyoNight has one light variant, Day, alongside its three dark ones. The README does not compare it with other light themes, so it makes no claim to be the best. ### Is TokyoNight good for coding? The README presents it as a dark and light Neovim theme written in Lua, ported from the Visual Studio Code TokyoNight theme, with extra themes for terminals such as Kitty and support for Neovim 0.9.0. Whether its palette suits you is a matter of taste; the README makes no readability claims. ## Sources - [folke/tokyonight.nvim on GitHub](https://github.com/folke/tokyonight.nvim) - [Issues](https://github.com/folke/tokyonight.nvim/issues) - [License: Apache-2.0](https://github.com/folke/tokyonight.nvim/blob/main/LICENSE) - [README](https://github.com/folke/tokyonight.nvim/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/folke/tokyonight.nvim/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/folke-tokyonight-nvim