I recently published Atlantico, a calm theme for Visual Studio Code and compatible editors, built around soft contrast, clear syntax roles, and a coherent editor and terminal experience.
It is now available on the Visual Studio Marketplace and the Open VSX Registry.
Most dark themes are built for visual impact. Atlantico was built for endurance.
Why I built Atlantico
I spend a lot of time reading and writing code, especially while studying JavaScript and frontend development.
Over time, I noticed that many themes look impressive in screenshots, but can feel tiring during longer coding sessions. Some have very strong contrast, too many saturated colors, or syntax highlighting that competes for attention instead of supporting comprehension.
I wanted something quieter.
Not flat.
Not dull.
Just calmer.
Atlantico started as a personal attempt to create a coding environment that felt comfortable for long sessions, while still keeping code clear and readable.
Design goals
From the beginning, I wanted Atlantico to follow a few simple principles.
1. Calm contrast
The goal was not to make every token stand out as much as possible.
Instead, I wanted the editor to feel balanced: enough contrast to read comfortably, but not so much that the interface becomes visually aggressive.
2. Clear syntax roles
Syntax highlighting should help the developer understand the structure of the code.
Keywords, strings, functions, variables, comments, and constants should each have a recognizable role, without making the code feel noisy.
I wanted the colors to guide attention rather than demand it.
3. A palette you only need to learn once
One piece of feedback I received captured something I really wanted Atlantico to achieve: once you learn the palette, it continues to make sense across languages.
That idea became central to the theme.
A comment should feel like a comment.
A string should feel like a string.
A function should feel like a function.
When moving between different languages or file types, the theme should not feel like a completely different visual system. The colors should build familiarity over time, helping the developer read code more comfortably instead of constantly reinterpreting the interface.
For me, a good coding theme is not just a collection of colors. It is a visual language. Once the developer understands it, that understanding should continue to help across different contexts.
4. A coherent editor and terminal experience
Many themes focus mostly on the editor, but the terminal is also part of the development environment.
Atlantico includes a carefully designed ANSI terminal palette so that the integrated terminal feels connected to the rest of the theme instead of looking like a separate visual system.
5. Long-session comfort
Some themes are exciting for a few minutes but tiring after a few hours.
Atlantico was designed with long coding sessions in mind. The palette aims to reduce visual fatigue while keeping enough structure for real development work.
What I learned while building it
Atlantico became more than just a color theme.
It helped me learn about:
semantic highlighting
editor theme structure
visual hierarchy
documentation
publishing workflows
versioning
changelogs
open source project presentation
maintaining a real public project
As someone following a structured path into frontend development, this was valuable because it connected design decisions, developer tooling, documentation, and publishing into one real project.
It was not just a practice exercise. It became something people can actually install and use.
Publishing to Marketplace and Open VSX
Atlantico is available on both:
Visual Studio Marketplace
Open VSX Registry
Publishing to both made the project more accessible, especially for users of VS Code-compatible editors that rely on Open VSX.
It also pushed me to improve the project’s README, metadata, screenshots, changelog, links, and overall presentation.
That process made me think less like someone simply uploading files and more like someone maintaining a small open source product.
What is next
Atlantico is currently available for Visual Studio Code and compatible editors.
The long-term goal is to bring the same calm, low-noise experience to other tools and environments.
Some planned or considered directions include:
Zed
JetBrains IDEs
Neovim
Windows Terminal
Obsidian
other editors and developer tools
I want Atlantico to grow carefully, without losing the reason it exists: a calm visual environment for focused development.
Try Atlantico
You can install Atlantico from the Visual Studio Marketplace or Open VSX Registry:
Project page: https://venancio.dev/atlantico/
GitHub repository: https://github.com/gpvenancio/atlantico
Visual Studio Marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=gvenancio.atlantico
Open VSX Registry: https://open-vsx.org/extension/gvenancio/atlantico
Feedback is very welcome.
