https://github.com/bbatsov/tokyo-night-emacs
A faithful Emacs port of folke's Tokyo Night color theme
https://github.com/bbatsov/tokyo-night-emacs
Last synced: about 1 month ago
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A faithful Emacs port of folke's Tokyo Night color theme
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/bbatsov/tokyo-night-emacs
- Owner: bbatsov
- License: gpl-3.0
- Created: 2026-03-28T09:09:28.000Z (2 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-04-06T06:25:44.000Z (about 2 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-04-11T04:41:51.481Z (about 2 months ago)
- Language: Emacs Lisp
- Size: 1.54 MB
- Stars: 5
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 1
- Open Issues: 1
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: COPYING
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README
# Tokyo Themes for Emacs
[](https://github.com/bbatsov/tokyo-night-emacs/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](https://melpa.org/#/tokyo-night)
A faithful Emacs port of [folke's Tokyo Night](https://github.com/folke/tokyonight.nvim) color theme.
All four variants are included:
| Theme | Background | Description |
|-------|-----------|-------------|
| `tokyo-night` | `#1a1b26` | The darkest variant (default) |
| `tokyo-night-storm` | `#24283b` | Medium dark |
| `tokyo-night-moon` | `#222436` | Blue-tinted dark, unique accents |
| `tokyo-night-day` | `#e1e2e7` | Light variant |
## Installation
### MELPA
Tokyo Night is available on [MELPA](https://melpa.org/#/tokyo-night). Assuming
you've [configured MELPA](https://melpa.org/#/getting-started) as a package
source:
```
M-x package-install RET tokyo-night RET
```
Then load any variant:
```emacs-lisp
(load-theme 'tokyo-night t)
```
Or with `use-package`:
```emacs-lisp
(use-package tokyo-night
:ensure t
:config
(load-theme 'tokyo-night t))
```
### package-vc (Emacs 29+)
```emacs-lisp
(package-vc-install "https://github.com/bbatsov/tokyo-night-emacs")
(load-theme 'tokyo-night t)
```
### use-package (Emacs 30+)
```emacs-lisp
(use-package tokyo-night
:vc (:url "https://github.com/bbatsov/tokyo-night-emacs" :rev :newest)
:config
(load-theme 'tokyo-night t))
```
### Manual
Drop all `.el` files somewhere on your `load-path` and `custom-theme-load-path`, then:
```emacs-lisp
(load-theme 'tokyo-night t)
```
Replace `tokyo-night` with `tokyo-night-storm`, `tokyo-night-moon`, or
`tokyo-night-day` to use a different variant.
## Usage
Switch between variants interactively with `M-x tokyo-night-select`.
After changing customization variables, apply them without restarting
with `M-x tokyo-night-reload`.
Browse the full color palette with `M-x tokyo-night-list-colors`
(use `C-u` prefix to pick a specific variant).
## Customization
You can override individual colors without forking:
```emacs-lisp
(setq tokyo-night-override-colors-alist
'(("tokyo-comment" . "#636da6"))) ; brighter comments
(load-theme 'tokyo-night t)
```
Overrides apply to all variants. See the `tokyo-*-colors-alist`
variables in `tokyo-night.el` for all available color names.
To disable scaled headings in org, outline, markdown, shr, and info:
```emacs-lisp
(setq tokyo-night-scale-headings nil)
(load-theme 'tokyo-night t)
```
To tweak individual scaling factors, use `custom-set-faces` after loading:
```emacs-lisp
(load-theme 'tokyo-night t)
(custom-set-faces
'(org-level-1 ((t (:height 1.5))))
'(org-level-2 ((t (:height 1.3)))))
```
For a more visible current line highlight, use `tokyo-bg-highlight`
instead of the default subtle `tokyo-bg-line`:
```emacs-lisp
(setq tokyo-night-override-colors-alist
'(("tokyo-bg-line" . "#292e42"))) ; same as tokyo-bg-highlight
(load-theme 'tokyo-night t)
```
### Per-mode face overrides
If you want to tweak faces only in specific major modes (without affecting
all buffers), use `face-remap-add-relative` in a mode hook:
```emacs-lisp
;; Softer comments in org-mode
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(face-remap-add-relative 'font-lock-comment-face
:foreground "#636da6")))
;; Bolder strings in python-mode
(add-hook 'python-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(face-remap-add-relative 'font-lock-string-face
:weight 'bold)))
;; Larger default font in eww
(add-hook 'eww-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(face-remap-add-relative 'default :height 1.15)))
```
These overrides are buffer-local and won't affect other modes. See
[Buffer-Local Face Remapping with face-remap-add-relative](https://emacsredux.com/blog/2026/03/16/buffer-local-face-remapping-with-face-remap-add-relative/)
for more details.
### Using theme colors in your config
The `tokyo-night-with-colors` macro binds all palette colors as local
variables, so you can reference them without hardcoding hex values:
```emacs-lisp
(tokyo-night-with-colors
(set-face-attribute 'some-face nil :foreground tokyo-blue)
(setq pdf-view-midnight-colors (cons tokyo-fg tokyo-bg)))
```
You can also look up a single color programmatically:
```emacs-lisp
(tokyo-night-get-color "tokyo-blue") ; => "#7aa2f7"
```
### After-load hook
Run custom code every time a Tokyo theme is loaded:
```emacs-lisp
(add-hook 'tokyo-night-after-load-hook
(lambda (_theme)
(set-face-attribute 'line-number nil :slant 'italic)))
```
The hook function receives the theme name as its argument.
### Automatic light/dark switching
Tokyo Night pairs well with packages that switch themes based on the time of
day or your OS appearance setting:
- [auto-dark](https://github.com/LionyxML/auto-dark-emacs) tracks your OS
dark/light mode and switches themes to match:
```emacs-lisp
(use-package auto-dark
:config
(setq auto-dark-dark-theme 'tokyo-night
auto-dark-light-theme 'tokyo-night-day)
(auto-dark-mode 1))
```
- [circadian](https://github.com/guidoschmidt/circadian.el) switches on a
time-based schedule (e.g. sunrise/sunset):
```emacs-lisp
(use-package circadian
:config
(setq circadian-themes '((:sunrise . tokyo-night-day)
(:sunset . tokyo-night)))
(circadian-setup))
```
See [Automatic Light/Dark Theme Switching](https://emacsredux.com/blog/2026/03/29/automatic-light-dark-theme-switching/)
for a deeper look at both approaches.
## Supported Packages
Beyond all built-in Emacs faces, the theme covers these packages:
- **Completion:** vertico, corfu, marginalia, orderless, consult, embark, company, ivy, swiper
- **Development:** magit, forge, transient, git-commit, git-rebase, eglot, lsp-mode, lsp-ui, flycheck, cider
- **Editing:** evil, smartparens, rainbow-delimiters, avy, ace-window, hydra, which-key
- **Email:** mu4e, notmuch
- **UI:** doom-modeline, treemacs, helpful, markdown-mode, web-mode, elfeed
Missing a package? [Open an issue](https://github.com/bbatsov/tokyo-night-emacs/issues/new?template=feature_request.yml)
or submit a PR.
## Design
See [DESIGN.md](DESIGN.md) for the guiding principles behind color
choices and face definitions.
## Credits
The color palette is based on work by [enkia](https://github.com/enkia/tokyo-night-vscode-theme)
and [folke](https://github.com/folke/tokyonight.nvim).
## License
GPL v3+