LebedevRI
July 17, 2026, 5:10pm
1
TLDR: if you have a github account (there are no other prerequisites),
opened 09:46PM - 07 Jul 26 UTC
feature-request
editor-color-picker
There's an excellent extension that implements this functionality:
https://marke… tplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=MatthewNespor.vscode-color-identifiers-mode&ssr=false
this is one of *very* few extensions i use,
and it would be great if such functionality could just be provided natively by the editor.
Functionally, it selects a color for each distinct identifier,
iff identifier's type is configured[^1] to be colored.
For some people, this makes it easier to "see" the code.
Comparison: Extension:
<img width="1920" height="1080" alt="with Color Identifiers" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/409b7f34-29a6-4035-af4c-b32fb030a9fe" />
Current (w/o Extension):
<img width="1920" height="1080" alt="w/o Color Identifiers" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1fc33df1-032b-4ae7-b1a4-62b9df92c4ca" />
There's potential to do even smarter coloring:
just because two identifiers are identical,
does not mean they are the same, consider:
```
fn a_name() {}
fn test() -> i32 {
a_name();
let a_name = 0;
a_name
}
```
Function `a_name` and function call `a_name()` should have the same color,
but the variable `a_name` is not and "should" have it's own distinct color.
Not sure if [^1] is enough for this, though.
[^1]: https://code.visualstudio.com/api/language-extensions/semantic-highlight-guide#standard-token-types-and-modifiers
It needs just 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 more upvotes…
Thank you!
1 Like
kofa
July 17, 2026, 5:57pm
2
1 Like
LebedevRI
July 17, 2026, 6:14pm
3
Yup, everything is subjective. It’s okay that not everything works for everyone.
1 Like
dnzm
July 17, 2026, 6:46pm
4
Oh, you’re certainly not the only one. Could be that you’re not so much blind to it, as overwhelmed by it. Sometimes there’s just too much syntax highlighting .
1 Like
on the:
All I see is that one screenshot is more colourful than the other, and that one has underlined symbols. It’s not the extension’s fault; I’ve already mentioned on this forum that I’m kind of blind to syntax highlighting. Sorry about the off-topic remark.