Vim & Neovim colorscheme

chiroptera

A perceptually uniform colorscheme built in LAB space. Dark and light wings share the same color relationships, while hard, normal and soft variants tune the background tension.

2 modes3 background contrast levelsWCAG AA text roles

Use the generator Explore palette GitHub · soon

A geometric bat with mirrored light and dark wings made from the chiroptera palette. Click a segment to select its mode and contrast. — Two wings × three tensions

Live sample

Color roles, not just swatches.

Bright variants carry syntax at accessible contrast. Dim variants stay deliberately quiet for contextual backgrounds and editor chrome.

" chiroptera
function flight(wing)
  return "balanced contrast"
endfunction

Template generator

One palette, your local tools.

Chiroptera is a Python generator, not only a Vim theme. The CLI exposes every palette and semantic scheme token, so any text configuration can become a local template.

The included Vim template is one use case. A terminal, editor, launcher or any dotfile can use the same tokens and be regenerated when you switch mode or contrast.

Inspect a palette

Render your template

For example: {bg_hex}, {red_bright_hex}, {fg_normal_hex}, and RGB/ANSI variants such as {bg_rgb}. Literal braces outside known tokens stay unchanged.

Vim template

Generated Vim · dark normal

Perceptual geometry

Distances, not guessed brightness.

Each lane places one semantic color family on the CIE LAB lightness axis. Equal spacing in L* corresponds to an equal perceived change in brightness.

The diagram follows the selected mode and contrast. Dashed outlines show background tension, context backgrounds, and stable text roles.

Generated palette

24 color roles · click a swatch to copy

Perceptual steps

LAB interpolation keeps the tint progression visually even instead of merely numerically even.

Stable foreground roles

Foreground colors stay fixed within each mode while hard, normal and soft tune the background contrast.

Three color roles

Dim colors define subtle context, normal colors support UI, and bright colors carry syntax.