A Base24 color scheme for the post-artisanal coding era.

Website • Install • Palette • Markers

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As models write more code, humans spend more time reviewing, planning, and explaining intent. Human++ makes human judgment visible at a glance through a two-tier accent system and lightweight annotation markers.

Philosophy

Human++ inverts the traditional syntax highlighting priority:

• Quiet syntax — everyday code fades into the background
• Loud diagnostics — errors, warnings, and human markers demand attention
• Terminal exception — terminal output is intentional, so terminals get loud colors

The result: when you see color, it means something.

The Palette

Human++ uses a cool charcoal grayscale with warm cream text and a full Base24 palette:

• base00–07 — Cool grayscale from charcoal to warm cream
• base08–0F — Loud accents for diagnostics and signals
• base10–17 — Quiet accents for syntax and UI

Full palette reference

Grayscale

Slot	Hex	Role
base00	#1a1c22	Background
base01	#282b31	Elevation
base02	#3a3d42	Selection
base03	#5a5d62	Comments
base04	#828079	UI secondary
base05	#dbd6cc	Main text
base06	#eeeae2	Emphasis
base07	#f8f6f2	Brightest

Loud Accents (Diagnostics & Signals)

Slot	Hex	Role
base08	#e7349c	Errors, attention
base09	#f26c33	Warnings
base0A	#f2a633	Caution
base0B	#04b372	Success
base0C	#1ad0d6	Info
base0D	#458ae2	Links, focus
base0E	#9871fe	Special
base0F	#bbff00	Human intent marker

Quiet Accents (Syntax & UI)

Slot	Hex	Role
base10	#c8518f	Keywords
base11	#d68c6f	Decorators
base12	#dfb683	Constants
base13	#61b186	CSS classes
base14	#91cbcd	Types
base15	#5e84b6	Functions
base16	#8f72e3	Parameters
base17	#d2fc91	Strings

Human Intent Markers

Use punctuation markers in comments to flag human judgment:

Marker	Aliases	Meaning	Color
!!	FIXME, BUG, XXX	Pay attention here	Lime (base0F)
??	TODO, HACK	I'm uncertain	Purple (base0E)
>>	NOTE, NB	See reference	Cyan (base0C)

// Regular comment stays calm (base03)

// !! Critical: don't change without talking to Sarah
if (legacyMode) {
  // TODO: Not sure this handles the edge case
  return transformLegacy(data);
}

// NOTE: See utils.ts for the transform logic
return transform(data);

Why punctuation?

• Fast to type
• Easy to scan
• Easy to grep: rg "// !!|// \?\?|// >>"
• Easy for editors to highlight
• Legacy keywords (TODO, FIXME, NOTE) also work

Install

VS Code / Cursor (Recommended)

The VS Code extension includes the full theme plus marker highlighting and inline diagnostics:

# Build and install from source
cd packages/vscode-extension
npm install && npx @vscode/vsce package
code --install-extension human-plus-plus-1.0.0.vsix

Or download human-plus-plus-*.vsix from Releases.

Features:

• Color theme with quiet syntax + loud diagnostics
• Marker highlighting (!!, ??, >>) with colored backgrounds
• Inline diagnostic badges for errors/warnings

Shell Tools (eza, fzf, etc.)

Add one line to your .zshrc or .bashrc:

source ~/path/to/human-plus-plus/dist/shell-init.sh

The loader automatically detects and configures installed tools:

• eza — EZA_COLORS for colorful directory listings
• fzf — FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS for fuzzy finder colors

Uncomment lines in shell-init.sh to enable:

• Terminal palette — Sets ANSI colors on shell startup
• sketchybar — macOS menu bar colors
• skhd — Mode indicator colors

Or source individual configs directly from dist/.

Other Apps

All theme files are generated from palette.toml:

git clone https://github.com/fielding/human-plus-plus
cd human-plus-plus
make build    # Generate all themes
make apply    # Apply to installed apps

App	Location
Ghostty	dist/ghostty/config
Vim / Neovim	via tinty
Sketchybar	dist/sketchybar/colors.sh
JankyBorders	dist/borders/bordersrc
skhd	dist/skhd/modes.sh

With tinty

tinty apply base24-human-plus-plus

Development

make build          # Build all theme files
make preview        # Preview palette in terminal
make colortest      # Display terminal ANSI mapping
make apply-dry      # Preview what apply would do
make analyze        # Analyze palette in OKLCH

Repository Structure

palette.toml          # Single source of truth (edit this)
templates/            # Theme templates
tools/                # Python generators
scripts/              # Shell orchestration
site/assets/          # Logos and images

Generated (gitignored):

dist/                 # Theme outputs
site/data/            # Palette JSON

License

MIT