A set of carefully crafted CSS (and optional JS) injections that transform the default VSCode interface into something worth staring at all day.
| Area | What Changed |
|---|---|
| Activity Bar | Floating pill icons, smooth hover lift, animated active indicator |
| Command Palette | Slide-in entrance, layered shadow, input focus glow |
| Notifications | Toast slide-in, severity-colored borders, fade-in toolbar |
| Editor Watermark | Replaced with custom SVG on empty editor |
| Global | Rounded corners, improved spacing, subtle borders |
vscode-custom-ui/
│
├── css/
│ └── custom.css # All UI overrides
│
├── js/
│ └── script.js # Optional JS tweaks
│
├── assets/
│ ├── welcome.svg # Custom editor watermark
│ └── images/ # Additional assets
│
└── README.md
Search for Custom CSS and JS Loader in the VS Code Extensions panel, or install via CLI:
code --install-extension be5invis.vscode-custom-cssgit clone https://github.com/your-username/vscode-custom-ui.gitOpen your settings.json (Ctrl+Shift+P → Open User Settings JSON) and add:
Windows example
"vscode_custom_css.imports": [ "file:///C:/Users/yourname/vscode-custom-ui/css/custom.css" ]
macOS / Linux example
"vscode_custom_css.imports": [ "file:///home/yourname/vscode-custom-ui/css/custom.css" ]
Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and run:
Enable Custom CSS and JS
Then fully restart VS Code. If prompted about a corrupted installation — that's normal, click Don't Show Again.
.editor-group-watermark .letterpress {
background-image: url("file:///path/to/assets/welcome.svg") !important;
background-repeat: no-repeat !important;
background-position: center;
background-size: contain;
}.monaco-workbench .activitybar > .content
:not(.monaco-menu) > .monaco-action-bar .action-item {
border-radius: 12px;
border: 1.5px solid transparent;
transition: background 0.18s ease, transform 0.14s ease;
}.monaco-editor {
font-family: "MesloLGS NF", "Hack Nerd Font", monospace !important;
}For the best experience, install one of these Nerd Fonts:
These include extra programming ligatures and symbols used throughout the UI.
CSS selectors may break after a VS Code update since they target internal class names. If something stops working, open an issue or check the selector in DevTools (
Help → Toggle Developer Tools).
Released under the MIT License. Use it, fork it, make it yours.
