Getting Started

Trial and subscription#

New users and existing Auralis/Syntalume users receive 30 full days starting when the in-editor notice is first presented. Closing it does not end that period. No payment details are required. After that, an annual subscription is required: $9 for 1 activation, $12 for 3, or $20 for 6, plus applicable tax. Checkout charges immediately and renews yearly until canceled. It does not add a second trial.

An activation is an editor installation; multiple editors or remote hosts may use separate slots. Theme and Companion share one slot within the same JetBrains IDE. Activate via Syntalume: Activate License in VS Code-compatible editors, or Tools → Syntalume License in JetBrains. Recover keys, deactivate old installations and cancel renewal in the customer portal.

Paid licenses require online activation and periodic validation after consent. Temporary connection or service failures retain previously verified access for up to 72 hours, never beyond the known license expiry. When grace ends while verification is unavailable, interactive and background features pause but the selected appearance remains. Confirmed expiration or revocation stops licensed features. Appearance replaced during enforcement is restored when access returns only if you have not changed it yourself. Browser-only hosts such as vscode.dev/github.dev are not supported by this paid release. Read the licensing details and 30-day first-purchase refund policy.

Native remote hosts connected to the same VS Code UI installation share the local 30-day period; existing host-specific periods use the earliest known dates. Paid activation slots remain separate per installation. This is not a universal account-level trial across different machines or editor products.

VS Code Marketplace#

  1. Open VS Code.
  2. Open Extensions.
  3. Search for Syntalume — Adaptive Themes & Icons.
  4. Install the extension with ID auralis-labs.auralis-theme-system.

Canonical listing:

The publisher ID and extension ID are the durable identity. Use them to avoid confusing Syntalume with similarly named extensions.

Open VSX and VS Code-compatible editors#

Syntalume is also published under the same publisher and extension IDs on Open VSX:

Use that listing for editors whose built-in extension browser uses Open VSX. The release workflow verifies the canonical registry version after publishing; search-engine result pages are not used as release evidence.

JetBrains IDEs#

The public, approved Syntalume Theme listing for JetBrains IDEs is:

The standalone theme plugin carries all nine palettes, editor schemes, Islands-aware surfaces, and Syntalume icon substitutions with its own small licensing runtime. It does not require Companion. Syntalume Companion is a separate optional plugin for shared profiles, project identity, Rhythm, and Environment Guard; keeping the two products separate means users who want only a theme install only a theme. Companion’s shared-profile review can also apply supported comfort, syntax, bracket, and density choices through a separately owned editor scheme; every change is previewed first, and unsupported Look and Feel fields are identified without approximation.

Local VSIX#

npm run package
code --install-extension auralis-theme-system-*.vsix --force

Reload VS Code after installing a local package.

Installation Is Non-Intrusive#

Installing Syntalume does not automatically apply a theme or profile. The first-run notice starts your 30-day period; closing it preserves the remaining time. If access later expires, selected Syntalume appearance can fall back to editor defaults, with your selection retained for safe restoration after reactivation. To apply it, run:

Syntalume: Apply Recommended Experience

or use the walkthrough buttons or the Setup Dashboard. Every write is a normal, visible VS Code setting. Ownership-aware surfaces such as Complete Experience, tooling, theme/icon commands, Tune, Icon Studio, project/accent customization, and Syntalume Type restore only their unchanged writes or individually owned object keys; later manual edits and unrelated additions win.

First Setup#

After Marketplace install, VS Code opens the Syntalume Getting Started walkthrough. Run:

Syntalume: Open Setup Dashboard

for the guided first run. The dashboard shows whether the color theme, file icons, product icons, formatter settings, companion extensions, and old settings are in a healthy state.

You can also run:

Syntalume: Apply Recommended Experience

for the fastest first run. It applies Syntalume Botanica, file icons, product icons, bracket guides, semantic highlighting, and the balanced infrastructure profile.

To pick a different profile, run:

Syntalume: Apply Complete Experience

Choose the profile closest to how you work. Syntalume applies the color theme, file icons, product icons, bracket guides, minimap behavior, semantic highlighting, and optional ambience settings together.

For infrastructure projects, also run:

Syntalume: Setup Terraform Tooling
Syntalume: Setup YAML and Kubernetes Tooling
Syntalume: Run Doctor (Check Setup)

These commands write normal VS Code settings and offer companion extensions. They do not bundle Terraform, TFLint, Prettier, ESLint, or the Red Hat YAML language server.