Let’s be honest the default pre-installed Xcode themes do the job but over time aren’t as useful, and what I mean by that is; eyesight. I suffer from astigmatism and like many of you I spend most of my work day dreaming in code within Xcode, and at times I end my work day with teary eyes.

Now, let me make it clear that I do use macOS “dark mode” and f.lux as well to help ease things a bit. Aside from eyesight, I also like to customize my development environment; but don’t we all?

I have struggled to find “the perfect” Xcode theme and you may find it surprising that there’re quite a few options to choose from:

The above links will offer various theme options to get you started, but my favorite one thus far and I’m glad I found it via twitter a few days ago is:

For those of you asking what my Xcode theme is, it’s called Dracula. 🎃🌙 https://t.co/lJmSJCf2K0 — Ayaka Nonaka (@ayanonagon) June 22, 2016

Let’s get started. I will showcase how to install Xcode themes manually and through an app:

Option One – Manually:

Go ahead and under the Finder menu bar navigate to Go and select Go to Folder, a window should open. Let’s type the following:

~/Library/Developer/Xcode

A Finder Window should open:

Within the UserData folder if you don’t see the FontAndColorThemes folder, go ahead and create it.

You are now ready to install new themes, remember to only add theme files ending with:

.dvtcolortheme

Now, open Xcode and under Preferences – Fonts & Colors: You should be able to select the theme that you just installed.

Option Two – App:

If you’re feeling lazy; ha. You’re going to love this!

Step One: Download through the Mac App Store ThemeInstaller, $0.99.

Step Two: Open ThemeInstaller app once it finishes downloading, and drag your theme file within the app.

Step Three: Open Xcode and under Preferences – Fonts & Colors: select your theme.

Just for fun you can watch this YouTube video how to do it!

There you have it, enjoy and happy coding!