SlatewaveBeta

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Slatewave for NvChad

A native base46 theme that recolors the whole NvChad UI, syntax, and plugins.

betakevinlangleyjr/nvchad-slatewave ↗
Install with Slatewave CLIBrowse all themes
Last commit
3 weeks ago
-- ~/.config/nvim/lua/chadrc.lua
local M = {}

M.base46 = {
  theme = "slatewave",
  hl_override = {
    Comment = { italic = true },
    ["@comment"] = { italic = true },
  },
}

return M

About this theme

A first-class base46 theme for NvChad — not a dropped-in colorscheme. It ships base_16 syntax colors, base_30 UI chrome, and polish_hl overrides that reproduce the exact scope mapping of the standalone Neovim and VSCode ports: teal strings, rose numbers, sky keywords, purple storage.

Slatewave for NvChad is a native base46 theme, so it recolors the entire NvChad experience — statusline, nvim-tree, Telescope, the completion menu, and every bundled plugin integration — not just the buffer text.

The theme file supplies all three tables base46 expects: base_16 for the 16 syntax colors, base_30 for UI chrome (slate editor surface, slate-chrome sidebar, teal accents on the pmenu and folder icons), and a polish_hl block. That last block is where the Slatewave identity lives: it mirrors the exact TreeSitter and :syntax mapping shared with the standalone Neovim and VSCode ports, so the same code lights up the same way everywhere — teal strings, rose numbers, sky keywords, purple storage keywords, teal-2 types, amber specials.

Requirements

NvChad v2.5 or newer. Custom base46 themes are loaded from lua/themes/ in your config (base46 resolves require('themes.slatewave')).

Verify

After activating, strings should be teal, numbers rose, and keywords sky. The quickest check is the theme switcher — open it, pick slatewave, and watch the whole UI recolor:

<leader>th

Customize

Override any highlight group from your chadrc.lua without touching the theme file — base46 merges hl_override on top of the theme:

M.base46 = {
  theme = "slatewave",
  hl_override = {
    Comment = { italic = true },
    ["@comment"] = { italic = true },
  },
}

Install

Don't have the CLI yet? Install the Slatewave CLI →

  • Slatewave CLI

    The CLI drops the base46 theme into your NvChad config. Requires an existing NvChad (v2.5+) setup.

                          slatewave install nvchad
    1. Installs the theme to `~/.config/nvim/lua/themes/slatewave.lua`
    2. Press `<leader>th` in Neovim and pick **slatewave**, or set `M.base46 = { theme = "slatewave" }` in chadrc
    3. Restart Neovim

  • Manual

    Copy the theme file into NvChad's custom themes directory.

                          mkdir -p ~/.config/nvim/lua/themes
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kevinlangleyjr/nvchad-slatewave/main/lua/themes/slatewave.lua \
  -o ~/.config/nvim/lua/themes/slatewave.lua
    1. Set `M.base46 = { theme = "slatewave" }` in `~/.config/nvim/lua/chadrc.lua`
    2. Restart Neovim — or press `<leader>th` to preview it live from the theme switcher

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