iTerm2 Default Theme
The classic iTerm2 default dark color scheme for Zed — pure black background, familiar CGA ANSI colors, and a clean editor experience that feels like home for Mac terminal users.
How to install
With Forge Super installed, the button above opens the app on this extension, where you press Install. Nothing is installed until you do.
You can also open the Extensions panel in the app and search for iTerm2 Default Theme. The extension's id is iterm2-default-theme.
Don't have Forge Super yet? Download it here.
README
From the extension's repository, written by its authors and not by Mentenaz. See the source.
If you've been using iTerm2 on Mac with the default color scheme (and let's be honest, most of us never changed it), you know those colors by heart. The muted reds, the classic greens, the CGA blues. They're not trendy. They just work.
This theme brings that exact palette into Zed, so your terminal finally looks right.
Preview
Color Palette
Terminal
| Normal | Hex | Bright | Hex | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | ████ | #000000 | ████ | #555555 |
| Red | ████ | #BB0000 | ████ | #FF5555 |
| Green | ████ | #00BB00 | ████ | #55FF55 |
| Yellow | ████ | #BBBB00 | ████ | #FFFF55 |
| Blue | ████ | #0000BB | ████ | #5555FF |
| Magenta | ████ | #BB00BB | ████ | #FF55FF |
| Cyan | ████ | #00BBBB | ████ | #55FFFF |
| White | ████ | #BBBBBB | ████ | #FFFFFF |
Editor
| Element | Color |
|---|---|
| Background | #000000 |
| Foreground | #BBBBBB |
| Selection | #B5D5FF (30% opacity) |
| Cursor | #BBBBBB |
| Line numbers | #555555 |
| Active line | #111111 |
Install
From Zed Extensions (once published)
- Open Zed
- Cmd + Shift + P →
zed: extensions - Search for iTerm2 Default
- Click Install
Dev Extension (now)
- Clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/EtanHey/zed-iterm-default-theme.git - In Zed: Cmd + Shift + P →
zed: install dev extension - Select the cloned directory
- Cmd + Shift + P →
theme selector: toggle→ pick iTerm2 Default Dark
What's in the box
- 29 terminal colors matched 1:1 from iTerm2's default profile (all 16 ANSI + bright/dim variants + foreground/background)
- Full editor theme built from the same palette (syntax highlighting, UI chrome, status indicators)
- Pure black editor background matching the terminal
- Syntax highlighting using the bright ANSI variants (red keywords, green strings, blue functions, cyan types)
Why this exists
Every ZED theme gives you their terminal colors. Dracula's purples. Catppuccin's pastels. Nord's blues. They're beautiful, but they make your terminal look unfamiliar.
If you grew up with the default Mac terminal colors and never bothered changing them (because they were fine), this theme is for you. Same colors. Same vibe. Just in Zed now.
Contributing
Found something off? Open an issue. PRs welcome.