A dense, premium, retro-futuristic Visual Studio Code theme suite inspired by the Weyland-Yutani MUTHUR-6000 mainframe terminal interfaces from the Alien universe. It implements high-contrast phosphor grids, glow-excited TextMate color schemas, and optional hardware interlace scanline emulation.

📸 Core Design Philosophy: "Premium Analog-Hybrid"

Rather than typical flat panels or pure monochrome layouts which cause eye strain, the MUTHUR-6000 theme suite applies a carefully calculated color balance:

Tactical Console Frames: Activity bars, sidebars, terminal logs, and panels are rendered in sharp, high-contrast monochrome with solid 1px borders—no shadows or modern 3D depth gradients.
Vibrant Retro-Analog Syntax: Source code utilizes a curated retro-saturated color scale that preserves modern language high-performance readability, while comments simulate dimmed CRT screen phosphor burn-in.

🎨 The Four Phosphor Profiles

The suite bundles four distinctive cathode-ray variants:

📟 MUTHUR-6000 Amber (Default): Warm, high-immersion orange-yellow cockpit terminal. High readability for long coding shifts.
📟 MUTHUR-6000 Green: Forest-green backgrounds with emerald-lime excited phosphor highlights. Classic hacker aesthetic.
📟 MUTHUR-6000 Blue: Glacier cyan-blue interface. Crisp, cold, and high-contrast tactical view.
📟 MUTHUR-6000 Red: Deep warning-red with coral crimson accents. Ideal for diagnostics, emergencies, and high-contrast night modes.

⌨️ 1. Setup & Installation

Option A: Manual Theme Install

Copy the ./themes/ folder and package.json into your local .vscode/extensions/ directory:
- Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions\muthur-6000-terminal-theme
- macOS/Linux: ~/.vscode/extensions/muthur-6000-terminal-theme
Restart VS Code.
Open Color Themes (Ctrl+K -> Ctrl+T) and select your preferred MUTHUR-6000 variant.

Option B: Package VSIX

Build the extension locally using our secure packing protocol (see docs/SECURITY.md):

npx @vscode/vsce package

Then, install the generated .vsix file via Extensions: Install from VSIX... in VS Code.

📺 2. Activating Physical CRT Scanline & Glow Effects

For the full sci-fi cockpit simulation, you can easily inject custom CSS styles to display horizontal interlace scanlines, subtle cathode refresh flickers, rounded corner screen bezels, and glowing neon text shadows in both the editor and the integrated terminal:

Install the modern, actively-supported VS Code extension "Custom UI Style" (by subframe7536).

Open your global user settings (Ctrl+Shift+P -> Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)) and add the following self-contained, high-performance styling blocks (replacing {Username} with your actual Windows or macOS/Linux username):

"custom-ui-style.imports": [
    "file:///C:/Users/{Username}/.vscode/extensions/lovecraft.muthur-6000-terminal-theme-1.0.0/effects.css"
],
"custom-ui-style.stylesheet": {
    "@keyframes crt-flicker": "0% { opacity: 0.82; } 50% { opacity: 0.95; } 100% { opacity: 0.82; }",
    "@keyframes cursor-blink": "to { visibility: hidden; }",
    ".monaco-editor .mtk, .editor-container .view-line span": "text-shadow: 0 0 3px currentColor, 0 0 8px currentColor;",
    ".pane-body.integrated-terminal .xterm-rows": "text-shadow: 0 0 3px currentColor, 0 0 8px currentColor;",
    ".pane-body.integrated-terminal .xterm-cursor": "box-shadow: 0 0 8px currentColor !important; background: currentColor !important;",
    ".monaco-workbench::after": "content: \" \"; display: block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; background: repeating-linear-gradient(rgba(18, 16, 16, 0) 0px, rgba(18, 16, 16, 0) 3px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.24) 3px, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.24) 6px); background-size: 100% 6px; z-index: 99999; pointer-events: none; animation: crt-flicker 0.15s infinite;",
    ".monaco-workbench::before": "content: \" \"; display: block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; background: radial-gradient(circle, transparent 78%, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.80) 100%); z-index: 100000; pointer-events: none; opacity: 1.0; box-shadow: inset 0 0 35px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.95) !important; border-radius: 16px; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4);",
    ".monaco-editor .cursor": "animation: cursor-blink 1s steps(2, start) infinite !important;",
    ".tab.active": "box-shadow: inset 0 0 10px currentColor;",
    ".monaco-workbench": "border-radius: 16px; overflow: hidden;"
}

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P), type and run "Custom UI Style: Reload" (or "Neu laden").
- Note for Windows: Close VS Code completely, right-click the shortcut and select "Run as Administrator" first to ensure sufficient patching permissions.
Restart Visual Studio Code completely.
- Note: VS Code will display a small warning stating that your installation appears to be "corrupted". This is normal and expected when core stylesheets are customized. Click the gear icon on the notification and select "Don't show again" (or use the Fix VSCode Checksums extension).

For full instructions, font recommendations (e.g. 'Share Tech Mono'), and diagnostics, see the Design Guidelines.

🏗️ 3. Theme Compilation Toolchain

The theme files are generated programmatically via a Node.js compiler. This allows making bulk edits to UI scopes, border definitions, or syntax coloring across all 4 themes in one go:

tokens.js: Central repository of hex color definitions.
theme-template.json: Blueprints template.
compiler.js: Compiles outputs to the ./themes folder.

To recompile after making changes, run:

npm run compile

Read the Architecture Documentation to learn how to add custom TextMate scopes or create a new color variant.

🔒 4. Compliance and Safety

MUTHUR-6000 adheres to strict safety practices:

Zero-Dependency Compiler: Runs on standard Node.js APIs without external package bloat.
Zero Executables: The theme is strictly declarative JSON.
For secure publishing practices and Gitea branch protection setups, see the Security Guidelines.

LICENSE: MIT
Weyland-Yutani Mainframe Division // MU-TH-UR 6000 SECURE LINK // 2026