Colorful Times

A Neovim plugin that automatically changes your colorscheme based on time schedules, system appearance settings, or manual toggling.

Features

• Time-based colorscheme switching: Automatically changes colorschemes based on your schedule
• System appearance detection: Follows your OS light/dark mode settings
• Light/dark mode themes: Set different default themes for light and dark mode
• Specific colorscheme support: Configure separate colorschemes for light and dark modes
• Overnight schedule support: Handles schedules that cross midnight
• Low startup impact: Uses lazy loading to minimize Neovim startup time
• Customizable refresh times: Control how often system appearance is checked
• Manual controls: Toggle the plugin on/off as needed

Requirements

• Neovim >= 0.5.0
• For testing: plenary.nvim

Installation

Using packer.nvim:

use {
  'luxus/colorful-times-nvim',
  requires = { 'nvim-lua/plenary.nvim' }, -- Only needed for running tests
}

Using lazy.nvim:

{
  'luxus/colorful-times-nvim',
  dependencies = { 'nvim-lua/plenary.nvim' }, -- Only needed for running tests
},

Setup and Configuration

Add to your Neovim configuration:

require('colorful-times').setup({
  -- Schedule entries for when to change colorschemes
  schedule = {
    {
      start = "08:00", -- 8 AM
      stop = "18:00",  -- 6 PM
      colorscheme = "morning", -- your light colorscheme
      background = "light",    -- optional: "light", "dark", or "system"
    },
    {
      start = "18:00", -- 6 PM
      stop = "08:00",  -- 8 AM (next day)
      colorscheme = "evening", -- your dark colorscheme
      background = "dark",     -- optional
    },
  },
  
  -- Default settings when no schedule is active
  default = {
    colorscheme = "default",   -- fallback colorscheme
    background = "system",     -- "light", "dark", or "system" to follow OS settings
    themes = {
      light = "dayfox",        -- specific theme for light mode (nil to use default)
      dark = "nightfox",       -- specific theme for dark mode (nil to use default)
    },
  },
  
  -- Other options
  enabled = true,              -- enable/disable the plugin
  refresh_time = 5000,         -- check system appearance every 5 seconds (in ms)
  
  -- Optional: custom command for Linux system background detection
  -- KDE and GNOME are auto-detected, only needed for other desktop environments
  -- system_background_detection = "custom-script-or-command-that-returns-exit-code-0-for-dark"
})

Commands

Add these to your configuration for manual control:

-- Toggle plugin on/off
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('ColorfulTimesToggle', function()
  require('colorful-times').toggle()
end, {})

-- Reload configuration
vim.api.nvim_create_user_command('ColorfulTimesReload', function()
  require('colorful-times').reload()
end, {})

Colorscheme Configuration

Specific Dark and Light Mode Colorschemes

You can configure separate colorschemes for dark and light modes using the themes option:

default = {
  colorscheme = "default",  -- Fallback colorscheme
  background = "system",    -- Use system appearance detection
  themes = {
    light = "dayfox",       -- Colorscheme to use in light mode
    dark = "nightfox",      -- Colorscheme to use in dark mode
  },
}

When the system or schedule switches between light and dark mode, the plugin will automatically apply the corresponding colorscheme. This is especially useful when:

• You're using system appearance detection and want different themes for each mode
• You have a default schedule that should respect system settings but with your preferred themes
• You want consistent theming across different lighting conditions

Schedule-Based Colorschemes

You can also set specific colorschemes for different times of day in your schedule:

schedule = {
  {
    start = "08:00",          -- 8 AM
    stop = "18:00",           -- 6 PM
    colorscheme = "morning",  -- Light colorscheme for daytime
    background = "light",
  },
  {
    start = "18:00",          -- 6 PM
    stop = "08:00",           -- 8 AM next day
    colorscheme = "evening",  -- Dark colorscheme for nighttime
    background = "dark",
  },
},

System Appearance Detection

• macOS: Automatically detects system appearance
• Linux: Auto-detects KDE and GNOME desktop environments
  • For other desktop environments, provide a custom detection command
• Windows: Not yet supported (contributions welcome!)

Custom Linux Detection Example

For GNOME-based desktops:

system_background_detection = "gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme | grep -q 'prefer-dark'"

For KDE Plasma (automatic detection for Plasma 5 or 6):

system_background_detection = [[
  if command -v kreadconfig6 &> /dev/null; then
    kreadconfig6 --group 'General' --key 'ColorScheme' --file 'kdeglobals' | grep -q 'Dark' || 
    kreadconfig6 --group 'KDE' --key 'LookAndFeelPackage' | grep -q 'dark'
  else
    kreadconfig5 --group 'General' --key 'ColorScheme' --file 'kdeglobals' | grep -q 'Dark'
  fi
]]

You can also provide a function that returns "light" or "dark":

system_background_detection = function()
  -- Custom detection logic
  return "dark" -- or "light"
end

License

MIT

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to submit issues or pull requests.