Draft:Monokai

Hazenberg designed Monokai for personal use.{{cite web |title=Textmate color theme |url=http://www.monokai.nl/blog/2006/07/15/textmate-color-theme/ |website=Monokai Blog (via Web Archive) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305070728/http://www.monokai.nl/blog/2006/07/15/textmate-color-theme/ |access-date=5 March 2007|archive-date=5 March 2007 }}, and shared it on the TextMate community wiki in 2006{{cite web |title=User Submitted Themes |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612115903/macromates.com/wiki/Themes/UserSubmittedThemes |website=Textmate Wiki (via Web Archive) |access-date=12 June 2007}}. The name "Monokai" is derived from his online alias{{cite web |url=https://monokai.com|title=Monokai - Creative Studio of Wimer Hazenberg|website=Monokai|access-date=9 June 2025}}. The color theme gained wider use after being included as the default theme in Sublime Text{{cite web|url=https://www.sublimetext.com/about|title=About Sublime Text|website=SublimeText.com|access-date=5 June 2025}}. It has since been unofficially ported to editors like Vim, Emacs and Notepad++.

Monokai is a dark theme, known for its vibrant accent colors across a wide hue range. Common elements include pink for keywords, yellow for strings, and muted tones for comments. Hazenberg has described the theme's goal as combining visual appeal with functionality, favoring subjective balance over mathematical color metrics.{{cite web |title=The History of Monokai Pro |url=https://monokai.pro/history |website=Monokai.pro |access-date=7 June 2025}}.

Monokai has been adopted across multiple platforms and code editors. The theme is frequently featured in code screenshots, and has been featured in TV shows such as Silicon Valley and Mr. Robot.

In 2017, Hazenberg released Monokai Pro{{cite web|url=https://monokai.pro|title=Monokai Pro|last=Hazenberg|first=Wimer|website=Monokai Pro|access-date=9 June 2025}}, a commercial upgrade of the original theme. It includes additional features such as color filters (Machine, Octagon, Ristretto, Spectrum), a user interface (UI) theme, and icon sets. The original Monokai theme is also included as the Classic filter{{cite web|url=https://hackernoon.com/monokai-pro-beautiful-functionality-for-professional-developers-2b68e94fc5f3|title=Monokai Pro – Beautiful Functionality for Professional Developers|last=Hazenberg|first=Wimer|website=HackerNoon|date=22 June 2017|access-date=5 June 2025}}

Monokai Pro is distributed under a freemium model and is available for Sublime Text{{cite web|url=https://packagecontrol.io/packages/Theme%20-%20Monokai%20Pro|title=Monokai Pro Theme|website=Sublime Text Package Control|access-date=9 June 2025}}

, Visual Studio Code{{cite web|url=https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=monokai.theme-monokai-pro-vscode|title=Monokai Pro - Visual Studio Code Extension|website=Visual Studio Marketplace|access-date=9 June 2025}} and Jetbrains IDEs{{cite web|url=https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/13643-monokai-pro-theme/|title=Monokai Pro Theme|website=JetBrains Marketplace|access-date=9 June 2025}}. A light variant, Monokai Pro Light, was introduced in 2024.

Monokai has influenced the design of many other code editor themes and unofficial forks. Its widespread use has made it a recognizable style in programming environments. As Hazenberg notes, Monokai has been "recycled, remixed and implemented in more software products than I can count."

• [https://monokai.pro/ Monokai Pro]
• [https://monokai.com/ Wimer Hazenberg's personal site]

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