What is Gold Elite?
Gold Elite is a premium near-black VS Code color theme with a gold-emerald dual-tone accent system. It goes beyond colors to include a signature IDE experience: animated boot sequence, live Command Center dashboard, living status bar, achievement system, and more.
Is Gold Elite free?
Yes. Gold Elite is open-source under the MIT license. It's free to use, modify, and distribute.
Why should I switch from my current theme?
Gold Elite offers a more cohesive experience than traditional themes. Every pixel — from the activity bar to the terminal cursor to the save animation — follows the same gold-emerald design language. It's also privacy-first, with zero network calls and verifiable source code.
Does Gold Elite collect telemetry?
No. Gold Elite makes zero network requests. No telemetry, no analytics, no external APIs, no cloud sync. See PRIVACY.md for the full verification.
Where is my data stored?
All achievement data, streak counters, session statistics, and settings are stored exclusively in VS Code's local globalState and workspaceState. This data never leaves your machine.
How do I reset my data?
Run Gold Elite: Reset All Local Data from the Command Palette. This wipes all achievements, streaks, session data, and ecosystem theming preferences.
Can I disable features I don't want?
Yes. Every feature has its own toggle in settings.json under the goldElite.* namespace. The master switch goldElite.experience.enabled disables everything at once.
Does the boot sequence respect reduced motion?
Yes. If workbench.reduceMotion is enabled, the boot sequence shows a static reveal instead of animations.
How does the focus timer work?
The focus timer tracks active coding time. It pauses when VS Code is unfocused (Alt+Tab) or when there's no keyboard/editing activity for 2+ minutes.
Can I keep my existing icon theme?
Absolutely. Gold Elite does not require any specific icon theme. Your existing icon theme works unchanged.
What VS Code version do I need?
Gold Elite requires VS Code 1.129.0 or later.
Does Gold Elite work with GitLens?
Yes. Gold Elite can optionally align GitLens colors to match the gold palette. Enable via goldElite.ecosystemTheming.enabled.
Does Gold Elite work with Git Graph?
Yes. Git Graph colors can be aligned to the gold-emerald palette through ecosystem theming.
Does Gold Elite work with Error Lens?
Yes. Error backgrounds can be aligned to the gold palette through ecosystem theming.
Does Gold Elite work on Windows, Mac, and Linux?
Yes. It's a VS Code extension and works on all platforms that VS Code supports.
What font does Gold Elite recommend?
Cascadia Code by Microsoft. It provides true italics and ligatures that complement the theme. Use the Gold Elite: Open Font Download Page command to download it.
What if I don't want to use Cascadia Code?
That's fine. Gold Elite works with any monospace font. The recommended font setting is just a suggestion in configurationDefaults — your font choices are always respected.
The Command Center won't open
Check that goldElite.commandCenter.enabled is set to true. If it is, try reloading VS Code (Developer: Reload Window). If the issue persists, open an issue.
Status bar items are missing
Check goldElite.livingStatusBar.enabled is true. Also verify the master switch goldElite.experience.enabled is not false.
Achievements aren't unlocking
Check goldElite.achievements.enabled is true. Some achievements require specific actions (e.g., "Bracket Master" requires typing 10,000 brackets across sessions). Make sure you haven't reset your data recently.
Colors look different than screenshots
Ensure you have the Gold_Elite-2.0 color theme selected. Some colors may vary slightly based on your VS Code version, installed extensions, and OS-level color settings.
Other extensions aren't showing in the status bar
This is caused by a conflict between Gold Elite and other installed Gold Elite-related extensions. Uninstall any old gold-elite-studio extensions and reload VS Code. See GitHub issue #1 for details.