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Nano theme

GNU Emacs / N Λ N O Theme

From rougier·Updated May 23, 2026·View on GitHub·

A consistent theme for GNU Emacs. The light theme is based on [Material colors](https://material.io/) and the dark theme is based on [Nord colors](https://www.nordtheme.com/). The project is written primarily in Emacs Lisp, distributed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 license, first published in 2021. Key topics include: emacs, lisp, nano, theme.

GNU Emacs / N Λ N O Theme

A consistent theme for GNU Emacs. The light theme is based on Material
colors
and the dark theme is based on Nord
colors
.

The theme is based on a set of six faces (only):

  • Critical face is for information that requires immediate action.

    It should be of high constrast when compared to other faces. This
    can be realized (for example) by setting an intense background
    color, typically a shade of red. It must be used scarcely.

  • Popout face is used for information that needs attention.

    To achieve such effect, the hue of the face has to be sufficiently
    different from other faces such that it attracts attention through
    the popout effect.

  • Strong face is used for information of a structural nature.

    It has to be the same color as the default color and only the
    weight differs by one level (e.g., light/regular or
    regular/bold). IT is generally used for titles, keywords,
    directory, etc.

  • Salient face is used for information that are important.

    To suggest the information is of the same nature but important,
    the face uses a different hue with approximately the same
    intensity as the default face. This is typically used for links.

  • Faded face is for information that are less important.

    It is made by using the same hue as the default but with a lesser
    intensity than the default. It can be used for comments, secondary
    information and also replace italic (which is generally abused
    anyway

  • Subtle face is used to suggest a physical area on the screen.

    It is important to not disturb too strongly the reading of
    information and this can be made by setting a very light
    background color that is barely perceptible.

Installation

Install with straight.el:

(straight-use-package '(nano-theme :type git :host github
                                   :repo "rougier/nano-theme"))

... or install with quelpa:

emacs
(use-package nano-theme :ensure nil :defer t :quelpa (nano-theme :fetcher github :repo "rougier/nano-theme"))

Usage

Load theme directly: M-x: (load-theme 'nano t)

Alternatively, you can type:

  • M-x: (nano-light) for light theme
  • M-x: (nano-dark) for dark theme

If you want the same aspect as in the screenshots, you can also use
M-x: (nano-mode)

Screenshots

<div> <img src="./images/nano-theme-light-1.png" width=47.5%> <img src="./images/nano-theme-dark-1.png" width=47.5%> </div> <div> <img src="./images/nano-theme-light-2.png" width=47.5%> <img src="./images/nano-theme-dark-2.png" width=47.5%> </div> <div> <img src="./images/nano-theme-light-3.png" width=47.5%> <img src="./images/nano-theme-dark-3.png" width=47.5%> </div>

Contributors

Showing top 10 contributors by commit count.

View all contributors on GitHub →

This article is auto-generated from rougier/nano-theme via the GitHub API.Last fetched: 6/1/2026