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Syntax Highlighter installs statistics

By Evgeniy Peshkov · VS Code Marketplace · Programming Languages

Syntax highlighting based on Tree-sitter

View on VS Code Marketplace Fresh · Oct 20, 2026

Syntax Highlighter has 259,905 recorded installs on VS Code Marketplace, ranking #1276 of 2,501 tracked listings.

Installs
259,905
Official API · Oct 20, 2026
7-day growth
—
Insufficient history
30-day growth
—
Insufficient history
90-day growth
—
Insufficient history
Rank
#1276
Among tracked VS Code Marketplace listings

Rating: 5.00 / 5 from 7 ratings

About Syntax Highlighter

Syntax Highlighter for VSCode

Syntax highlighter based on Tree-Sitter.
Languages:
C++, C, Python, TypeScript, TypeScriptReact, JavaScript,
Go, Rust, Php, Ruby, ShellScript, Bash, OCaml, Lua

demo

Languages:
  • C++
  • C
  • Python
  • TypeScript
  • TypeScriptReact
  • JavaScript
  • Go
  • Rust
  • Php
  • Ruby
  • ShellScript
  • Bash
  • OCaml
  • Lua
  • More to come...

Description

Provides universal syntax coloring engine for almost any programming language. See list of currently supported languages above. Under the hood the extension utilizes VSCode Semantic Token API to override syntax coloring provided by standard TextMate regex matching. Constructing entire syntax tree, Tree-sitter efficiently overcomes all limitations of built-in TextMate grammars. Being context-aware, it's able to parse complex language structures providing complete coverage of source code. Incremental parsing system ensures high performance. All these advantages enable accurate and consistent syntax highlighting.

Customization

{Syntax Highlighter} is a semantic token provider. It follows the current color theme out-of-the-box, as soon as the theme enables semantic colorization through its semanticHighlighting setting. You can forcefully enable semantic highlighting in settings.json:

"editor.semanticTokenColorCustomizations": {
    "enabled": true, // enable for all themes
    "[Default Dark+]": {
        "enabled": true // enable for a particular theme
    }
}

To customize token colors follow this guide. For example:

"editor.semanticTokenColorCustomizations": {
    "[Default Dark+]": {
        "enabled": true,
        "rules": {
            "type":  "#26A69A",
            "namespace": "#00897B",
            "function": "#00BCD4",
            "variable": "#42A5F5",
            "number": "#90A4AE",
            "string": {
                "foreground": "#90A4AE",
                "italic": true
            },
            "comment": {
                "foreground": "#546E7A",
                "fontStyle": "italic"
            },
            "variable.readonly.defaultLibrary": "#A89F9B",
            "macro": "#7E57C2",
            "keyword": "#7986CB",
            "operator": "#9575CD",
            "type.modification": "#00897B",
            "punctuation": "#A1887F"
        }
    }
}

If no color is assigned to a semantic token by a theme, the VSCode uses the Semantic Token Scope Map.

{Syntax Highlighter} provides the next tokens:

  • type - types (class, struct, enum)
  • namespace - scopes (namespace, module, outer class)
  • function - functions (function, method, interface)
  • variable - variables (variable, property, member)
  • number - number literals (10, 10.0f, 0x10)
  • string - string literals (string, regex, char)
  • comment - comments
  • variable.readonly.defaultLibrary - language constants (true, nullptr, nil)
  • macro - directives (#include, import, use)
  • keyword - control keywords (if, continue, return)
  • operator - operators (&&, +=, ->)
  • type.modification - modifiers (const, public, override)
  • punctuation - punctuation symbols (., :, {)

punctuation is a custom (non-standard) token introduced by {Syntax Highlighter}. Its fallback TextMate scope is "punctuation". The default fallback for type.modification is "storage.modifier". Note that if you override type color you should also override type.modification. Otherwise, type.modification color will first fallback to a more general type instead of mapped TextMate scope. The same goes for variable and variable.readonly.defaultLibrary.

Settings

syntax.highlightComment

Enable/disable highlighting of comments.

This setting is useful, when you have other extensions, providing colorization within comments. For example, highlighting of ToDo-like tags or documentation syntax, like Doxygen or Sphinx. To not overwrite their colorization you can disable highlighting of comments, putting "syntax.highlightComment": false, in your settings.json.

syntax.highlightTerms

List of enabled terms.

If you want to disable {Syntax Highlighter} for certain terms and use standard coloring instead, just remove them from syntax.highlightTerms list in your settings.json. By default all supported terms are enabled.

syntax.highlightLanguages

List of enabled languages.

If you want to disable {Syntax Highlighter} for certain languages and use standard coloring instead, just remove them from syntax.highlightLanguages list in your settings.json. By default all supported languages are enabled.

Build

{Syntax Highlighter} utilizes WebAssembly bindings to the Tree-sitter parsing library. All language parsers are compiled to binary .wasm modules. To build .wasm you'll need Emscripten SDK. Refer to BUILD.md for instructions.

Contribute…

Description from the VS Code Marketplace listing.

  • Bash
  • C
  • C++
  • Coloring
  • CPP
  • Go
  • Highlight
  • Highlighter
  • Highlighting
  • JavaScript
  • JS
  • Lua
  • OCaml
  • Parser
  • Php
  • Python
  • Ruby
  • Rust
  • ShellScript
  • Syntax

README badge

Show your rank in a README or on your website. The badge updates automatically.

Charts

Images: 30d · 1y · all time · 1600×900 dark

Adoption over time

Syntax Highlighter installs on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 259,905 installs as of Oct 20, 2026.Syntax HighlighterInstalls on VS Code Marketplace · Last 90 days259,905installs259.7K259.8K259.8K259.9K259.9K260KJul 22Aug 6Aug 21Sep 5Sep 20Oct 5Oct 20installsobservedarchived (Internet Archive)no observationsOct 16, 2026 – Oct 20, 2026 · 5 observations · Updated Oct…pluginstats.com
Syntax Highlighter installs on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 259,905 installs as of Oct 20, 2026.

7/30/90-day growth

Syntax Highlighter installs growth on VS Code Marketplace: 7-day growth unavailable, 30-day growth unavailable, 90-day growth unavailable.Syntax HighlighterInstalls growth on VS Code Marketplace259,905installs now7-day growthinsufficient historyInsufficient history30-day growthinsufficient historyInsufficient history90-day growthinsufficient historyInsufficient historyGrowth vs. nearest observation to each baseline date · Updated Oct 20, 2026pluginstats.com
Syntax Highlighter installs growth on VS Code Marketplace: 7-day growth unavailable, 30-day growth unavailable, 90-day growth unavailable.

Ranking history

Syntax Highlighter VS Code Marketplace ranking history: currently #1276 (by installs).Syntax HighlighterVS Code Marketplace ranking · by installs · Last 90 days#1276current rank#1273#1274#1275#1276#1277#1278Jul 22Aug 6Aug 21Sep 5Sep 20Oct 5Oct 20rankOct 16, 2026 – Oct 20, 2026 · 5 observations · Updated Oct 20, 2026pluginstats.com
Syntax Highlighter VS Code Marketplace ranking history: currently #1276 (by installs).

Ratings over time

Syntax Highlighter ratings on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 7 ratings as of Oct 20, 2026.Syntax HighlighterRatings on VS Code Marketplace · Last 90 days7ratings6.26.46.66.877.27.47.67.8Jul 22Aug 6Aug 21Sep 5Sep 20Oct 5Oct 20ratingsobservedarchived (Internet Archive)no observationsOct 16, 2026 – Oct 20, 2026 · 5 observations · Updated Oct…pluginstats.com
Syntax Highlighter ratings on VS Code Marketplace, last 90 days: 7 ratings as of Oct 20, 2026.

Listing placement

All VS Code Marketplace2,501 listings · 126 pages · 1,252 shown · page 64, #16 (overall #1,276)
All VS Code Marketplace: every listing in installs order

Listing placement

Programming Languages792 listings · 40 pages · page 22, #19 (overall #439)
Programming Languages: every listing in installs order

Listing placement

Themes266 listings · 14 pages · page 6, #9 (overall #109)
Themes: every listing in installs order

Filled points are observed values; hollow points come from Internet Archive snapshots of the listing page. Dashed segments span periods with no observations — values between points are not interpolated.

Each band is one page of 20. Installs on a linear scale. Placement is projected from installs, so it can differ from the marketplace's own sort order. Hover a dot to see the listing.

Recent observations

Full history (5)
Recent installs observations for Syntax Highlighter
Date (UTC)InstallsChange vs. previous
259,905+64
259,841+87
259,754+6
259,748+46
259,702—

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Data source

Install counts, average rating, and rating counts come from the public Visual Studio Marketplace gallery API. Installs are cumulative and exclude updates.

Listing: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=evgeniypeshkov.syntax-highlighter. First seen Oct 16, 2026; last successful collection Oct 20, 2026. See the methodology.