How to Install a Dracula Theme for an App Like VS Code or iTerm

Updated

To install Dracula for an app such as VS Code or iTerm, open that app's theme page on draculatheme.com, follow the installation instructions shown on that page, then confirm the theme is active in the app's own settings. The exact steps differ by application, so the page for your specific app is the authoritative source rather than a single universal procedure.

Find the right theme page

Dracula publishes themes for a long list of applications, and each one has its own page. The site's homepage lists apps with view counts, which is a quick way to confirm your app is covered and to spot the most-used themes.

Examples from the site's listing include:

Category Apps shown on the site
Code editors and IDEs Visual Studio Code, Vim, Cursor, Zed, Xcode, Sublime, JetBrains, Emacs, Eclipse, Atom, Notepad++, Visual Studio, Netbeans
Terminals iTerm, Zsh, Terminal.app, Gnome Terminal, Windows Terminal, Alacritty, Konsole, Kitty, tmux, Termux, PowerShell
Other tools Slack, Telegram, Obsidian, Figma, Raycast, Chrome, Firefox, Spotify TUI, Blender

If your app appears in that list, it has a dedicated page. Open it from the homepage listing rather than guessing a URL.

Install for VS Code

  1. Open the Visual Studio Code page on draculatheme.com (it appears near the top of the homepage list).
  2. Follow the installation method described on that page. Dracula themes for VS Code are typically distributed through the editor's extension marketplace, so the page will point you to the extension or the theme files.
  3. After installing, open the Command Palette and use the color theme picker to select Dracula.
  4. Verify: the editor background turns dark purple-gray, comments render in a muted tone, and syntax colors match the Dracula palette shown on the site. If colors look unchanged, the theme was installed but not selected.

Install for iTerm

  1. Open the iTerm page on draculatheme.com.
  2. Follow the steps on that page. iTerm themes are usually installed as color preset files that you import into iTerm's profile settings.
  3. Apply the imported preset to your current profile.
  4. Verify: open a new terminal tab and check that the background, cursor, and ANSI colors match the Dracula scheme. Existing sessions may keep old colors until you open a new tab or restart iTerm.

Why the steps vary by app

Each application stores themes differently: some use extension marketplaces, some use importable config files, and some require editing a settings file directly. That is why draculatheme.com gives per-app instructions instead of one guide. The general pattern is always the same:

  • Input: the theme package or preset from the app's Dracula page.
  • Action: install it using the method that app supports.
  • Expected result: the theme becomes selectable in the app's appearance or profile settings.
  • Verification: select it and compare the result against the palette on the site.

Common snags

  • Theme installed but not applied. Installing and selecting are separate steps in most editors and terminals. Check the app's theme or profile settings after installation.
  • Old colors persist in open windows. Terminals and some editors cache the active theme per session; open a new window or restart the app.
  • App not in the list. The site covers a large but finite set of applications. If yours is missing, there is no official page to follow.
  • Free vs. Pro. The site links to a separate Dracula Pro offering with its own pages (including a request-access page). The free themes described above are the ones listed on the main site; check the Pro pages directly for what that edition includes rather than assuming it matches the free themes.

Once the theme is selected and the colors match the site's palette, installation is complete. For any app, the page on draculatheme.com for that app remains the place to check if something behaves differently than expected.