micro-editor/micro · error

%s is not a valid colorscheme

Error message

%s is not a valid colorscheme

What it means

Returned by config.LoadColorscheme when FindRuntimeFile(RTColorscheme, name) returns nil, i.e. no colorscheme file with that name is registered in any runtime search location (packaged runtime/colorschemes, ~/.config/micro/colorschemes, or plugin-contributed files). The returned map is empty, so callers fall back to whatever style map they had.

Source

Thrown at internal/config/colorscheme.go:82

			Colorscheme = c
		}
	}

	return err
}

// LoadDefaultColorscheme loads the default colorscheme from $(ConfigDir)/colorschemes
func LoadDefaultColorscheme() (map[string]tcell.Style, error) {
	var parsedColorschemes []string
	return LoadColorscheme(GlobalSettings["colorscheme"].(string), &parsedColorschemes)
}

// LoadColorscheme loads the given colorscheme from a directory
func LoadColorscheme(colorschemeName string, parsedColorschemes *[]string) (map[string]tcell.Style, error) {
	c := make(map[string]tcell.Style)
	file := FindRuntimeFile(RTColorscheme, colorschemeName)
	if file == nil {
		return c, errors.New(colorschemeName + " is not a valid colorscheme")
	}
	if data, err := file.Data(); err != nil {
		return c, errors.New("Error loading colorscheme: " + err.Error())
	} else {
		var err error
		c, err = ParseColorscheme(file.Name(), string(data), parsedColorschemes)
		if err != nil {
			return c, err
		}
	}
	return c, nil
}

// ParseColorscheme parses the text definition for a colorscheme and returns the corresponding object
// Colorschemes are made up of color-link statements linking a color group to a list of colors
// For example, color-link keyword (blue,red) makes all keywords have a blue foreground and
// red background
func ParseColorscheme(name string, text string, parsedColorschemes *[]string) (map[string]tcell.Style, error) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 1c8b82b32e)

Solutions

  1. List what exists: `set colorscheme ` + Tab completion, or ls ~/.config/micro/colorschemes and the packaged runtime/colorschemes directory.
  2. Fix the name/casing to match the file basename exactly (file minus .micro extension).
  3. Install the scheme: download the .micro file into ~/.config/micro/colorschemes/ and retry.
  4. If packaged schemes are missing (custom build), rebuild so runtime assets are embedded/bundled, or copy the colorschemes dir next to the binary.

Example fix

# before:
> set colorscheme gruvbox   # file is gruvbox-boxy.micro? no -> error

# after:
mv ~/Downloads/gruvbox.micro ~/.config/micro/colorschemes/
> set colorscheme gruvbox
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

func colorschemeExists(name string) bool {
    return config.FindRuntimeFile(config.RTColorscheme, name) != nil
}

if !colorschemeExists(next) {
    // keep current scheme instead of applying next
}

Type guard

func isAvailableColorscheme(name string) bool {
    for _, f := range config.ListRuntimeFiles(config.RTColorscheme) {
        if f.Name() == name {
            return true
        }
    }
    return false
}

Try / catch

styles, err := config.LoadColorscheme(name, &parsed)
if err != nil {
    if strings.HasSuffix(err.Error(), "is not a valid colorscheme") {
        styles, err = config.LoadColorscheme("default", &parsed) // safe fallback
    }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Running `set colorscheme solarized` when no solarized.micro exists, putting "colorscheme": "darcula" in settings.json without installing darcula.micro, or a plugin that contributed the scheme not being loaded. LoadDefaultColorscheme at internal/config/colorscheme.go:82 uses GlobalSettings["colorscheme"], so a bad name breaks startup loading too.

Common situations: Typos and casing mistakes (Micro must find e.g. 'solarized' matching solarized.micro), copying a settings.json from a machine where a custom scheme was installed, or extracting/shipping a micro binary without its runtime/colorschemes assets.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of micro-editor/micro@1c8b82b32e (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6e07d01fe6ac5ffb. Report an issue: GitHub.