Microsoft now lets you deeply customize Visual Studio 2026 with new options & color tokens

Visual Studio 2026 now features a built-in configuration page for theme customization, letting users adjust hex color codes for accent colors and hover states directly within the application. These changes do not require third-party extensions, manual JSON files, or restarting the software.

Any updates made are linked to the currently selected theme rather than applied globally. This design allows users to maintain unique personalizations for each stock or custom-tinted theme, carrying customizations automatically as they switch between themes. When a change is unsatisfactory, users can employ the per-color reset function to revert individual color tokens without losing other adjustments.

In addition to the new options page, Microsoft has introduced several new color tokens. These additions let users independently style sections such as tab and window headers, addressing common feedback that requested more separation between elements of the shell interface. Underlying the theme system, all personalizations are saved as easily shareable JSON files, which streamlines collaboration or migration across machines and projects.

These refined customization tools and color token improvements are available starting in Visual Studio 2026 version 18.7.