Random Helix Themes

Published at 2024-12-15T13:55:05+02:00; Last updated 2024-12-18

I thought it would be fun to have a random Helix theme every time I open a new shell. Helix is the text editor I use.

https://helix-editor.com/

So I put this into my zsh dotfiles (in some editor.zsh.source in my ~ directory):

export EDITOR=hx
export VISUAL=$EDITOR
export GIT_EDITOR=$EDITOR
export HELIX_CONFIG_DIR=$HOME/.config/helix

editor::helix::random_theme () {
    # May add more theme search paths based on OS. This one is
    # for Fedora Linux, but there is also MacOS, etc.
    local -r theme_dir=/usr/share/helix/runtime/themes
    if [ ! -d $theme_dir ]; then
        echo "Helix theme dir $theme_dir doesnt exist"
        return 1
    fi

    local -r config_file=$HELIX_CONFIG_DIR/config.toml
    local -r random_theme="$(basename "$(ls $theme_dir \
        | grep -v random.toml | grep .toml | sort -R \
        | head -n 1)" | cut -d. -f1)"

    sed "/^theme =/ { s/.*/theme = \"$random_theme\"/; }" \
        $config_file > $config_file.tmp && 
        mv $config_file.tmp $config_file
}

if [ -f $HELIX_CONFIG_DIR/config.toml ]; then
    editor::helix::random_theme
fi

So every time I open a new terminal or shell, editor::helix::random_theme gets called, which randomly selects a theme from all installed ones and updates the helix config accordingly.

[paul@earth] ~ % editor::helix::random_theme
[paul@earth] ~ % head -n 1 ~/.config/helix/config.toml
theme = "jellybeans"
[paul@earth] ~ % editor::helix::random_theme
[paul@earth] ~ % head -n 1 ~/.config/helix/config.toml
theme = "rose_pine"
[paul@earth] ~ % editor::helix::random_theme
[paul@earth] ~ % head -n 1 ~/.config/helix/config.toml
theme = "noctis"
[paul@earth] ~ %

A better version

Update 2024-12-18: This is an improved version, which works cross platform (e.g., also on MacOS) and multiple theme directories:

export EDITOR=hx
export VISUAL=$EDITOR
export GIT_EDITOR=$EDITOR
export HELIX_CONFIG_DIR=$HOME/.config/helix

editor::helix::theme::get_random () {
    for dir in $(hx --health \
        | awk '/^Runtime directories/ { print $3 }' | tr ';' ' '); do
        if [ -d $dir/themes ]; then
            ls $dir/themes
        fi
    done | grep -F .toml | sort -R | head -n 1 | cut -d. -f1
}

editor::helix::theme::set () {
    local -r theme="$1"; shift

    local -r config_file=$HELIX_CONFIG_DIR/config.toml

    sed "/^theme =/ { s/.*/theme = \"$theme\"/; }" \
        $config_file > $config_file.tmp && 
        mv $config_file.tmp $config_file
}

if [ -f $HELIX_CONFIG_DIR/config.toml ]; then
    editor::helix::theme::set $(editor::helix::theme::get_random)
fi

I hope you had some fun. E-Mail your comments to paul@nospam.buetow.org :-)

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