Default Cursor Dark theme doesn't handle YAML properly

Bug Reports
1

Description:
The current Cursor Dark theme renders YAML files with inconsistent and incorrect syntax highlighting. This makes it difficult to visually parse the structure and content of YAML files. Ideally, keywords should have distinct highlighting, and values (especially strings) should also have different highlighting from keywords.

To Reproduce:

  1. Open a .yml file in Cursor. The attached screenshot shows a bitbucket-pipelines.yml file.
  2. Observe the syntax highlighting of the keywords and values.

Screenshot:

Screenshot 2025-04-14 at 11.35.39
Screenshot 2025-04-14 at 11.35.391014×1346 79.1 KB

Operating System and Cursor Version:
macOS Ventura 13.5.1, Cursor 0.48.8

Impact:

The issue hinders readability and makes working with YAML files in Cursor more difficult, but it doesn’t completely prevent usage. Improving the YAML syntax highlighting would significantly enhance the editing experience.

2

You might need an extension for this, here’s the one I use YAML - Visual Studio Marketplace

Before I used Cursor I used VSCode and it had the same “problem”, YAML isn’t one of the built-in languages of the IDE.

3

I don’t think this has relation to any extension. It’s a syntax highlighting issue that doesn’t happen with other themes, even without the extension.

Nevertheless, I installed the extension and the issue remains the same.

4

Ah you’re right, I tried disabling the YAML extension and switching to ‘Cursor Dark’ theme and was able to reproduce your problem.

I switched back to my preferred theme and it highlights correctly. It’s a dark theme called Slime if you want to try it: Slime Theme - Visual Studio Marketplace