First steps

Goal in about 15 minutes

A readable workspace: colors, terminal, Explorer roots, indent — without hand-editing JSON. AI comes last and is optional.

Short videos:

• Workspace colors
• Terminal paths
• Indent guides

1) Set workspace colors on purpose

Start from a preset instead of turning every token by hand. You get a readable default for status bar, title bar, and side bars quickly.

1. Activity Bar → Configure → Workspace Settings.
2. Pick a builtin preset.
3. Preview (live) — do not commit yet.
4. If it fits: Apply. Check scope: Workspace (recommended) vs Global.
5. Check the status bar: Dark and Light are separate. Apply must match the active mode (sun/moon).

Colour Zen may block Apply when contrast is too weak. Switch preset or raise contrast — do not override blindly.

2) Status-bar terminal in the same look

Once colors sit, do not use the default VS Code terminal menu when you need the workspace path and tint:

1. Click AKC in the status bar.
2. On Windows an external PowerShell / Windows Terminal window starts in the workspace root, title pattern PS: <workspace> #<n>.
3. On other hosts AKC falls back to an integrated terminal.

If the click does nothing or shows security prompts: Troubleshooting.

3) Explorer Root Colors (multi-root)

In a multi-root workspace AKC tints folder roots in Explorer — no full tree walk.

1. Configure → Explorer Root Colors.
2. Assign builtin palettes to root 1 and root 2 (Free).
3. Apply.

Free limit (since v1.22.41, soft-cap): only the first 2 workspaceFolders are tinted. Root 3+ stays plain until Trial/Pro. Custom hex is Trial/Pro too. Preview does not lift the cap.

If “it does not color”: count which root it is — often it is root 3 on Free.

4) Calibrate hierarchy and indent

Rainbow indent and hierarchy overlays make nested code (JSON, YAML, TS, PHP, …) scannable.

1. Configure → Indent & Hierarchy Settings.
2. Set contrast and levels so blocks pop — not noisy rainbows.
3. Verify on a deep file, then roll out to the team.

5) Presets, tinted, and sharing

1. Configure → Workspace Presets.
2. Apply a builtin preset or save the current look as a custom preset (Free: 1; Trial: 3; Pro: 150).
3. Source tinted → Import: up to 250 validated themes, Colour Zen checked.
4. Export/import of preset collections (JSON) is Trial/Pro — that is how teams share layouts without merging settings files.

6) Connect an AI provider (optional)

Theme Suggest needs no network and no Ollama: offline catalog under Metallic/Pastel/…. Enable Generate with local model only when Ollama is running.

1. Configure → AI / KI Settings.
2. Either Ollama (http://localhost:11434 + a pulled model) or an OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
3. Generate one suggestion, wait for Colour Zen, then Apply.

Free: 10 suggestions per local day. AI Compare (file/folder) is Trial/Pro and not a core feature.

7) Agree team rules

When more than one person opens the same repos:

• which builtin/custom presets apply (names, Dark vs Light),
• minimum contrast (do not bypass Colour Zen),
• how Explorer roots are assigned in multi-root workspaces (Free vs Pro),
• whether preset export is the rollout path (Trial/Pro).

Packs such as Team Onboarding / Enterprise Hardening are services on the product page, not extra extension features.

8) Check the result

After a day or two:

• Do you recognize the project from status/title bar without staring at the path?
• Does the AKC status-bar click open the right directory?
• Are the first roots clearly split in multi-root — and does everyone know root 3+ needs Pro?
• Are indent guides helpful on deep files instead of loud?

Next: License · Troubleshooting.