vim color schemes not rendering background color

Question

Tried solutions: adding export TERM=xterm-256color to .bashrc and .zshrc and also adding set t_Co=256 to .vimrc as pointed out in the solutions to other questions.

Yes, I am using a color scheme that supports both the gui and the terminal it is here.

I use macos and hyper.app primarily but the similar situation happens simultaneously on Terminal.app so I guess its not a problem of the emulator.

Rather strange thing from other Stack Overflow question: Adding this to my .vimrc:

if &term =~ '256color'
  " disable Background Color Erase (BCE) so that color schemes
  " render properly when inside 256-color tmux and GNU screen.
  set t_ut=
endif

changes my vim background to dark grey (I don't know where that comes from) but removing it changes it back to my terminal background color.

I will accept any solution (because I am fed up with this, getting this to work) so that I can get the hex color from the mac vim gui using Color Picker.app and could set it forcefully as the vim background every time i decide to change a theme.

All my config files:

• .zshrc

• .bashrc

• .vimrc

• .bash_profile

I also use tmux but the color is same with or without tmux.

EDIT:

Output of :scriptnames

  1: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/vimrc
  2: ~/.vimrc
  3: ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim
  4: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/filetype.vim
  5: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/ftplugin.vim
  6: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/indent.vim
  7: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/syntax/syntax.vim
  8: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/syntax/synload.vim
  9: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/syntax/syncolor.vim
 10: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/ftoff.vim
 11: ~/.vim/bundle/Vundle.vim/autoload/vundle.vim
 12: ~/.vim/bundle/Vundle.vim/autoload/vundle/config.vim
 13: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/syntax/nosyntax.vim
 14: ~/.vim/plugged/nemo/colors/nemo-dark.vim
 15: ~/.vim/bundle/vim-tmux-navigator/plugin/tmux_navigator.vim
 16: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/getscriptPlugin.vim
 17: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/gzip.vim
 18: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/logiPat.vim
 19: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/manpager.vim
 20: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/matchparen.vim
 21: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/netrwPlugin.vim
 22: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/rrhelper.vim
 23: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/spellfile.vim
 24: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/tarPlugin.vim
 25: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/tohtml.vim
 26: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/vimballPlugin.vim
 27: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/plugin/zipPlugin.vim
 28: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/ftplugin/python.vim
 29: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/indent/python.vim
 30: /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/runtime/syntax/python.vim

Also tried adding this to .vimrc:

set background=dark
highlight Normal ctermbg=NONE
highlight nonText ctermbg=NONE

EDIT (2):

Here are the screenshots of the same theme and how is it rendering on

• terminal.app:

• hyper.app:

• and the Mac vim gui (correct):

Answer 1

Try using https://github.com/chriskempson/base16-vim

I also posted two workarounds for background colors not working in Hyper here

This is the second workaround I posted may work for you:

• In your .vimrc set your vim background to transparent:

"Overrides the color scheme background and makes it transparent      
 autocmd ColorScheme * highlight Normal ctermbg=None                                          
 autocmd ColorScheme * highlight NonText ctermbg=None

• Change the background of your terminal to the desired background-color

Answer 2

1. Given a proper $TERM, Vim will always work correctly so hacks like:

   set t_Co=256
   

   are generally useless.

   If you intend to use a 256color-ready colorscheme, $TERM should end with 256color:

   xterm-256color   prefered for general usage
   screen-256color  if you use Vim in screen or tmux
   tmux-256color    if you use Vim in tmux and your terminal emulator supports it
   

2. If possible, $TERM should not be set at the shell level but at the terminal emulator level. In Hyper.app, this is done in the env key of ~/.hyper.js:

   env: {TERM: 'xterm-256color'},
   

   The same logic applies to tmux and screen, which act like terminal emulators.

3. That snippet is a useless hack:

   if &term =~ '256color'
     " disable Background Color Erase (BCE) so that color schemes
     " render properly when inside 256-color tmux and GNU screen.
     set t_ut=
   endif
   

4. Here are screenshots showing a perfectly working 256color-ready Vim colorscheme in Hyper.app in different scenarios, without any hack:

   Below: Vim, in Hyper.app.

   

   Below: Vim, in tmux, in Hyper.app.

   

   I didn't bother changing Hyper.app's theme because I don't intend to use it after this answer but you hopefully get the idea.

5. From there, you can:

   • look up your colorscheme's background color and apply it to your terminal emulator's theme in ~/.hyper.js in order to make that ugly padding more palatable,

   • completely remove Vim's background in order to use your terminal emulator's with something like:

     function! MyHighlights() abort
         highlight Normal      ctermbg=NONE
         highlight NonText     ctermbg=NONE
         highlight EndOfBuffer ctermbg=NONE
     endfunction
     
     augroup MyColors
         autocmd!
         autocmd ColorScheme * call MyHighlights()
     augroup END
     colorscheme foobar