Aquavium.nvim is designed to be used with a transparent terminal background. Transparency lets your wallpaper or terminal background color show through Neovim, creating the aquarium aesthetic the theme is built around.
How transparency works
When transparent = true, the Normal highlight group’s background is set to NONE instead of the palette value #000e1e. This means Neovim renders no background color of its own — the terminal window background shows through instead.
When transparent = false, the Normal group uses the solid palette background #000e1e (deep navy), ignoring whatever background your terminal has.
Enabling and disabling transparency
Transparency is enabled by default. You can control it explicitly:
-- Transparent background (default)
require("Aquavium").setup({
transparent = true,
})
-- Solid background
require("Aquavium").setup({
transparent = false,
})
Terminal configuration
For the best results, configure your terminal emulator to use a dark background color and reduce its opacity. This creates the depth that makes the color palette stand out.
WezTerm
-- WezTerm Nightly
-- Set background color
config.window_background_gradient = {colors = {'#000000'}} -- or other color
-- Set opacity
config.window_background_opacity = 0.7
#000 (black) with opacity at 70%. Other terminal emulators that support background color and opacity settings will also work — configure them to match these values for a similar result.
Try different wallpapers and background colors to personalize your setup. A dark wallpaper with a black terminal background at 70% opacity produces the classic Aquavium look, but a deep blue background color also works well with the ocean-themed palette.
