Monokai Pro Bug: Overriding Icon Theme In VSCode

Nov 17, 2025 by Alex Johnson 49 views

Bug: Monokai Pro is Forcing Monokai Icon Theme

Is your VSCode stubbornly sticking to the Monokai Pro icon theme, even when you've set it to something else? You're not alone! This article dives into a frustrating bug where Monokai Pro overrides your preferred icon theme, specifically affecting users of the Material Icon Theme. We'll explore the problem, the steps to reproduce it, and potential causes, offering a comprehensive look at this VSCode theming issue.

The Issue: Monokai Pro's Icon Theme Takeover

Many VSCode users enjoy customizing their editor with themes and icon sets that suit their personal preferences. The Material Icon Theme is a popular choice for its clean and intuitive file icons. However, since version 2.0.10, Monokai Pro has been reported to force its own icon theme, overriding user settings and causing frustration. This means that even if you explicitly set workbench.iconTheme to material-icon-theme, VSCode reverts to Monokai Pro (Filter Octagon) Icons upon restart or reload. This persistent overriding behavior disrupts the intended customization and can be quite annoying for developers who prefer a different icon set.

Steps to Reproduce the Bug

To illustrate the issue, here’s a step-by-step guide to reproduce the bug in VSCode:

Start with a Clean Slate: Begin by installing a fresh version of VSCode to ensure no conflicting settings or extensions are interfering.
Install Monokai Pro: Add the Monokai Pro theme to your VSCode installation. This is the primary component causing the problem.
Import Your License: Activate Monokai Pro by importing your license key. This step ensures that the theme is fully functional.
Install a Different File Icon Theme: Install the Material Icon Theme, or any other icon theme you prefer over the Monokai Pro icons. This sets the stage for the override.
Configure VSCode Settings: Modify your VSCode settings (settings.json) to specify both the color theme and the icon theme. Use the following configuration:
```
{
   "workbench.colorTheme": "Monokai Pro (Filter Octagon)",
   "workbench.iconTheme": "material-icon-theme"
}
```
Reload VSCode: Reload the VSCode window to apply the new settings. This is where the bug manifests.
Observe the Icon Theme: After reloading, you'll notice that the icon theme has reverted to Monokai Pro (Filter Octagon) Icons, despite your settings specifying material-icon-theme. This confirms the overriding behavior.

By following these steps, you can consistently reproduce the bug and observe how Monokai Pro forces its icon theme, ignoring your preferred settings. This detailed reproduction guide helps to isolate the problem and provides a clear demonstration for developers and users experiencing the same issue.

Current Behavior: The Persistent Rollback

The most frustrating aspect of this bug is the persistent nature of the rollback. Each time VSCode is restarted or reloaded, the workbench.iconTheme setting is automatically reverted to Monokai Pro (Filter Octagon) Icons. This means that users must manually change the icon theme every time they open VSCode, which is a significant inconvenience. The intended behavior of VSCode is to maintain user settings across sessions, allowing for a consistent and personalized development environment. However, the Monokai Pro theme's overriding action disrupts this expected behavior, leading to a repetitive and annoying task for users who prefer a different icon set.

Expected Behavior: Theme Persistence

The expected behavior is that the previously selected theme should be conserved between reloads and restarts. When a user sets "workbench.iconTheme": "material-icon-theme" in their VSCode settings, they expect that setting to persist across sessions. VSCode should respect the user's choice and maintain the selected icon theme until the user explicitly changes it. This consistent behavior is crucial for a smooth and efficient development workflow. The bug, where Monokai Pro forces its own icon theme, directly contradicts this expected behavior, leading to a frustrating user experience and hindering the ability to customize the VSCode environment to individual preferences.