Description
Vaaky Highlighter is a lightweight syntax highlighter plugin for the WordPress Gutenberg editor. Add beautiful code blocks with line numbers, a copy-to-clipboard button, optional filename label, automatic language detection, and 35+ themes. Powered by Highlight.js — a fast, dependency-free alternative to Prism.
Syntax highlighting is powered by Highlight.js, a fast and dependency-free JavaScript library that supports multiple programming languages and themes.
Vaaky Highlighter is ideal for developers, bloggers, technical writers, and documentation sites who want elegant syntax-highlighted code without unnecessary bloat.
Using it is simple: add the Vaaky Highlighter Sourcecode block in Gutenberg, paste your code, and publish — the plugin handles everything automatically.
View the live demo of all supported themes:
Demo Page
What’s new in 1.2.0
- Line numbers for code blocks
- Floating copy-to-clipboard button on every block
- Optional filename label (renders as a tab above the code)
- Word-wrap toggle per block + global default
- Visual theme picker (no more guessing from a dropdown)
- Modernized build using @wordpress/scripts
- Drops PHP 5.6 / WordPress 6.0 support — now requires PHP 7.4 / WordPress 6.5
Usage
- Add the Vaaky Highlighter block in the Gutenberg editor
- Paste or write your code
- Select a language (optional)
- Save and view your page on the frontend
Supported Languages
- Apache
- Bash
- C
- C#
- C++
- CSS
- DNS Zone file
- DOS
- Django
- Dockerfile
- Go
- HTML / XML
- Handlebars
- JSON
- Java
- JavaScript
- Markdown
- Nginx
- Objective-C
- PHP
- Plaintext
- PostgreSQL & PL/pgSQL
- PowerShell
- Python
- R
- Ruby
- Rust
- SCSS
- SQL / MySQL
- Shell
- Twig
- TypeScript
- YAML / YML
Screenshots
Plugin settings — visual theme picker with live previews of 35+ themes, plus System Information and Quick Links sidebar 
Plugin settings — more theme previews plus the Block Defaults section (Code Overflow, Show Line Numbers, Word Wrap) 
Frontend rendering — TypeScript and JavaScript code blocks with line numbers and the floating copy button 
Frontend rendering — multi-language showcase (Dockerfile, Java, R, Ruby, PowerShell, Bash) with line numbers 
Frontend rendering — PHP and Twig code blocks with line numbers and syntax highlighting
Blocks
This plugin provides 1 block.
- Vaaky Highlighter Syntax-highlighted code block powered by Highlight.js.
Installation
Minimum Requirements
- WordPress 6.5 or higher
- PHP 7.4 or higher
Automatic Installation
- Go to Plugins Add New in your WordPress dashboard
- Search for Vaaky Highlighter
- Click Install Now
- Activate the plugin
Manual Installation
- Download the plugin ZIP file
- Go to Plugins Add New
- Click Upload Plugin
- Upload the ZIP file and activate
For help, see the official WordPress guide:
https://wordpress.org/support/article/managing-plugins/#manual-plugin-installation
FAQ
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Does Vaaky Highlighter work with Gutenberg?
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Yes. Vaaky Highlighter is built specifically for the Gutenberg block editor and integrates seamlessly as a custom code block.
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Which syntax highlighting library does this plugin use?
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Vaaky Highlighter uses Highlight.js with automatic language detection.
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What themes are supported?
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The plugin supports 30 syntax highlighting themes, including:
Dark themes:
Monokai (Sublime), Visual Studio 2015, GitHub Dark, Android Studio, Tokyo Night Dark, Rose Pine, NordLight themes:
GitHub, StackOverflow Light, Google Code, Tokyo Night Light, Rose Pine Dawn -
How can I highlight a language that is not listed?
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Leave the language selection empty. Highlight.js will automatically detect the language.
If detection fails, you can request support via GitHub:
https://github.com/finallyRaunak/vaaky-highlighter/issues -
Does the plugin support line numbers?
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Yes. Toggle line numbers per block from the block inspector, or set a global default under Settings Vaaky Highlighter.
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Does Vaaky Highlighter work with the Classic Editor?
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Yes. You can use the shortcode:
[vaakyHighlighterCode lang="php"]Your code here[/vaakyHighlighterCode]The
langattribute is optional. If omitted, the language will be auto-detected.
Reviews
Contributors & Developers
“Vaaky Highlighter — Syntax Highlighter, Code Blocks, Line Numbers for Gutenberg” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.2.0
- Add line numbers, copy button, filename label, word-wrap toggle
- Add visual theme picker in settings
- Add dismissible wp.org review prompt after 7-day grace period
- Migrate build to @wordpress/scripts and block.json (apiVersion 3)
- Fix XSS in admin sidebar UTM parameters
- Bump minimum PHP to 7.4 and minimum WordPress to 6.5
- Replace deprecated webhat.in author metadata with techunfiltered.dev
- Drop Facebook link; update Twitter handle to @__RaunakGupta
- Fix Go language slug (‘golang’ ‘go’) so highlighting actually works
1.1.0 – 2026-01-10
- Updated WordPress compatibility to 6.9
- Upgraded Highlight.js from v11.2.0 to v11.11.1
- Added support for 24 additional languages
- Added new themes: Tokyo Night, Rose Pine, Nord
- Updated all existing themes
- Fixed WordPress.org compatibility warnings