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
ডেভেলপার এবং কন্ট্রিবিউটর
“Vaaky Highlighter — Syntax Highlighter, Code Blocks, Line Numbers for Gutenberg” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
কন্ট্রিবিউটর
ডেভেলপমেন্ট এ আগ্রহী?
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