Custom VS Code Activity Bar Color Scheme for Light Color Mode

Search for workbench.colorCustomizations in your VS Code settings.json and add the following:

  "workbench.colorCustomizations": {
    "[Default Light*]": {
      "activityBar.background": "#ededed",
      "activityBar.activeBorder": "#222",
      "activityBar.activeBackground": "#22222210",
      "activityBar.activeFocusBorder": "#007acc",
      "activityBar.border": "#ddd",
      "activityBar.dropBorder": "#222",
      "activityBar.foreground": "#222",
      "activityBar.inactiveForeground": "#888",
      "activityBarBadge.background": "#007acc",
      "activityBarBadge.foreground": "#fff",
    },
  },

Result: