diff --git a/helix-view/src/theme.rs b/helix-view/src/theme.rs
index 640affd4..514d7839 100644
--- a/helix-view/src/theme.rs
+++ b/helix-view/src/theme.rs
@@ -185,8 +185,8 @@ pub struct Theme {
     styles: HashMap<String, Style>,
     // tree-sitter highlight styles are stored in a Vec to optimize lookups
     scopes: Vec<String>,
-    highlights: Vec<Style>,
     rainbow_length: usize,
+    highlights: Vec<Style>,
 }
 
 impl From<Value> for Theme {
@@ -194,11 +194,12 @@ impl From<Value> for Theme {
         let values: Result<HashMap<String, Value>> =
             toml::from_str(&value.to_string()).context("Failed to load theme");
 
-        let (styles, scopes, highlights) = build_theme_values(values);
+        let (styles, scopes, rainbow_length, highlights) = build_theme_values(values);
 
         Self {
             styles,
             scopes,
+            rainbow_length,
             highlights,
         }
     }
@@ -266,18 +267,19 @@ impl<'de> Deserialize<'de> for Theme {
         Ok(Self {
             styles,
             scopes,
-            highlights,
             rainbow_length,
+            highlights,
         })
     }
 }
 
 fn build_theme_values(
     values: Result<HashMap<String, Value>>,
-) -> (HashMap<String, Style>, Vec<String>, Vec<Style>) {
+) -> (HashMap<String, Style>, Vec<String>, usize, Vec<Style>) {
     let mut styles = HashMap::new();
     let mut scopes = Vec::new();
     let mut highlights = Vec::new();
+    let mut rainbow_length = 0;
 
     if let Ok(mut colors) = values {
         // TODO: alert user of parsing failures in editor
@@ -295,6 +297,27 @@ fn build_theme_values(
         styles.reserve(colors.len());
         scopes.reserve(colors.len());
         highlights.reserve(colors.len());
+
+        for (i, style) in colors
+            .remove("rainbow")
+            .and_then(|value| match palette.parse_style_array(value) {
+                Ok(styles) => Some(styles),
+                Err(err) => {
+                    warn!("{}", err);
+                    None
+                }
+            })
+            .unwrap_or_else(Theme::default_rainbow)
+            .iter()
+            .enumerate()
+        {
+            let name = format!("rainbow.{}", i);
+            styles.insert(name.clone(), *style);
+            scopes.push(name);
+            highlights.push(*style);
+            rainbow_length += 1;
+        }
+
         for (name, style_value) in colors {
             let mut style = Style::default();
             if let Err(err) = palette.parse_style(&mut style, style_value) {
@@ -308,7 +331,7 @@ fn build_theme_values(
         }
     }
 
-    (styles, scopes, highlights)
+    (styles, scopes, rainbow_length, highlights)
 }
 
 impl Theme {