Yellow comments competed visually with warnings and gave them
undeserved prominence. Gray (#888888) keeps comments legible but
lets the other three semantic categories — strings, constants,
and definitions — carry the visual weight.

Assisted-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (claude-code)

diff --git a/.config/nvim/fnl/alphabaster/init.fnl b/.config/nvim/fnl/alphabaster/init.fnl
index 891298e6..7c29fa3f 100644
--- a/.config/nvim/fnl/alphabaster/init.fnl
+++ b/.config/nvim/fnl/alphabaster/init.fnl
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 ;; Your eye adapts and considers it a new norm.
 ;;
 ;; Only 4 semantic categories get color:
-;;   1. Comments   — important explanations, not "visual noise"
+;;   1. Comments   — secondary, subdued so code stays prominent
 ;;   2. Strings    — reference points, easy to scan for
 ;;   3. Constants  — numbers, booleans, symbols (logic starts from constants)
 ;;   4. Definitions — where functions/types/classes are defined (not called)
@@ -35,9 +35,8 @@
 
   ;;; === THE 4 SEMANTIC CATEGORIES ===
 
-  ;; Comments are important. The tradition of dimming comments comes from
-  ;; when people were paid by line. If code was complex enough to deserve
-  ;; an explanation, that explanation should be read first.
+  ;; Comments are secondary. They explain code but shouldn't compete for
+  ;; attention. Subdued color keeps focus on the code itself.
   (hi :Comment {:fg semantic.comment})
 
   ;; Strings are reference points. Logic often starts from string literals.
diff --git a/.config/nvim/fnl/alphabaster/palette.fnl b/.config/nvim/fnl/alphabaster/palette.fnl
index 0e1fed9a..c5662a38 100644
--- a/.config/nvim/fnl/alphabaster/palette.fnl
+++ b/.config/nvim/fnl/alphabaster/palette.fnl
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
    :bright-white   "#FFFFFF"
 
    ;; Special
+   :comment-gray "#888888"
    :cursor     "#f2d5cf"
    :selection-bg "#626880"
    :selection-fg "#c6d0f5"})
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@
 ;; Semantic roles (Alabaster philosophy)
 ;; Only 4 categories get color. Everything else is default fg.
 (local semantic
-  {:comment    colors.yellow      ;; warm, like sticky notes (not red — looks like errors)
+  {:comment    colors.comment-gray   ;; visible but secondary
    :string     colors.blue        ;; lavender/purple
    :constant   colors.blue        ;; same as strings — all literal values are lavender
    :definition colors.cyan