diff --git a/src/config.h b/src/config.h
index b9b30b65..f06397a5 100644
--- a/src/config.h
+++ b/src/config.h
@@ -158,6 +158,15 @@ struct Config {
     std::vector<std::string> whitelist;
   } diagnostics;
 
+  // Semantic highlighting
+  struct Highlight {
+    // Like index.{whitelist,blacklist}, don't publish semantic highlighting to
+    // blacklisted files.
+    std::vector<std::string> blacklist;
+
+    std::vector<std::string> whitelist;
+  } highlight;
+
   struct Index {
     // Attempt to convert calls of make* functions to constructors based on
     // hueristics.
@@ -229,6 +238,9 @@ MAKE_REFLECT_STRUCT(Config::Diagnostics,
                     frequencyMs,
                     onParse,
                     whitelist)
+MAKE_REFLECT_STRUCT(Config::Highlight,
+                    blacklist,
+                    whitelist)
 MAKE_REFLECT_STRUCT(Config::Index,
                     attributeMakeCallsToCtor,
                     blacklist,
@@ -258,6 +270,7 @@ MAKE_REFLECT_STRUCT(Config,
                     codeLens,
                     completion,
                     diagnostics,
+                    highlight,
                     index,
                     workspaceSymbol,
                     xref,
diff --git a/src/diagnostics_engine.cc b/src/diagnostics_engine.cc
index 2c2fa92f..199a1aae 100644
--- a/src/diagnostics_engine.cc
+++ b/src/diagnostics_engine.cc
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@
 
 void DiagnosticsEngine::Init(Config* config) {
   frequencyMs_ = config->diagnostics.frequencyMs;
-  match_ = MakeUnique<GroupMatch>(config->diagnostics.whitelist, config->diagnostics.blacklist);
+  match_ = MakeUnique<GroupMatch>(config->diagnostics.whitelist,
+                                  config->diagnostics.blacklist);
 }
 
-
 void DiagnosticsEngine::Publish(WorkingFiles* working_files,
                                 std::string path,
                                 std::vector<lsDiagnostic> diagnostics) {
diff --git a/src/message_handler.cc b/src/message_handler.cc
index 61e3da25..35ceae77 100644
--- a/src/message_handler.cc
+++ b/src/message_handler.cc
@@ -122,6 +122,8 @@ void EmitSemanticHighlighting(QueryDatabase* db,
                               WorkingFile* working_file,
                               QueryFile* file) {
   assert(file->def);
+  if (!semantic_cache->match_->IsMatch(file->def->path))
+    return;
   auto semantic_cache_for_file =
       semantic_cache->GetCacheForFile(file->def->path);
 
diff --git a/src/messages/initialize.cc b/src/messages/initialize.cc
index 27352ffc..2b8453af 100644
--- a/src/messages/initialize.cc
+++ b/src/messages/initialize.cc
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include "platform.h"
 #include "project.h"
 #include "queue_manager.h"
+#include "semantic_highlight_symbol_cache.h"
 #include "serializers/json.h"
 #include "timer.h"
 #include "working_files.h"
@@ -583,6 +584,7 @@ struct InitializeHandler : BaseMessageHandler<Ipc_InitializeRequest> {
 
       Timer time;
       diag_engine->Init(config);
+      semantic_cache->Init(config);
 
       // Open up / load the project.
       project->Load(config, config->extraClangArguments,
diff --git a/src/semantic_highlight_symbol_cache.cc b/src/semantic_highlight_symbol_cache.cc
index 60536f34..f3a55790 100644
--- a/src/semantic_highlight_symbol_cache.cc
+++ b/src/semantic_highlight_symbol_cache.cc
@@ -60,6 +60,11 @@ SemanticHighlightSymbolCache::Entry::GetMapForSymbol_(SymbolKind kind) {
 SemanticHighlightSymbolCache::SemanticHighlightSymbolCache()
     : cache_(kCacheSize) {}
 
+void SemanticHighlightSymbolCache::Init(Config* config) {
+  match_ = MakeUnique<GroupMatch>(config->highlight.whitelist,
+                                  config->highlight.blacklist);
+}
+
 std::shared_ptr<SemanticHighlightSymbolCache::Entry>
 SemanticHighlightSymbolCache::GetCacheForFile(const std::string& path) {
   return cache_.Get(
diff --git a/src/semantic_highlight_symbol_cache.h b/src/semantic_highlight_symbol_cache.h
index 3a33f421..f540ecb9 100644
--- a/src/semantic_highlight_symbol_cache.h
+++ b/src/semantic_highlight_symbol_cache.h
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
 
 #include "lru_cache.h"
+#include "match.h"
 #include "query.h"
 
 #include <optional.h>
@@ -34,8 +35,9 @@ struct SemanticHighlightSymbolCache {
   constexpr static int kCacheSize = 10;
   LruCache<std::string, Entry> cache_;
   uint32_t next_stable_id_ = 0;
+  std::unique_ptr<GroupMatch> match_;
 
   SemanticHighlightSymbolCache();
-
+  void Init(Config*);
   std::shared_ptr<Entry> GetCacheForFile(const std::string& path);
 };