Color Palette Generator

Developer color palette and color scheme generator

Use this color palette generator to turn one opaque base color into a deterministic set for interfaces, websites, dashboards, and design systems. The same tool works as a colour palette generator or color scheme generator, with copyable foreground guidance and developer-ready output instead of a purely decorative inspiration board.

How to create a color palette

1. Enter an opaque HEX, RGB, or HSL base color, or choose one with the native color control.
2. Choose a harmony and generate a 3, 5, 6, 10, or 12 color palette.
3. Inspect suggested text colors and the component preview, then copy or download CSS, Tailwind-compatible values, or design tokens.

Monochromatic, analogous, complementary, split, and triadic harmony

Color harmony defines the starting hue relationships behind these color combination schemes. Monochromatic keeps one hue, analogous rotates 30 degrees in each direction, complementary uses the opposite hue, split-complementary uses 150 and 210 degree rotations, and triadic uses 120 and 240 degrees. Neutral colors can collapse these rotations because changing the hue of a zero-saturation color does not create a different HEX value.

One generator for 3-color, 5-color, 6-color, 10-color, and 12-color palettes

The size selector creates a compact 3 color palette, common 5 color palette or 6 color palette sets, and larger 10- or 12-color systems without publishing separate thin pages. Every size is a stable prefix of the same deterministic twelve-color sequence, so increasing the size keeps the colors you already reviewed.

Deterministic tints and shades for website color schemes

After the harmony anchors, the tints and shades generator mixes each anchor toward white and black in bounded sRGB steps. This supports website color palettes, web color schemes, website theme color schemes, and dashboard color palette work without claiming a perceptually uniform scale.

CSS variables, Tailwind palette values, and design tokens

Copy CSS custom properties, a Tailwind-compatible color object, or DTCG-style JSON tokens. Each export includes the palette color and its selected black-or-white text color, making the result useful as a CSS color palette, Tailwind color generator, Tailwind color palette, or focused design token generator.

Preview a website or dashboard color palette

The component scene assigns generated colors to illustrative surface, text, border, primary action, secondary action, and status roles. It is a quick implementation preview for a website color palette, not proof that every real component, interaction state, icon, chart, gradient, or adjacent color combination passes accessibility requirements.

Accessible text-color guidance and honest limits

For each opaque swatch, the tool compares black and white and recommends whichever has the higher full-precision contrast ratio. It displays the ratio and WCAG AA normal-text result. This is foreground guidance only: the generator does not test every pair in the palette, semantic meaning, non-text contrast, focus states, or color-vision distinguishability, so it is not a color blind palette checker. Verify any text pair in the color contrast checker, and refine a single swatch in the color picker.

Private palette generation and explicit saving

Generation, previews, contrast calculations, and exports happen in this browser. Nothing is saved until you choose Save, and a detected snapshot is never applied without Restore. Exact colors, palettes, ratios, generated files, saved state, and share-query values are excluded from analytics.

Frequently asked questions

How do I make a color palette from one color?

Enter an opaque base color, select a harmony and size, and generate the palette. You can also choose any result swatch as the next base and continue refining the scheme.

Which color harmony should I use?

Monochromatic stays closest to one hue, analogous creates nearby hues, complementary creates an opposite pair, split-complementary broadens that pair, and triadic distributes three anchors around the hue wheel. The best choice depends on the roles and content in the real interface.

Are the tints and shades perceptually uniform?

No. They are deterministic bounded sRGB mixes toward white and black. The generator does not claim OKLCH spacing or perceptual uniformity.

Are the suggested text colors accessible?

The displayed black-or-white suggestion is the higher-contrast choice for that individual swatch and includes its AA normal-text result. You still need to test real typography, component states, boundaries, icons, and rendered combinations.

Does this create a color blind friendly palette?

Not by itself. This release does not simulate color-vision deficiencies or test whether every palette color remains distinguishable. Use the generated scheme as a starting point and verify it with dedicated simulation and real interface testing.

Is my palette uploaded or saved automatically?

No. Generation stays local, nothing is written to storage before you choose Save, and share state appears in a link only after you explicitly copy one.