Colorlab

Convert colors and generate palettes with WCAG contrast checks. Use when building palettes, converting hex/RGB, checking accessibility.

ColorLab — Color Tool

Convert colors, generate palettes, check WCAG contrast ratios, and find closest CSS color names. Uses printf and awk for calculations, with ANSI 24-bit color swatches in terminal output.

Commands

Command	Description
hex-to-rgb <hex>	Convert hex color to RGB values
rgb-to-hex <r> <g> <b>	Convert RGB values (0-255) to hex
contrast <hex1> <hex2>	Calculate WCAG 2.0 contrast ratio with AA/AAA pass/fail ratings
palette <hex> [count]	Generate lighter and darker variants of a color (default: 5 each direction)
random [count]	Generate random colors with hex and RGB values (default: 1)
name <hex>	Find the closest named CSS color (from ~50 common colors)

Examples

# Convert hex to RGB
colorlab hex-to-rgb "#FF5733"    # → rgb(255, 87, 51)

# Convert RGB to hex
colorlab rgb-to-hex 255 87 51    # → #FF5733

# Check contrast for accessibility
colorlab contrast "#FFFFFF" "#000000"
# → 21.00:1, WCAG AA/AAA all pass

# Generate a palette
colorlab palette "#3498db" 3
# → Shows 3 darker + base + 3 lighter variants with color swatches

# Random colors
colorlab random 5

# Find closest CSS color name
colorlab name "#e74c3c"          # → Crimson

Notes

• Hex colors accept # prefix (optional) and 3-digit shorthand (#F00 → #FF0000)
• WCAG contrast checks report AA/AAA compliance for normal and large text
• Palette output includes ANSI 24-bit color swatches (requires a modern terminal)
• Color naming uses Euclidean distance in RGB space against ~50 common CSS color names