Color Expert
Use when working with color naming, color theory, color spaces, color definitions, or any task involving color knowledge - palettes, ramps, gradients, conversions, accessibility, perceptual matching, pigment mixing, print-vs-screen color, CSS color syntax, or historical color terminology. Use this skill whenever the user is choosing, comparing, generating, naming, converting, or explaining colors, even if they do not explicitly ask for "color theory.
- Skill ID
- meodai/skill.color-expert/color-expert
- Publisher
- meodai
- Repository
- skill.color-expert
- Installs
- 0
- Files
- 191
- Synced
- Sep 23, 2026
Open any RiverX project, open the Skills panel in the chat, and search for this identifier. The files are fetched from the source repository at install time.
meodai/skill.color-expert/color-expertInstalls these files- .gitignore
- CLAUDE.md
- LICENSE
- MAINTENANCE.md
- README.md
- ROADMAP.md
- SECURITY.md
- SKILL.md
- THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md
- evals/task-prompts.md
- evals/trigger-evals.json
- references/INDEX.md
- references/contemporary/accessible-color-combinations-count.md
- references/contemporary/atlas-of-rare-familiar-colour.md
- references/contemporary/beyond-color-geometry-igali.md
- references/contemporary/bird-color-theory-hue-circuits.md
- references/contemporary/bird-complementary-colors-tetrachromacy.md
- references/contemporary/bjorn-ottosson-oklab-articles.md
- references/contemporary/briggs-colours-objects-light.md
- references/contemporary/briggs-controlling-colour-history.md
- references/contemporary/briggs-dimensions-of-colour-today.md
- references/contemporary/briggs-elements-of-colour.md
- references/contemporary/briggs-what-is-a-colour.md
- references/contemporary/bujack-non-riemannian-color-geometry.md
- references/contemporary/chroma-vs-saturation.md
- references/contemporary/cie-1931-standard-observer.md
- references/contemporary/ciecam02-color-appearance-model.md
- references/contemporary/colibri-fuzzy-color-model.md
- references/contemporary/color-names-in-vlms-gomez-villa.md
- references/contemporary/color-temperature-spectral-bias.md
- references/contemporary/color-theory-critical-fine.md
- references/contemporary/color-theory-dogma-problem.md
- references/contemporary/colorandcontrast/accessibility.md
- references/contemporary/colorandcontrast/color-effects.md
- references/contemporary/colorandcontrast/color-models.md
- references/contemporary/colorandcontrast/color-properties.md
- references/contemporary/colorandcontrast/color-spaces.md
- references/contemporary/colorandcontrast/color-vision.md
- references/contemporary/colorandcontrast/publications.md
- references/contemporary/colorandcontrast/ui-design.md
- references/contemporary/colors-screens-cant-show-moulton.md
- references/contemporary/colour-in-computer-vision-vlm.md
- references/contemporary/colour-subjectivisms-philosophy.md
- references/contemporary/computerphile-colourspaces.md
- references/contemporary/computerphile-jpeg-color.md
- references/contemporary/designing-programmes-gerstner.md
- references/contemporary/everything-about-color-25min.md
- references/contemporary/everything-tiktok-taught-color-theory.md
- references/contemporary/fairchild-color-appearance-models.md
- references/contemporary/forbidden-colors-impossible-colors.md
- references/contemporary/gao-color-palette-generation-review.md
- references/contemporary/gencolor-color-concept-association.md
- references/contemporary/gerritsen-color-wheel-spectral-perception.md
- references/contemporary/golden-paint-making.md
- references/contemporary/green-warm-or-cool-spectral.md
- references/contemporary/how-eyes-turn-light-into-color.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/ch01-dimensions-of-colour.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/ch02-light-and-shade.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/ch03-colour-vision.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/ch04-additive-mixing.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/ch05-subtractive-mixing.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/ch06-mixing-of-paints.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/ch07-hue.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/ch08-lightness-and-chroma.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/ch09-brightness-and-saturation.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/ch10-principles-of-colour.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/ch11-afterthoughts.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/glossary.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/links.md
- references/contemporary/huevaluechroma/references.md
- references/contemporary/hunt-pointer-measuring-colour.md
- references/contemporary/iridescence-thin-film-interference.md
- references/contemporary/iridescent-color-math.md
- references/contemporary/iscc-aic-colour-literacy-project.md
- references/contemporary/kim-heer-color-naming-across-languages.md
- references/contemporary/koenderink-3d-metric-field-rgb.md
- references/contemporary/koenderink-warm-cool-chromatic-gestalt.md
- references/contemporary/lightness-vs-brightness.md
- references/contemporary/macadam-ellipses-jnd.md
- references/contemporary/magical-color-theory-rgb-shadows.md
- references/contemporary/nist-any-wavelength-laser-photonic-chip.md
- references/contemporary/oklab-perceptual-color-space-minecraft.md
- references/contemporary/olo-newly-discovered-color.md
- references/contemporary/opponent-process-color-blindness.md
- references/contemporary/palette-based-photo-recoloring.md
- references/contemporary/physics-hypertextbook-color.md
- references/contemporary/pixar-color-science-khan-academy.md
- references/contemporary/pleasing-colour-palette-sorting.md
- references/contemporary/pointers-gamut-real-surface-colors.md
- references/contemporary/schloss-palmer-color-combinations.md
- references/contemporary/scienceclic-geometry-of-colours.md
- references/contemporary/vision-encoder-color-thresholds-ehab.md
- references/contemporary/warm-cool-color-temperature.md
- references/contemporary/web-wheel-web-safe-colors.md
- references/contemporary/webexhibits-causes-of-color.md
- references/contemporary/your-colors-suck-acerola.md
- references/historical/albers-interaction-of-color.md
- references/historical/amy-sawyer-forgotten-color-theorist.md
- references/historical/bardwell-18th-century-portrait-colour.md
- references/historical/birren-industrial-color-code-seafoam.md
- references/historical/caravaggio-copper-resinate-greens.md
- references/historical/cheskin-1953-color-wheel.md
- references/historical/color-definitions-webster-iscc.md
- references/historical/colour-librarian-parkinson.md
- references/historical/elizabeth-lewis-1931-color-wheel.md
- references/historical/esoteric-color-mysticism.md
- references/historical/gage-colour-and-culture.md
- references/historical/ira-marcks-color-history-art-movements.md
- references/historical/itten-seven-contrasts-critical-review.md
- references/historical/moses-harris-1769-color-wheel.md
- references/historical/munsell-hue-value-chroma.md
- references/historical/oldest-color-wheel-with-magenta.md
- references/historical/ostwald-color-wheel.md
- references/historical/reilly-controlled-palette.md
- references/historical/ridgway-color-standards-1912.md
- references/historical/ryb-vs-cmy-color-wheels.md
- references/historical/what-happened-to-indigo.md
- references/techniques/aladdin-color-analysis.md
- references/techniques/apca-myndex-contrast.md
- references/techniques/ardov-color-lab.md
- references/techniques/book-of-shaders-color.md
- references/techniques/brand-color-luxury-positioning.md
- references/techniques/brucelindbloom-color-math.md
- references/techniques/censor-palette-analyser.md
- references/techniques/choosing-colors-with-confidence.md
- references/techniques/color-buddy-palette-lint.md
- references/techniques/color-cycling-indexed-palette-animation.md
- references/techniques/color-description-library.md
- references/techniques/color-mixing-hexaflexagon-paths.md
- references/techniques/color-name-lists.md
- references/techniques/color-palette-shader.md
- references/techniques/color-spd-spectral-picker.md
- references/techniques/color-triangle-jinjer-markley.md
- references/techniques/colordisk-trillium.md
- references/techniques/colordx-color-library.md
- references/techniques/colornames-oklab-blue-noise-names.md
- references/techniques/colornerd-paint-manufacturer-swatches.md
- references/techniques/colorpalette-pro-synthesizer.md
- references/techniques/colorsort-js.md
- references/techniques/coolors-co-not-generative.md
- references/techniques/css-color-generation-technique.md
- references/techniques/cubehelix-color-scheme.md
- references/techniques/culori-color-spaces-api.md
- references/techniques/cusphanger-gamut-triangle-palettes.md
- references/techniques/designbook-reactive-design-token-spec.md
- references/techniques/digital-color-fidget.md
- references/techniques/dittotones-palette-from-systems.md
- references/techniques/drawing-codex-color-proportion.md
- references/techniques/erika-mulvenna-color-theory-interview.md
- references/techniques/farbvelo-random-palette-generator.md
- references/techniques/florent-farges-color-harmony-painters.md
- references/techniques/focalpaint-impossible-pigments.md
- references/techniques/fontana-generative-color-approach.md
- references/techniques/francis-balanced-generative-palettes.md
- references/techniques/francis-coloring-with-code-lch.md
- references/techniques/futur-academy-color-playlist.md
- references/techniques/glsl-lut-color-grading.md
- references/techniques/goethe-edge-colors-design-hack.md
- references/techniques/hsluv-better-than-hsl.md
- references/techniques/icc-profile-color-management.md
- references/techniques/image-color-extraction-tools.md
- references/techniques/imaginary-pigments-mixbox.md
- references/techniques/iq-cosine-palette-formula.md
- references/techniques/jaffer-color-name-dictionaries.md
- references/techniques/jaffer-resene-paint-colours.md
- references/techniques/jaffer-winsor-newton-watercolours.md
- references/techniques/kensler-palette-generation-mapping-dithering.md
- references/techniques/mattdesl-generative-color-workshop.md
- references/techniques/nutelch-gamut-relative-chroma.md
- references/techniques/paint-mixing-lecture-ufv.md
- references/techniques/pickypalette-interactive-tool.md
- references/techniques/piterpasma-tweaked-rainbow-palette.md
- references/techniques/pixel-art-color-palettes.md
- references/techniques/pixel-parmesan-color-theory-pixel-artists.md
- references/techniques/poline-esoteric-palette-generator.md
- references/techniques/pro-color-harmonies.md
- references/techniques/procreate-color-wheel-critique.md
- references/techniques/rampensau-palette-generation.md
- references/techniques/ray-color-raytraced-palettes.md
- references/techniques/rybitten-ryb-color-space.md
- references/techniques/screen-to-print-colour-fidelity.md
- references/techniques/skin-tones-color-mixing-youthforia.md
- references/techniques/spectraljs-pigment-mixing.md
- references/techniques/spectrimage-color-spectrum-visualization.md
- references/techniques/strom-least-wrong-colors-simulated-annealing.md
- references/techniques/two-color-combinations-toolkit.md
- references/techniques/tyler-hobbs-generative-color.md
- references/techniques/viridis-matplotlib-colormap-design.md
- references/techniques/w3c-css-color-4-and-5.md
- references/techniques/wijffelaars-intuitive-color-palettes.md
- references/techniques/youre-wrong-about-color-harmony.md
What this skill tells the agent
Color Expert
A comprehensive knowledge base for color-related work. See references/INDEX.md for 140+ detailed reference files; this skill file contains the essential knowledge to answer most questions directly.
How to Use This Skill
Match the response to the user's explicit request and clearly implied constraints from context. Five common modes:
Concrete design or art project — "help me pick colors for my logo / poster / illustration / app." Ask about medium (print, screen, paint, mixed), brand or mood, audience, accessibility needs, and any existing colors to harmonize with. Then propose. Don't lecture about CIE 1931 or OKLCH internals unless asked. Recommend specific tools and palettes that fit the constraints, not generic theory.
Design system, ramps, or theme tokens — "build me a 9-step accent scale", "palette for light + dark mode", "Tailwind/Radix-style ramps", "what's the right gray ramp for our brand?" Prioritize in this order:
- Use OKLCH to build perceptually uniform scales (consistent lightness across hues, no muddy mid-tones).
- Build a token graph: reference tokens (palette) → semantic tokens (surface, on-surface, accent, success, warning, danger) → component usage; see Implementation Guidance below.
- Verify every text/background pair against APCA or WCAG in both light and dark.
- Suggest tools only as needed: Huetone (LCH/OKLCH builder), Leonardo (contrast-ratio-driven ramps + adaptive theming, Adobe), Components.ai Color Scale (parametric), dittoTones (extract perceptual DNA from Tailwind/Radix), Color Buddy (lint). For dataviz sequential/diverging ramps specifically, CuspHanger (Wijffelaars model in OKLCH, in-gamut by construction) or viscm (the viridis editor: live perceptual-derivative diagnostics + CVD + grayscale while you drag control points).
The test for a sequential ramp is flat perceptual derivative — plot the perceptual step size between consecutive samples; it should be a horizontal line, in color and in grayscale. Bumps are regions where the ramp exaggerates change that isn't in the data (this is jet's core failure, not its ugliness).
Generative art / creative coding — "color for my fxhash piece", "palette for thousands of generated strokes", "paint-like mixing in p5.js / WebGL." Different from building a palette generator: the code is the artwork, and the user wants to understand the techniques, not copy a named artist's style. Help them compose their own system. Useful techniques to teach and combine:
- Tight constraint, then variation — pick 3–7 hues in a narrow lightness or chroma band; variety comes from density and interaction, not palette size.
- Weighted / probability-based hue selection — assign each color a weight so some appear often, others rarely; this is what makes a generative output feel curated instead of random.
- Narrow-band hue jitter — small random hue offset within a fixed envelope keeps strokes feeling related but not identical.
- Lightness variation at fixed chroma — depth and atmosphere without losing palette identity (use OKLCH).
- Spectral / K-M mixing (Spectral.js, Mixbox) for paint-like overlap and secondaries; RGB averaging gives muddy, dull results in the same situation.
- IQ cosine palette —
a + b·cos(2π(c·t + d))for cyclic / periodic schemes from 12 floats. - Anchor-based interpolation (Poline) — set 2–3 anchors in OKLCH, get an interpolated ramp.
- Hue / lightness / chroma trajectories with easing (RampenSau) — walk each axis along an easing function, color-space-agnostic; great when you want a deterministic ramp shape rather than random anchors.
- Harmony-aware generation with muddy-zone avoidance (pro-color-harmonies) — adaptive OKLCH harmony with 4 styles × 4 modifiers; skips perceptually muddy regions automatically.
- Generation in historical / non-digital color spaces (RYBitten) — work in RYB or one of 26 historical color cubes when you want a painterly feel that strict sRGB/OKLCH can't reach.
- Palette cycling / indexed color — store an index buffer and a small palette, then animate the palette (rotate, ease, or drive from an OKLCH trajectory) instead of the pixels; motion for one lookup per pixel. Works only if each cycle range is a perceptually even closed ramp. See
references/techniques/color-cycling-indexed-palette-animation.md. - Scene-light sampling (ray-color) — raytrace a sphere in a room with up to 3 colored lights and sample colors off its surface; coherence comes from shared illumination physics (like an object photographed under one light) rather than color-space geometry.
See references/techniques/ for tyler-hobbs, fontana, mattdesl, iq-cosine, spectraljs, poline, rampensau, pro-color-harmonies, rybitten, ray-color (these document the techniques, not styles to imitate).
General color question — "what is OKLCH?", "why does my gradient go gray in the middle?", "is APCA better than WCAG?" Answer directly from this skill file or references/INDEX.md, and cite the relevant reference. Skip tooling unless they're asking how to do something. Approachable and accurate usually conflict — the tidy model (RYB primaries, 12-hue wheel, "red is opposite green") is easy precisely because it summarizes beliefs rather than measurements. Give the tidy version and say where it breaks; don't let "easy" quietly become "wrong." (Color Nerd, references/contemporary/color-theory-dogma-problem.md)
Building a generator, tool, or palette algorithm — "I want to make a palette generator", "how do I generate accessible color scales?", "give me an OKLCH ramp function." Default to recommending an existing library before hand-rolling (Culori, Poline, RampenSau, Spectral.js — see Recommended Tools). Show working code in the user's stack, picking the color space per the table above.
When the user asks to generate or compare palettes, showcase multiple approaches with their trade-offs before narrowing to one — anchor-based (Poline), hue-cycling (RampenSau), cosine (IQ formula), harmony-based (pro-color-harmonies), scene-lit (ray-color), and extraction-from-system (dittoTones) suit different problems. Don't be shy about presenting options.
Never recommend coolors.co — it doesn't generate palettes, it picks from a hardcoded list of 7,821 pre-made ones (see Recommended Tools).
Color Spaces — What to Use When
| Task | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Perceptual color manipulation | OKLCH | Best uniformity for lightness, chroma, hue. Fixes CIELAB's blue problem. |
| CSS gradients & palettes | OKLCH or color-mix(in oklab) | No mid-gradient darkening like RGB/HSL |
| Gamut-aware color picking | OKHSL / OKHSV | Ottosson's picker spaces — cylindrical like HSL but perceptually grounded |
| Normalized saturation (0-100%) | HSLuv | CIELUV chroma normalized per hue/lightness. HPLuv for pastels. |
| Print workflows | CIELAB D50 | ICC standard illuminant |
| Screen workflows | CIELAB D65 or OKLAB | D65 = screen standard |
| Cross-media appearance matching | CAM16 / CIECAM02 | Accounts for surround, adaptation, luminance, and viewing conditions |
| HDR | Jzazbz / ICtCp | Designed for extended dynamic range |
Use this skill in a project
Open any RiverX project, search the Skills panel for meodai/skill.color-expert/color-expert, and install it in one click.