Color

Guide index · Surfaces · Interaction

All values are opaque sRGB hex colors. Use roles rather than choosing a nearby hue per component. The palette is dark and cool-neutral; avoid a teal cast on large surfaces.

Surfaces and boundaries

Planes carry background color; boundaries separate regions and controls. Decorative frames use the quieter line; operable edges use the essential boundary.

Terminal role tables list a Truecolor value and an ANSI 16-color fallback. Emit the hex value when 24-bit color is supported; otherwise use the ANSI role name. Hosts may remap ANSI names, and 256-color terminals map each role to the closest palette entry and recheck contrast.

🮣────────────────────────🮢
│ Content panel          │
│ Input · essential edge │
🮡────────────────────────🮠

The essential edge is the role for operable controls and any boundary that must stay visible on chrome and control fills. The quiet edge #2A3648 is the role for decorative frames where content structure is evident without it.

Text

Use primary text on all neutral and blue control faces. Use secondary text at full opacity; never dim the whole component to indicate disabled state. Cyan links are underlined in prose; blue is an edge color, not normal-size link text.

Primary text    Validation run · Job 042
Secondary text  Last checked 2m ago · hint line

Link            See accessibility chapter (underlined in GUI)

Action and focus

Cyan marks keyboard focus on borders. Sparse cyan structural accents are allowed away from borders, but blue remains an edge and marker color—not ordinary link or body text at default sizes.

Action   Run validation

Focus    Run validation

Tab      Overview

Selection

Violet identifies navigation and cyan identifies focus. Graphical selection uses a neutral surface and bold label; selected destinations keep the violet navigation role with a violet leading edge. Data rows add a persistent primary-text ▸ glyph in a reserved leading slot. Selection has no separate color and remains visible after focus moves.

Navigation keeps its violet role independently of selection. A selected-and-focused destination keeps its selection face while cyan identifies focus; data rows retain primary text and the ▸ glyph. The terminal uses the ▸ glyph for both navigation and rows.

Navigation  ▸ Activity

Data row    ▸ Record 042

Status semantics

Running is neon green; success is subdued green. Distinguish them by brightness, explicit words and glyphs, including without color. Statuses exclude navigation violet and focus cyan.

Code areas use an independent syntax system that may reuse UI colors without inheriting interface meanings. Dimmer or patterned substitutes are not required; validation remains an explicit label.

Semantic labels use their named foreground on their matching semantic surface. Running uses neon green (#A3FF12 on #1A290D) with the ↻ glyph and an explicit “Running” label. Success uses subdued green (#70DEA2 on #14281F) with ✓ and an explicit “Complete” or “Succeeded” label. Brightness, labels, and glyphs distinguish active work from confirmed success; neither status uses navigation violet or focus cyan. In limited terminal palettes, retain the distinct glyphs and words even when both map to green. Body explanations remain primary text. Neutral badges use secondary text, content fill and an essential outline when needed to recognize the badge.

✓ Ready Inputs verified

Accepted ! Outcome pending

↻ Running · 3 / 8

× Failed Review the input

Do not color every timestamp or identifier by status. Color the status indicator and label. A workflow's completed node may have a green check alongside a violet category stripe; each cue has one meaning.

Contrast envelope

Ratios are WCAG relative-luminance contrast for opaque sRGB fills, rounded to two decimals.

Blue #006EFF does not meet 4.5:1 for ordinary text on these surfaces. Use pale labels and blue edges; terminal primary labels stay pale and secondary actions use the essential edge color. Contrast acceptance covers every gradient stop and actual adjacent surface, not merely the average fill. See accessibility.

Theme policy

This chapter defines the default dark theme. High-contrast modes preserve role distinctions and may remove gradients and decorative borders. Honor user/system forced colors in graphical apps. Terminal colors may be remapped by the host; always retain text and markers.

A light theme is not yet specified. It must define complete surface, foreground, control, and status pairs and pass the same checks; it is not produced by inverting these hex values.

Primary label · Focused label focus cue · Ready status word

Primary label · Focused label focus cue · Ready status word

Primary label
▸ persistent selection · Focused label
Ready explicit status word