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wtf is tinycolor?

afc163/tinycolor — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-07 · repo last pushed 2020-11-14

Audience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantSetup · easy

TL;DR

A JavaScript library that lets you read, convert, modify, and generate colors in code. It handles almost any color format and includes accessibility contrast checks.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Convert color formats
      Modify colors
      Generate palettes
    Features
      Forgiving input parsing
      Chainable methods
      Random color generator
    Use cases
      Color pickers
      Theme generators
      Data visualization
    Accessibility
      Contrast ratio checks
      Web standards compliance
    Tech stack
      TypeScript
      JavaScript

Code map

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Build a color picker that converts between hex, RGB, and named colors.

REASON 2

Generate color palettes like complements and triads for a theme generator.

REASON 3

Check contrast ratios between text and background colors for accessibility.

REASON 4

Create a data visualization dashboard with dynamically derived color shades.

What's in the stack?

TypeScriptJavaScript

How it stacks up

afc163/tinycolor0verflowme/alarm-clock0xhassaan/nn-from-scratch
Stars0
LanguageCSSPython
Last pushed2020-11-142022-10-03
MaintenanceDormantDormant
Setup difficultyeasyeasymoderate
Complexity2/52/54/5
Audiencedevelopervibe coderdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Wtf does this do

TinyColor is a JavaScript tool that lets you work with colors in code. You hand it a color in almost any format, a name like "red," a hex code like "#ff0000," an RGB value, or even a number, and it can convert that color into whatever other format you need, modify it (lighten, darken, mix two colors together), or generate color palettes from it. The library is built around a single class. You create a color object by passing in your input, and from there you can call methods to translate it, adjust it, or ask questions about it (like whether it's light or dark). It's deliberately forgiving about input, commas and parentheses are optional, and it accepts a wide range of value scales. You can also chain modifications together, so something like "take red, lighten it, desaturate it, give me the hex" works in a single connected step. This is useful for anyone building interfaces or design tools in JavaScript. If you're making a color picker, a theme generator, or a data visualization dashboard, you'll need to convert between color formats and derive related colors (complements, triads, shades). It also includes accessibility checks, you can measure the contrast ratio between two colors to see if text will be readable against a background, which matters for meeting web accessibility standards. The project is a TypeScript rewrite of an earlier library called TinyColor2. Notable changes include making it tree-shakeable (so bundlers can strip out parts you don't use, keeping your app smaller) and exposing color as a class rather than a function. It also ships with a random color generator that can produce attractive colors by hue and luminosity, rather than truly random ones that might look ugly.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Using tinycolor, write a function that takes a hex color, lightens it by 20%, desaturates it by 10%, and returns the new hex value.
Prompt 2
Use tinycolor to generate a palette of 5 analogous colors from a base color and return them as an array of hex strings.
Prompt 3
Using tinycolor, check if white text has a sufficient contrast ratio against a given background color and return a boolean.
Prompt 4
Use tinycolor's random color generator to produce 3 visually appealing random colors by hue and luminosity.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is tinycolor?

A JavaScript library that lets you read, convert, modify, and generate colors in code. It handles almost any color format and includes accessibility contrast checks.

Is tinycolor actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2020-11-14).

How hard is tinycolor to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is tinycolor for?

Mainly developer.

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