color

Color

This skill holds the colour rules that apply on every screen. It covers contrast, role tokens, translucent neutrals, dark mode and what the accent is for.

Ratios are exact, measured on screen

The contrast ratios here are exact and apply in every theme. A ratio is read from the colour the screen draws, never guessed from a token's name. A ratio under the threshold is a finding in any style.

Searching for an existing token belongs to reuse. color-scheme, theme-color, the theme switch and status shown by colour alone belong to defaults. Whether a colour should be there at all belongs to restraint.

Body text clears 4.5:1

Text under 24px, or under 18.66px when bold, meets 4.5:1 against what sits behind it. Larger text meets 3:1. Placeholders and secondary text count, and disabled controls do not. #999 text on white, at 2.8:1, is color-text-contrast.

Field edges and icons clear 3:1

The edge that shows where a field is, a toggle's track and an icon that carries meaning meet 3:1 against their surround. A field whose only edge is a #e5e5e5 border on white, at 1.3:1, is color-ui-contrast. Dividers and the ring on a floating surface are decoration and exempt.

Measure the colour on screen

Translucent colours and opacity composite over every layer behind them before the ratio is read. Read each theme and each surface the text appears on. A ratio taken from the token's hex while the text sits at opacity: 0.6 is color-measure-composited.

Run contrast.js in the page through the browser's evaluate call. Treat each result as a candidate, and confirm it in a zoomed crop before reporting it.

Text over images takes a scrim

Text on a photo or a video sits on a gradient scrim or a solid plate. The ratio holds at the lightest point of the image under the text. White text over a bright sky is color-scrim-under-text.

Components use role tokens

Components reference tokens named for their role, such as --text-secondary or --surface-raised. Only the theme file maps a role to a palette step. color: var(--gray-500) inside a component is color-role-tokens.

Neutrals on surfaces are translucent

Borders, dividers, hover fills and pressed fills use alpha neutrals, so they read on any surface beneath them. A solid #f5f5f5 hover fill that vanishes on a grey card is color-alpha-neutrals.

Dark mode is its own palette

Dark surfaces rise by getting lighter, because a shadow barely shows on a dark page. A dark popover the colour of the page, raised by a shadow alone, is color-dark-raises-lighter.

Accents and status colours take dark values tuned for contrast. The light #2563eb link reused on a #0a0a0a page, at 3.8:1, is color-dark-tuned-accents.

The accent marks action

The accent colour marks the primary action, the selection and focus. An accent heading or a row of accent icons is color-one-accent.

Each status colour keeps one meaning. Red marks errors and destructive actions only. A red "New" badge is color-status-meaning.

The pair

Every check is a pair. The broken line sits beside the line that replaces it.

Rule	Broken	Replacement
color-text-contrast	color: #999 on white, 2.8:1	color: #737373, 4.7:1
color-ui-contrast	A field edged by #e5e5e5 on white, 1.3:1	border-color: #8a8a8a, 3.5:1
color-measure-composited	"The token is #171717, so it passes"	The ratio of the drawn colour at opacity: 0.6, read on screen
color-scrim-under-text	White text straight over a photo	linear-gradient(to top, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6), transparent) under the text
color-role-tokens	color: var(--gray-500) in Card	color: var(--text-secondary)
color-alpha-neutrals	background: #f5f5f5 on hover	background: var(--gray-a3) on hover
color-dark-raises-lighter	A dark popover at the page's #0a0a0a	The popover at #1a1a1a over the #0a0a0a page
color-dark-tuned-accents	#2563eb links on #0a0a0a, 3.8:1	#60a5fa in the dark theme, 7.8:1
color-one-accent	Section headings in the accent colour	Headings in --text-primary, the accent on the primary button
color-status-meaning	A red "New" badge	A neutral or accent badge

Reporting

Severity. HIGH is body text under its ratio on a primary surface, a field whose edge fails 3:1 or text over an image with no scrim. MEDIUM is a palette step inside a component, a solid neutral that vanishes on a surface or a ratio never read on screen. It is also a dark surface raised by shadow alone or a light accent reused in dark mode. LOW is the accent used for decoration or a status colour carrying a second meaning.

Format. One finding per root cause:

file:line - [rule-id] what is wrong (measured ratio)

Then a Rule | Count | Severity summary. Block when any HIGH remains, Approve otherwise. Never Approve a theme you did not open. Mark text over canvas, video and cross-origin frames as Not verified.