# Tailwind Color Palette Sync

Generate theme.extend.colors for tailwind.config.ts from HEX colors, with WCAG contrast levels and optional dark mode.

> Canonical page: https://elysiatools.com/en/tools/tailwind-color-palette-sync

- **Category:** Development

- **Keywords:** tailwind, tailwind config, color palette, design tokens, wcag, contrast, dark mode, hex

## Overview

Turn a list of HEX colors into a ready-to-paste `theme.extend.colors` block for your `tailwind.config.ts` — with WCAG contrast checks baked in.

**What you give it.** One HEX per line. You can optionally prefix a name: `brand: #3b82f6`, `primary: #10b981`. Bare HEX values get auto-named `color1`, `color2`, etc.

**Naming schemes.**
- **Scale (50–950):** Each input color generates a full 11-step palette (50, 100, 200, …, 950) by lightening toward white and darkening toward black. Best for `bg-brand-500` / `text-brand-700` usage.
- **Single name:** Each input becomes a single token (`brand: '#3b82f6'`). Use when you don't need shades.
- **Object nesting:** Same as scale but emitted as nested objects (`brand: { 500: '...', 700: '...' }`) — the idiomatic Tailwind form.

**WCAG contrast.** For every shade, the tool computes the contrast ratio against white and black backgrounds and labels it **AAA** (≥7), **AA** (≥4.5), **AA-Large** (≥3), or **Fail**. This tells you at a glance which shades are safe for body text vs. accents, so your palette is accessible by construction, not as an afterthought.

**Dark mode.** Optionally paste a second set of HEX values. The tool emits a separate dark-mode config you can wire into your `dark:` variant or a CSS variables strategy.

**The math.** Lightness tints use HSL-space lightness interpolation toward pure white (for 50–400) and toward pure black (for 600–950); the input color anchors step 500. This produces visually even ramps, closer to Tailwind's own palette generation than naive RGB mixing.

## Inputs

- **Colors (one HEX per line, or "name: HEX")** (textarea): brand: #3b82f6 accent: #10b981 #f59e0b
- **Naming scheme** (select)
- **Include dark mode colors** (checkbox)
- **Dark mode colors (optional, same format)** (textarea): brand: #60a5fa accent: #34d399

## When to use

- When you need to expand a single brand HEX color into a complete, visually balanced 11-step Tailwind color scale (50–950).
- When you want to verify WCAG contrast compliance for your design system's colors directly within your Tailwind configuration workflow.
- When you need to generate matching light and dark mode color tokens for a Tailwind CSS project.

## How it works

- Input your HEX colors (one per line, optionally prefixed with a name like 'brand: #3b82f6') and select your preferred naming scheme.
- The tool uses HSL-space lightness interpolation to generate tints and shades, anchoring your input color at the 500 step.
- It calculates WCAG contrast ratios for each shade against white and black backgrounds, labeling them with accessibility ratings (AAA, AA, AA-Large, or Fail).
- Copy the generated theme.extend.colors JavaScript/TypeScript object directly into your tailwind.config.ts file.

## Use cases

- Generating a nested Tailwind color palette object from a brand style guide.
- Auditing color contrast ratios for text readability before deploying a new UI theme.
- Creating synchronized light and dark mode color tokens for a Tailwind-based web application.

## Frequently asked questions

### How does the tool generate the 50–950 color scale?

It uses HSL-space lightness interpolation, shifting the input color toward pure white for lighter shades (50–400) and toward pure black for darker shades (600–950), keeping the input color at 500.

### What naming schemes are supported for the Tailwind config?

You can choose 'Scale' (flat 50-950 keys), 'Single name' (direct key-value mapping for single colors), or 'Object nesting' (nested color objects).

### How are the WCAG contrast levels calculated?

The tool measures the relative luminance contrast of each generated shade against pure white (#ffffff) and pure black (#000000) backgrounds, labeling them AAA, AA, AA-Large, or Fail.

### Can I generate dark mode colors with this tool?

Yes, enable the dark mode option and provide a matching set of dark mode HEX colors to generate a separate configuration block.

### What happens if I don't provide names for my HEX colors?

The tool automatically assigns generic names like color1, color2, etc., to any bare HEX values you input.

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## Samples

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- [Android Image Processing Java Samples](https://elysiatools.com/en/samples/android-image-processing-java): Android Java image processing examples including reading/saving images, scaling, and format conversion