Colors

Spacedrive uses a semantic color system built on CSS variables and HSL values. The system provides context-aware colors that automatically support theming and opacity modifiers.

Color Architecture

Colors are defined as HSL triplets (hue, saturation, lightness) in CSS variables, then referenced via Tailwind’s alpha() function for opacity support.

/* Definition */
--color-accent: 208, 100%, 57%;

/* Usage in Tailwind */
bg-accent      /* hsla(var(--color-accent), 1) */
bg-accent/50   /* hsla(var(--color-accent), 0.5) */

This approach enables:

Full opacity control (/10, /20, /50, etc.)
Runtime theme switching
Type-safe Tailwind classes

Color Categories

Accent Colors

Primary brand colors for interactive elements.

<div className="bg-accent text-white">
  Primary action button
</div>

<div className="border border-accent/20 bg-accent/5">
  Subtle accent background
</div>

Variants:

accent - Default accent (220, 90%, 56%)

Text Colors (Ink)

Hierarchical text colors for content.

<h1 className="text-ink">Primary heading</h1>
<p className="text-ink-dull">Secondary text</p>
<span className="text-ink-faint">Tertiary/disabled text</span>

Hierarchy:

ink - Primary text (92% lightness)
ink-dull - Secondary text (70% lightness)
ink-faint - Tertiary text (55% lightness)

App Colors

Main application area colors for backgrounds, borders, and surfaces.

<div className="bg-app border border-app-line">
  <div className="bg-app-box">
    Card or panel
  </div>

  <input className="bg-app-input border-app-line" />

  <button className="hover:bg-app-hover active:bg-app-selected">
    Interactive element
  </button>
</div>

Color Scale:

app - Base background (235, 15%, 13%)
app-box - Card/panel background (235, 15%, 18%)
app-overlay - Overlay background (235, 15%, 16%)
app-line - Border color (235, 15%, 23%)
app-frame - Frame border (235, 15%, 25%)

Use Case Examples:

// Layered cards
<div className="bg-app">
  <div className="bg-app-box border border-app-line">
    <div className="bg-app-dark-box">
      Nested content
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

// Interactive elements
<button className="bg-app-button border-app-line hover:bg-app-hover">
  Button
</button>

// Form inputs
<input className="bg-app-input border-app-line focus:bg-app-focus" />

Sidebar-specific colors that can differ from main app area.

<aside className="bg-sidebar">
  <nav className="bg-sidebar-box border-sidebar-line">
    <a className="text-sidebar-ink hover:bg-sidebar-selected">
      Nav item
    </a>
  </nav>
</aside>

Scale:

sidebar - Base (235, 15%, 7%)
sidebar-box - Panels (235, 15%, 16%)
sidebar-line - Borders (235, 15%, 23%)
sidebar-selected - Selected state (235, 15%, 24%)
sidebar-button - Button background (235, 15%, 18%)
sidebar-divider - Dividers (235, 15%, 17%)
sidebar-ink / sidebar-ink-dull / sidebar-ink-faint - Text hierarchy

Context menu and dropdown colors.

<div className="bg-menu border-menu-line">
  <button className="text-menu-ink hover:bg-menu-hover">
    Menu item
  </button>
</div>

Scale:

menu - Base (235, 15%, 13%)
menu-line - Borders (235, 15%, 23%)
menu-hover - Hover state (235, 15%, 20%)
menu-selected - Selected state (235, 15%, 24%)
menu-shade - Shadow (235, 15%, 8%)
menu-ink - Primary text (235, 15%, 92%)
menu-faint - Secondary text (235, 10%, 55%)

Theming

Dark Theme (Default)

Uses --dark-hue: 235 with low lightness values.

Light Theme

Add .vanilla-theme class to root for light mode. Uses --light-hue: 235 with high lightness values.

<html className="vanilla-theme">
  {/* Entire app switches to light theme */}
</html>

The same color classes (text-ink, bg-app-box, etc.) automatically adapt to the theme.

Custom Themes

Create custom themes by defining a new class with color overrides:

.custom-theme {
  --dark-hue: 280; /* Purple-tinted theme */
  --color-accent: 280, 100%, 60%;
  /* Other color overrides */
}

Best Practices

Use Semantic Names

Don’t use raw colors:

<div className="bg-gray-800 text-gray-200">

Use semantic colors:

<div className="bg-app-box text-ink">

Respect Context

Don’t mix contexts unnecessarily:

<div className="bg-sidebar">
  <p className="text-app-ink"> {/* Wrong context */}
</div>

Use matching context:

<div className="bg-sidebar">
  <p className="text-sidebar-ink">
</div>

Use Opacity for Variations

Don’t hardcode alpha values:

<div style={{ backgroundColor: 'rgba(...)' }}>

Use Tailwind opacity:

<div className="bg-accent/10">

Leverage Interaction States

<button className="
  bg-app-button
  border-app-line
  hover:bg-app-hover
  active:bg-app-selected
  focus:ring-accent
">
  Button with full interaction states
</button>

Color Reference

Complete Color List

Accent:

accent, accent-faint, accent-deep

Text:

ink, ink-dull, ink-faint

App:

app, app-box, app-dark-box, app-darker-box, app-light-box
app-input, app-focus, app-button
app-line, app-divider
app-hover, app-selected, app-active
app-overlay, app-shade, app-frame, app-slider

Sidebar:

sidebar, sidebar-box, sidebar-line
sidebar-ink, sidebar-ink-dull, sidebar-ink-faint
sidebar-divider, sidebar-button, sidebar-selected, sidebar-shade

Menu:

menu, menu-line, menu-hover, menu-selected
menu-ink, menu-faint, menu-shade

Migration from Generic Colors

If you have code using generic Tailwind colors, migrate to semantic names:

Old	New
`text-white`	`text-ink`
`text-gray-400`	`text-ink-dull`
`text-gray-500`	`text-ink-faint`
`bg-gray-800`	`bg-app-box`
`bg-gray-900`	`bg-app`
`border-gray-700`	`border-app-line`
`hover:bg-gray-700`	`hover:bg-app-hover`

This ensures your UI automatically adapts to theme changes.

React UI

Color Architecture

Color Categories

Accent Colors

Text Colors (Ink)

App Colors

Sidebar Colors

Menu Colors

Theming

Dark Theme (Default)

Light Theme

Custom Themes

Best Practices

Use Semantic Names

Respect Context

Use Opacity for Variations

Leverage Interaction States

Color Reference

Complete Color List

Migration from Generic Colors

​Color Architecture

​Color Categories

​Accent Colors

​Text Colors (Ink)

​App Colors

​Sidebar Colors

​Menu Colors

​Theming

​Dark Theme (Default)

​Light Theme

​Custom Themes

​Best Practices

​Use Semantic Names

​Respect Context

​Use Opacity for Variations

​Leverage Interaction States

​Color Reference

​Complete Color List

​Migration from Generic Colors

Color Architecture

Color Categories

Accent Colors

Text Colors (Ink)

App Colors

Sidebar Colors

Menu Colors

Theming

Dark Theme (Default)

Light Theme

Custom Themes

Best Practices

Use Semantic Names

Respect Context

Use Opacity for Variations

Leverage Interaction States

Color Reference

Complete Color List

Migration from Generic Colors