Swift 6.0 macOS 14+ License: MIT
Convert JSON color palettes to macOS .clr color lists — custom colors for Microsoft Office, Keynote, Pages, and any app that uses the native color picker.
Palette output Aurora palette in the macOS color picker
macOS stores custom color palettes as .clr files in ~/Library/Colors/. Once installed, they appear in the system color picker — the palette panel shared by every native and Cocoa-based app.
This means one .clr file gives brand colors to:
- Microsoft Office — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
- Apple iWork — Pages, Numbers, Keynote
- Design tools — Sketch, Figma (Mac app), Pixelmator
- Developer tools — Xcode, Interface Builder
- Any app that uses
NSColorPanel
json2clr reads a JSON file of named hex colors, displays each with a terminal swatch and color space breakdown (RGB, HSL, CMYK), and exports the palette as a .clr file — or installs it directly where the color picker can find it.
Build from source (requires Xcode and macOS 14+):
make build && make installjson2clr <file> [--clr] [--install] [--output <output>]
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
<file> |
Path to a JSON color palette file |
--clr |
Export as macOS color list (.clr) |
--install |
Install .clr to ~/Library/Colors |
-o, --output |
Output file path for .clr export |
# Inspect a palette in the terminal json2clr palette.json # Export to .clr file json2clr palette.json --clr # Export to a specific path json2clr palette.json --clr -o ~/Desktop/BrandColors.clr # Install directly to the macOS color picker json2clr palette.json --install
After --install, open any app → color picker → palette tab → the new palette appears immediately.
A flat JSON object mapping color names to hex values:
{
"Red": "#BF616A",
"Orange": "#D08770",
"Yellow": "#EBCB8B",
"Green": "#A3BE8C",
"Purple": "#B48EAD"
}Hex values work with or without a # prefix.
MIT