Python Quick Colorpicker

A cross-platform color picker that lives in your terminal. Point your mouse at anything on any screen, press Ctrl + F1, and the color of the exact pixel under the cursor is copied to your clipboard.

Features

• Ctrl + F1 reads the exact pixel under your mouse cursor and copies it (HEX by default)
• Ctrl + Shift + F1 copies the same pick in a second format (RGB by default)
• Ctrl + F2 (hold) shows a live preview of the pixels under the cursor while you aim
• 5x5 pixel zoom with every pick, so you see exactly which pixel was read
• HEX, RGB, HSL, HSV, CMYK, nearest CSS color name and nearest Tailwind CSS color
• Color history (Ctrl + H), kept between sessions, exportable to JSON, CSS or a GIMP palette
• Works on multiple monitors and on scaled (high-DPI) displays
• Windows, macOS and Linux (X11)

Installation

pip install quick-colorpicker

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/Monstertov/Python-Quick-Colorpicker.git
cd Python-Quick-Colorpicker
pip install .

Needs Python 3.9 or newer. pip installs everything else for you:

• pynput: global hotkeys and the mouse position
• Pillow: reads the pixels from the screen
• pyperclip: copies the color to the clipboard
• rich: the colored terminal output

Usage

quick-colorpicker

Leave it running in a terminal and use the hotkeys from any application:

Command-line options

Example: copy Tailwind class colors and keep the last 50 picks:

quick-colorpicker --format tailwind --history-size 50

Settings file

Create ~/.quick-colorpicker/config.json (on Windows C:\Users\<you>\.quick-colorpicker\config.json) to change the defaults. Every key is optional, command-line options win over the file:

{
  "pick_hotkey": "ctrl+f1",
  "alt_pick_hotkey": "ctrl+shift+f1",
  "live_hotkey": "ctrl+f2",
  "history_hotkey": "ctrl+h",
  "format": "hex",
  "alt_format": "rgb",
  "auto_copy": true,
  "history_size": 10,
  "loupe": true
}

Hotkeys are modifiers (ctrl, shift, alt, cmd) plus one key joined with +. The key can be a pynput key name (f1, insert, space, ...), a single character, or a mouse button: left_click, right_click, middle_click. Use "" to turn a hotkey off.

Export

quick-colorpicker --export colors.gpl   # GIMP, Inkscape, Krita palette
quick-colorpicker --export colors.css   # :root { --color-1: #2b7fff; ... }
quick-colorpicker --export colors.json

The newest pick comes first. History is stored in ~/.quick-colorpicker/color_history.json.

Platform notes

• macOS: allow your terminal app in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility (for the hotkeys) and Screen Recording (to read pixels), then restart the terminal.
• Linux: needs an X11 session (Xorg or XWayland apps). Global hotkeys do not work on pure Wayland. Clipboard copy needs xclip or xsel installed.
• Windows: works out of the box, including multi-monitor and mixed display scaling.

Development

pip install -e .
python -m unittest discover -s tests

Releases: bump __version__ in quick_colorpicker/__init__.py, add a section to CHANGELOG.md, push the commit and a vX.Y.Z tag. CI tests, publishes to PyPI and creates the GitHub release.

Contributing

Bug reports, ideas and pull requests are welcome on GitHub.

License

MIT. See the changelog for release history.

Created by Monstertov