Show HN: A color name API that maps hex to the closest human-readable name

https://meodai.github.io/color-name-api/

33•meodai•1d ago

I built this API to return the closest named color for any hex value—using curated lists like my own [1], XKCD [2], and others.

I made it from scratch without Express or any frameworks because:

- I’m a frontend/interaction dev and wanted to learn how to build an API from the ground up. - Existing APIs didn’t guarantee unique names per color—mine does. - It also supports WebSocket updates, gzip responses, and multiple name sets.

I’ve been collecting color names for over 10 years [1]. With ~30,000 entries, bundling them into every color-related project became excessive. This API keeps things lightweight—for me and hopefully for others too.

GitHub: https://github.com/meodai/color-name-api

Would love feedback on naming logic, accuracy, performance, or backend best practices I might’ve missed.

[1] Large Color Name List: https://github.com/meodai/color-names [2] XKCD color survey results: https://xkcd.com/color/rgb/

Comments

rossant•2h ago

What distance metrics do you use?

meodai•1h ago

CIEDE2000 ΔE: https://github.com/meodai/color-name-api/blob/main/src/close...

meodai•47m ago

PS: I've added a section to the Readme: https://github.com/meodai/color-name-api?tab=readme-ov-file#...

Gys•2h ago

Beautifully made! But I struggle a little for thinking of use cases? Maybe add some to the readme.

Also, I think adding a kind of ‘main color’ would be useful. For example ‘shore’ being in the category ‘blue’ or maybe even ‘light blue’. Because for ‘shore’ itself I personally would associate with sand and maybe yellow.

meodai•1h ago

Oh I mostly use it for my own apps – it just feels more human-readable than hex codes. But yeah, you're right, I should add some example use cases to the readme!

Like here:

https://farbvelo.elastiq.ch/ or https://meodai.github.io/poline/

Thanks a lot for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

kiru_io•1h ago

Wow, pretty cool to see the color-names project here. I made a simple color guessing website a few years ago [0] using your library. I almost forgot it till someone reminds how they enjoyed it ([1]).

[0] https://colorguesser.com/ [1] https://x.com/wifeofnoob/status/1935788167086436375

meodai•1h ago

nice its very addicting :D

magic_hamster•1h ago

This is nicely done, but can you please explain why you need this? What is the use of the color names when you already know the actual color value and can use it?

auscompgeek•1h ago

This can be useful for accessibility. For example you might have a colour palette that users can add to, but the colours are only stored as hex codes. Giving a screen reader user just RGB values isn't as helpful as providing a name alongside it.

meodai•1h ago

Thanks! Good question – it's mostly about readability and communication. Hex codes are precise but not intuitive. Names give context, like saying “salmon” instead of #fa8072. That’s helpful in design tools, UI previews, generative art, or even debugging.

Also, the API works the other way around too – you can search by name to get the matching color: https://api.color.pizza/v1/docs/#api-Default-getColorNames. I did not add it to the website yet, because I don't have good UI ideas for it yet.

chownie•50m ago

N=1 but I'm colourblind and frequently I need to talk to someone about a UI colour while not having any idea what the colour is called, this kind of thing is useful for me.

meodai•44m ago

That's great to hear! I've gotten some very positive feedback from sight-impaired users for this little tool that uses the API: https://words.github.io/color-description/ — it turns colors into descriptive text (no AI involved)

polonbike•10m ago

N>1, proportion of colourblind people depends on the origin, but there are many of us. In Europe, nearly 10% of males are impacted by one of the colourblind variant, aka millions of people. Some of those people are dev, designers, or working alongside some sort color requirements, but none of them are graphists and can choose colors. Having a tool to provide a name instead of an hex code is useful to discuss colors with other stakeholders (customers, colleagues, etc...)

unconed•5m ago

I made a similar tool that can work on images and the camera. In addition to color picking, it adds moving stripes so you can visually tell the difference between colors you might otherwise not tell apart.

https://unblind.tech

kotaKat•48m ago

Curious if you could run it against the big old list of HN topcolors...

https://news.ycombinator.com/topcolors

meodai•21m ago

I just did, using `npx palette-aldente hn-colors.yml --formats name --namelist bestOf`: https://codepen.io/meodai/pen/ByNqbKE

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Show HN: A color name API that maps hex to the closest human-readable name

Comments

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