ColorSmith — see every color in your code

ColorSmith shows color swatches right in the Visual Studio editor and opens a real color picker when you click one. It is smart about where: a swatch appears only where the code really defines a color — never on the word "Red" in a page text, never on #123 in a comment.

Free. Forever. No subscription, no trial, no "pro" version, no nag screens, no telemetry.

📖 Documentation · Visual Studio 2022 and 2026 · UI in 14 languages

Four ways to show a color

Pick the one that suits you in Tools → Options → ColorSmith. Only the first one moves your text; the others never shift a single character.

Every notation, in every language you use

Hex, rgb(), hsl(), hwb(), oklch(), oklab(), named colors, Colors.X / Brushes.X, Color.FromArgb(…), Unity Color32, SkiaSharp, Qt QColor, Win32 RGB(), Three.js, matplotlib, Tailwind classes — in C#, F#, VB, C++, XAML, CSS/SCSS/LESS, HTML, Vue, Razor, JavaScript/TypeScript and Python.

Smart, not noisy

Each language has its own lexer: strings, comments and code are told apart, and a color name counts only in a color context. When in doubt, there is no swatch.

Gradients, light-dark() and color-mix()

The whole value gets a swatch — a gradient preview, a split light/dark swatch, the computed color-mix() result — and every color inside keeps its own.

Resources and themes

{StaticResource}, {DynamicResource}, {ThemeResource}, MAUI AppThemeBinding and CSS var(--x) show the color they resolve to, read from the files of your solution. Light and dark theme values give a split swatch.

Colors in IntelliSense

While the completion list has a color selected, a chip with that color shows above the caret.

Color card

Hover a color to see its values in several color spaces, the nearest named color and WCAG contrast on white and black — with Edit, Copy and Replace Color in Solution… buttons. Alt+click copies the value.

A color picker worth opening

• HEX, RGB, HSL and OKLCH input; the line below shows exactly what will be written to the code
• the new color is written back in the notation the code already uses — Color.FromArgb(…) stays Color.FromArgb(…)
• eyedropper with a magnifying loupe (arrow keys move it by one pixel)
• tints and shades, colors of the current file, favorites and recent colors
• WCAG contrast check against the editor background, white or black
• "Copy as" HEX, rgb(), hsl(), oklch(), Color.FromArgb, Unity Color, 0xAARRGGBB
• follows the Visual Studio theme

Replace a color in the whole solution

Light bulb (Ctrl+.) on a color, or the button in the color card: ColorSmith finds the color in every notation across the solution, optionally with similar shades, and rewrites each place in its own notation. Changed files open unsaved, one undo step per file.

Settings

Every option has a description, every feature can be turned off, and each language can be switched on or off.

Questions or ideas? Use the Q & A tab on this page. Full documentation: lazowskianton.github.io/VSExtensions/colorsmith.