Colour Memory

Ask a cultural, historical, or material colour question. Returns named archive colours with provenance and cultural context. Works for abstract queries like 'grief', 'Ottoman luxury', 'toxic Victorian pigments', or 'the sea at dusk'.

Find the closest named archive colours to a hex value using CIEDE2000 perceptual distance.

Generate a complete interior specification from 2-8 hex values. Returns surface assignments, 60-30-10 proportions, lighting behaviour, and archive colour names.

Return perceptual colour metrics: LRV, chroma, hue angle, warmth classification, and illuminant shifts under D65 (6500K), F11 (4000K), and Illuminant A (3000K).

Return complementary, triadic, analogous, and split-complementary harmonies matched to named archive colours.

Return WCAG 2.1 contrast ratios and AA/AAA pass/fail grades for a foreground hex against a background.

Accept a palette array and return every foreground/background combination with contrast ratio, AA normal, AA large, AAA normal, AAA large pass/fail grades, and a summary. Use this instead of calling accessibility_check multiple times for a palette.

Convert a palette WCAG matrix into actionable design-system rules. Returns safe pairs, AA-only pairs, large-text-only pairs, decorative-only pairs, best text colour per background, and component usage rules. Deterministic, no LLM cost.

Return every developer token format for a hex value: CSS variable, kebab-case, camelCase, PascalCase, Tailwind class, TypeScript const, SCSS variable. Archive-grounded name source with dE2000 distance.

Generate light-mode and dark-mode role maps from a palette. Analyses LRV, assigns background/surface/text/accent roles for each mode, checks body text contrast safety, and flags missing neutrals.

Given a background hex and a palette of candidate foreground colours, return them ranked by contrast ratio with WCAG grades and specific recommendations for body text, large text, and UI components.

Full-text keyword search across all archive colour names and notes. Find colours by name fragment, material, cultural reference, pigment type, or historical period. Complements conceptual embedding search with exact keyword matching.

Assess 2-5 colours as a combination for a given context (UI, data viz, fashion, interior, print, branding). Returns harmony type, clash warnings, contrast summary, and specific deployment rules for the context.

Like palette_concept but with archive filtering and relevance controls. Use allowed_archives to restrict results to specific cultural traditions e.g. ['Japan'] for Japanese only. Use min_relevance to filter weak concept matches. Fixes cross-archive drift when cultural specificity matters.

Generate a premium branded PDF specification sheet from a palette of archive entries. Returns a downloadable PDF with full-bleed colour panels, archive names, provenance notes, RAL nearest match, LRV, chroma, WCAG contrast data, and Colour Memory branding. Pass the entries array from query_hex or palette_from_concept directly. Use this to create client deliverables, specification sheets, and print assets.

Full palette quality audit. Scores on accessibility, cultural risk, tonal balance, colour diversity, and archive naming strength. Returns overall score 0-100, grade, and prioritised fix list. Enterprise quality gate -- use before shipping any palette. Deterministic, no LLM cost.

Complete brand colour system in one call. Returns colour roles with archive names, light and dark mode role maps, typography guidance, usage rules per colour, design tokens (CSS, Tailwind, Figma), and citation cards. Deterministic. No LLM cost.

Complete brand asset pack. Returns CSS variables, Tailwind config, Figma tokens JSON, citation cards, and a Markdown brand guide. Everything a brand team needs to ship. Deterministic. No LLM cost.

Return simulated hex values for protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia using the Brettel-Vienot-Mollon model.

Find the nearest named colour in commercial paint systems including Farrow and Ball and Little Greene.

Look up a named colour and return its hex, archive, provenance, and cultural notes.

Given a hex value, returns a rich narrative about that colour's cultural journey — where it has appeared in history, what it has meant to different civilisations, and what archive names it carries. Essential for image generation prompts, brand storytelling, and creative briefs. Example: '#DC143C' returns the story of crimson from Byzantine imperial courts through Tudor England to modern sport.

Generate a historically grounded colour palette from a cultural concept or theme. Returns 4-6 coordinated archive colours with hex values, proportions, and provenance. Examples: 'Victorian mourning', 'Ottoman court', 'Japanese wabi-sabi', 'Scandinavian winter', 'West African kente', 'Renaissance Florence'. Every colour returned is sourced from the archive with documented history.

Simulate perceptually modelled subtractive mixing of two colours in CIE Lab space (not RGB screen blending). Returns the resulting mixed hex value and its nearest archive match with cultural context. Uses CIE Lab subtractive model for perceptual accuracy. Example: mixing Prussian Blue and Yellow Ochre gives a muted green — the tool identifies which archive colour that green most closely matches.

Given a hex value, traces that colour's appearances across cultures and centuries in chronological order. Shows how a colour travelled through history — from its earliest documented use to its modern associations. Essential for understanding why a colour carries the weight it does. Example: deep blue traces from Egyptian lapis lazuli through Byzantine imperial authority to Prussian military uniforms to modern corporate trust signals.

Upload an image (base64 encoded) and extract its dominant colour palette, with each colour matched to its nearest named archive entry with full cultural provenance. Uses K-means++ extraction plus Bradford chromatic adaptation for accuracy. Returns up to 5 dominant colours, each with archive name, cultural story, nearest RAL standard, and WCAG accessibility data. Works for product photography, interior photos, artwork, brand assets, and mood boards. The image is never stored — processed in memory only.

Deep perceptual and semantic comparison between any two hex values. Returns quantified differences in LRV, chroma, hue angle, warmth, and CIEDE2000 distance, plus cultural context on both — which is more authoritative, more saturated, more stable under different illuminants, and what each has historically signified. Use when choosing between two colours or explaining why one works better than another. Not a harmony tool — this is a decision and reasoning tool.

Score a hex value or palette for cultural sensitivity, symbolic weight, regional taboos, religious associations, and potential misinterpretation across global markets. Returns warnings, positive associations, and context-dependent readings per colour family, with specific market flags. Use before deploying a colour in a global brand, product, or campaign context. Based on documented cultural colour associations, not generalisation.

One-call compound tool. Submit a concept, medium, audience, and constraints — receive a complete design package: historically grounded palette, cultural narrative, commercial paint matches, WCAG accessibility check, illuminant behaviour, and a ready-made image generation prompt. Replaces chaining query_conceptual + palette_from_concept + colour_story + match_paint_system + accessibility_check + get_colour_metrics. Use when an AI agent or user needs a complete, deployable colour direction in a single call. Not for iterative refinement — use individual tools for that.

Upload a portrait photo and receive a full personal colour analysis. Determines your seasonal type (Spring, Summer, Autumn, or Winter), colour depth (light, medium, or deep), and undertone (warm, cool, or neutral). Returns a curated palette of archive colours that genuinely suit you — each with full historical provenance and cultural context — plus colours to avoid. Uses Claude Vision for skin, hair, and eye analysis, then matches to the archive by CIEDE2000 perceptual distance. The photo is never stored. Example: a Deep Winter might wear Ottoman Carbon Ink while a True Spring suits Kogi Mango.

The colour question every stylist gets asked: does this bag go with this outfit? Submit your outfit items as hex values with labels (dress, bag, shoes, coat, belt, scarf, etc.) and receive a verdict on what works, what clashes, what is missing, and what to add. Every recommendation is backed by archive colour names and historical context — not generic colour theory, but documented cultural combinations. Also suggests one missing archive colour that would complete the look. Examples: 'I have a navy dress (#1C3A6E) and a tan bag (#C8A87A) — what shoes?' or 'Does this burgundy coat work with olive trousers?'

Generate a complete interior colour specification from a concept or brief. Input a room concept, type, and style — receive a professionally structured colour scheme with 60/30/10 surface assignments, archive colour names with full cultural provenance, Farrow and Ball and Little Greene paint matches, three-illuminant light behaviour (D65 daylight, F11 atrium, Illuminant A incandescent), WCAG accessibility for digital use, and a written cultural rationale explaining why each colour belongs in this room. Examples: 'bold maximalist living room', 'calm Scandi bedroom', 'Victorian study', 'coastal kitchen', 'gallery hallway'. Use /interior-specification/pdf for a downloadable branded PDF version. This is the tool that replaces a colour consultation.

Send a palette of up to 8 slots, locking some with hex values and leaving others empty. Empty slots are filled with the nearest CIEDE2000 archive match, interpolated from the locked anchors. Optional archive filter restricts fills to one archive. Returns full citation — name, archive, primary source, colour notes — for every filled slot. Example: lock a client's existing wall colour and fill a 5-colour scheme from Oxfordshire.

Map any list of hex values into a target archive using CIEDE2000 nearest-neighbour matching. Each input hex is matched to the closest named colour in the chosen archive, with a delta-e relevance band (exact / close / approximate / loose) and full provenance. Use to translate a client's paint colours into Shakespeare language, map a brand palette into historical Japanese pigments, or find the nearest Oxfordshire equivalents to a French scheme.

Find the most surprising archive colour for a concept and generate a memorable one-liner subverting the obvious expectation. Supply a concept (e.g. 'love', 'grief', 'luxury', 'power') and optionally the expected colour (e.g. 'red' for love). The archive finds the contradiction and Claude writes the one-liner, short story, and tweet. Example: love + red returns Shakespeare's dark green with 'Love is not red. It is the green of someone still waiting in a field.' Use this for public-facing demos, content, and brand storytelling.

Evaluate a hex colour for a specific use case, market, and medium. Returns a decisive verdict: use_with_confidence, use_with_caution, or avoid. Includes strengths, risks, avoid-if scenarios, and better alternatives where needed. Backed by CIEDE2000 archive matching and Claude cultural intelligence. Examples: 'luxury hotel brand in Japan', 'ecommerce CTA button UK', 'heritage interior lime plaster wall', 'premium packaging Middle East'.

Evaluate a palette of 2-8 hex values for a use case, market, and medium. Returns a verdict (strong / strong_with_adjustment / weak / avoid), a score 0-100, the role of each colour, the single biggest weakness, and a concrete suggestion for what to add to fix it. Each colour is matched to the nearest archive entry for cultural grounding. Examples: 'premium cushion collection UK ecommerce', 'hotel lobby interior', 'SaaS brand identity global digital'.

Generate a complete colour direction package for another AI agent or image generation model. Fetches a historically grounded archive palette from the concept, then produces: an agent brief (colour direction in prose), colour tokens with hex values and roles, a model-specific image generation prompt, a negative prompt, and lighting notes. Supports midjourney, flux, dalle, stable_diffusion. Example: task='luxury hotel bedroom', concept='Ottoman winter luxury', model='midjourney'. Use this to make Colour Memory the colour layer for other AI systems.

The flagship commercial endpoint. Combines archive grounding, verdict, brand fit, market risk, category cliche check, material behaviour, copy hooks, and usage rules in a single call. Input: hex + brand_context (category, positioning, audience, channels) + constraints (avoid, must_work_on) + markets + medium. Output: verdict, strategy summary, archive anchor, commercial signal, category cliche risk level, market reading per market, material notes, usage rules (primary use, secondary use, avoid, pair_with), copy hooks (one_liner, social, brand_rationale), and alternatives. Examples: luxury fragrance brand UK/France/Japan, heritage interior specification, premium ecommerce packaging, SaaS brand identity.

One-call complete archive research package for a document, PDF, or editorial brief. Input: title, audience, themes, archives to draw from, things to avoid, number of colours. Output: ranked colour cards with full provenance, story order, source confidence flags, pull quote, CTA line, CSS tokens, image prompt for Midjourney/Flux/DALLE, editorial argument, weakest and strongest entries identified. Replaces chaining archive_search + get_colour_card + cliche_breaker + agent_brief separately. Two Claude calls total. This is the endpoint for building premium archive documents, PDFs, briefs, and editorial content. Use this first for any document workflow.

Given a legacy palette, generate an archive-grounded premium support system. For each existing colour: identifies its historical archive anchor, names it, and scores its provenance confidence. Detects palette gaps and fills them from the archive. Returns full palette with roles, confidence scores, CSS tokens, and production notes. Every addition has a named historical origin.

Given a list of themes, report which are well-evidenced in the archive and which are under-evidenced or missing. Returns a coverage matrix: for each theme, entries found, coverage grade (strong/moderate/weak/missing), best match with claim strength, and what source type would be needed to improve coverage. Use this BEFORE building an archive_report_brief or brief_forensic to know where the evidence is strong and where gaps will appear. Prevents building beautiful reports that quietly ignore half the brief.

Check a list of colour entries for anachronism risk. Detects whether the primary source date falls outside the requested period, whether the archive is a known modern source (RacingSilks, FootballStrips), and returns a period_relevance score and safe phrasing. Essential for historical documents: prevents a 2011 Jockey Club racing silk registration being presented as Georgian evidence. Returns anachronism_risk (none/low/medium/elevated/high), period_relevance score 0-1, safe_phrasing, and unsafe_phrasing for each entry.

The money endpoint. One call returns a complete forensic colour brief. Runs coverage gap analysis, pulls best archive colours, checks for anachronisms, scores claim roles (anchor/support/analogue/provocation/reject), auto-rejects stubs, generates editorial argument, act structure, pull quote, closing line, and image prompt via Claude. This replaces chaining coverage_gap + archive_report_brief + anachronism_guard + resonance_index + evidence_gap separately. Input: title, audience, themes, archives, period, tone. Output: complete deliverable package ready for PDF or editorial use. Tone options: forensic (default), editorial, clinical, narrative.

Colour Memory's proprietary semantic metric. Score how tightly the material origin of a colour aligns with its social consequence. 1.00 = material and consequence are indistinguishable (blood as prognosis, ash as finality). 0.80 = institution mediates the colour (paint as deterrence, flag as authority). 0.50 = symbolic or associative only. Input: list of colour entries with name, hex, archive, source, notes. Output: resonance score, material origin, social function, alignment reason, confidence. Use for investigative reports, forensic briefs, museum content, editorial PDFs. This is the metric that separates Colour Memory from palette generators.

Given a hex value and a proposed claim about it, return whether the archive supports that claim, what is missing, what kind of source would be needed, and safe agent wording. This is Colour Memory's anti-hallucination endpoint. It turns the absence of evidence into a forensic finding rather than a gap to fill with invention. Example: hex #4A535C + proposed claim 'cyanosis in a death chamber' returns: nearest archive support, support level (supported/partial/unsupported), what source type is needed, and safe wording for the agent to use. Essential for museum, documentary, editorial, legal, and forensic workflows.

Can this brand own this colour against these competitors in this market? Input: brand hex, brand name, competitor hexes and names, market, region. Returns CIEDE2000 distance to each competitor, archive context for each colour, a distinctiveness score (0-100), an ownership verdict (strong/viable/contested/collision), a plain-English verdict summary, and a strategic recommendation. Use before committing to a brand colour in a competitive market. Replaces manual colour distance checks and competitor palette analysis.

One-call complete brand colour intelligence report. Input: hex + brand context + markets + medium + product type. Output: archive anchor, cliche contradiction, colour DNA, strategy verdict, commercial signals, market reading per market, usage rules, palette roles, ecommerce copy, memory hooks, Instagram caption, and Midjourney/Flux/DALLE agent brief. Runs entirely internally -- no chained calls, cannot be blocked by agent safety filters. Use this instead of chaining colour_strategy + cliche_breaker + ecommerce_product_copy + memory_hooks + agent_brief separately. Two Claude calls total. One complete response.

Complete brand colour intelligence audit in one call. Accepts a palette array plus market, use_case, medium, and brand_category. Returns: colour roles with archive names, full WCAG accessibility matrix, cultural risk per colour, palette verdict with score and suggested addition, CSS variables, Tailwind config, and production notes. All computed data -- no LLM cost. Pass results to an LLM for written narrative. Replaces chaining accessibility_matrix + cultural_risk_assessment + palette_verdict separately.

Verify that an AI-generated image actually used the colours specified in an agent_brief call. Supply the generated image (URL or base64) and the target palette from agent_brief colour_tokens. Returns a fidelity score 0-100, dE2000 distance per colour, match quality per colour (accurate/acceptable/drifted/ignored), and an overall verdict. Use after agent_brief + image generation to close the colour loop.

Compact semantic fingerprint for any hex colour. Returns depth (very_dark to very_light), temperature (warm/cool), chroma band (neutral/muted/moderate/saturated), LRV, hue angle, zone, commercial signal, risk summary, best mediums, and avoid mediums. Backed by nearest archive match with delta-e and notes excerpt. No Claude call -- pure archive and physics data. Fast and cacheable. Use when an agent needs to reason about a colour semantically without reading long prose. Ideal for filtering, ranking, or comparing colours.

Generate complete ecommerce product copy for any colour. Input: hex + product type + tone + channel. Output: colour name, product title, short description, long description, SEO title, meta description, alt text, Instagram caption, and cross-sell suggestion. Every piece of copy is grounded in archive provenance -- never generic AI colour copy. The colour name comes from the nearest archive match, not invented. Examples: velvet cushion in Murex Luxury, ceramic vase in Woad Vat Blue, linen throw in Standlake Silt. Directly useful for Shopify, WooCommerce, and editorial product pages.

Run a data quality audit on any named archive. Returns entry count, health score 0-100, grade A-D, and issue counts for: empty colour_notes, empty primary_source, weak notes, duplicate names, duplicate hex values, and malformed hex codes. Also returns the first 20 affected colour names per issue type and a prioritised fix list. No Claude call — pure archive data analysis. Use before building new archive content to establish a baseline, or after a batch import to verify data quality.

Generate a hook sentence, three-sentence story, tweet, image prompt, and follow-up questions for any hex colour. Backed by the nearest archive colour's cultural provenance. Tunable by audience (general public, designers, historians, children) and tone (dinner party, academic, social media, brand copy). Use to make archive colours shareable, to generate content, or to power a public-facing colour chat experience.

Explain the provenance of any named archive colour with explicit separation of: documented historical fact, computational hex derivation, and cultural interpretation. Returns: claim, evidence type, source specificity, confidence, what is documented, what is inferred, what is interpretive, hex status, and citation format. This is the trust endpoint. It answers 'how do you know this?' Essential for any use case requiring intellectual honesty about colour data provenance.

Assess whether a hex colour can be safely specified for a physical application. Returns: specification_safe verdict (yes / conditional / avoid), risks, required actions, light behaviour under three illuminants (north daylight, warm artificial, direct sun), substrate-specific notes, and a recommended alternative. Backed by CIEDE2000 archive matching and Claude material knowledge. Examples: ultramarine on lime plaster, lead white on exterior timber, verdigris on north-facing interior wall, red ochre on historic brick.

Refine an existing palette using natural language feedback. Submit your current palette and feedback such as more melancholic, too corporate add warmth, or better for Gen Z luxury. Returns a refined palette with archive grounding and change rationale.

For any named archive colour, return historical variants, lighter and darker versions with archive matches, and cultural siblings. Essential for designers exploring around a colour.

Export a palette to CSS custom properties, Figma design tokens, Tailwind config, ASE hex list, or JSON. Each colour is automatically named from the archive. Embeds Colour Memory directly into design workflows.

Deep perceptual, cultural, and commercial comparison between two palettes. Returns timelessness scores, commercial strength, cultural depth, emotional difference, and a winner verdict for the stated use case.

Generate archive-grounded colour names for up to 40 product SKUs. Input: list of hex values, product category, brand name, naming style. Output: for each hex -- archive name, source citation, one-line product description, dE2000 match distance, match quality, and confidence score. Every name is archive-sourced, not invented. Each carries a primary source citation that can be defended to buyers, press, and brand teams. Use for paint ranges, candle collections, fashion lines, homeware, cosmetics. Style options: geographical, poetic, material, literary, mixed.

Generate a complete WCAG-compliant UI state palette from a brand hex. Returns colours for: brand, hover, active, disabled, focus ring, success, warning, error, info, surface subtle, surface strong. All states computed for contrast against your background colour. Returns hex, contrast ratio, WCAG grade, and usage note for each state. Includes CSS custom properties ready to paste. Supports light and dark mode. Use before building any UI component system.

Generate memorable, archive-verified colour names for any hex value. Choose from naming styles: geographical, poetic, material, literary, botanical, industrial, or mixed. Every name is grounded in a real archive source. The core of the Shopify product naming use case.