# Palette

<p class="description">The palette enables you to modify the color of the components to suit your brand.</p>

## Color tokens

Palette colors are represented by four tokens:

- `main`: The main shade of the color
- `light`: A lighter shade of `main`
- `dark`: A darker shade of `main`
- `contrastText`: Text color, intended to contrast with `main`

Here's how Material UI's default theme defines the primary color tokens:

```js
const primary = {
  main: '#1976d2',
  light: '#42a5f5',
  dark: '#1565c0',
  contrastText: '#fff',
};
```

See the [Color](/material-ui/customization/color/) documentation for details on the Material Design color system.

## Default colors

The theme exposes the following default palette colors (accessible under `theme.palette.*`):

- `primary` - for primary interface elements.
- `secondary` - for secondary interface elements.
- `error` - for elements that the user should be made aware of.
- `warning` - for potentially dangerous actions or important messages.
- `info` - for highlighting neutral information.
- `success` - for indicating the successful completion of an action that the user triggered.

See Material Design's [Color System](https://m2.material.io/design/color/the-color-system.html) for details on color usage and guidelines.

### Values

You can explore the default palette values using [the theme explorer](/material-ui/customization/default-theme/?expand-path=$.palette), or by opening the dev tools console on this page (`window.theme.palette`).

{{"demo": "Intentions.js", "bg": "inline", "hideToolbar": true}}

The default palette uses the shades prefixed with `A` (`A200`, etc.) for the secondary palette color,
and the un-prefixed shades for the other palette colors.

### Customization

You may override the default palette values by including a palette object as part of your theme.
If any of the:

- [`.palette.primary`](/material-ui/customization/default-theme/?expand-path=$.palette.primary)
- [`.palette.secondary`](/material-ui/customization/default-theme/?expand-path=$.palette.secondary)
- [`.palette.error`](/material-ui/customization/default-theme/?expand-path=$.palette.error)
- [`.palette.warning`](/material-ui/customization/default-theme/?expand-path=$.palette.warning)
- [`.palette.info`](/material-ui/customization/default-theme/?expand-path=$.palette.info)
- [`.palette.success`](/material-ui/customization/default-theme/?expand-path=$.palette.success)

palette color objects are provided, they will replace the default ones.

This can be achieved by either using a color object or by providing the colors directly:

#### Using a color object

The most direct way to customize a palette color is to import and apply one or more [color objects](/material-ui/customization/color/#2014-material-design-color-palettes), as shown below:

{{"demo": "UsingColorObject.js", "defaultCodeOpen": true}}

#### Providing the colors directly

To modify each color directly, provide an object with one or more of the color tokens.
Only the `main` token is required; `light`, `dark`, and `contrastText` are optional, and if not provided, then their values are calculated automatically:

```js
import { createTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

const theme = createTheme({
  palette: {
    primary: {
      main: '#FF5733',
      // light: will be calculated from palette.primary.main,
      // dark: will be calculated from palette.primary.main,
      // contrastText: will be calculated to contrast with palette.primary.main
    },
    secondary: {
      main: '#E0C2FF',
      light: '#F5EBFF',
      // dark: will be calculated from palette.secondary.main,
      contrastText: '#47008F',
    },
  },
});
```

{{"demo": "ManuallyProvidePaletteColor.js", "defaultCodeOpen": false}}

### Contrast threshold

The `contrastText` token is calculated using the `contrastThreshold` value, to maximize the contrast between the background and the text.

A higher contrast threshold value increases the point at which a background color is considered light, and thus given a dark `contrastText`.
Note that the contrast threshold follows a non-linear curve, and defaults to a value of 3 which indicates a minimum contrast ratio of 3:1.

{{"demo": "ContrastThreshold.js", "defaultCodeOpen": false}}

### Tonal offset

The `light` and `dark` tokens are calculated using the `tonalOffset` value, to shift the `main` color's luminance.
A higher tonal offset value will make `light` tokens lighter, and `dark` tokens darker.

:::warning
This only applies when working with custom colors—it won't have any effect on the [default values](#default-values).
:::

For example, the tonal offset default value `0.2` shifts the luminance by approximately two indexes, so if the `main` token is `blue[500]`, then the `light` token would be `blue[300]` and `dark` would be `blue[700]`.

The tonal offset value can be either a number between 0 and 1 (which would apply to both `light` and `dark` tokens) or an object with `light` and `dark` keys specified:

{{"demo": "TonalOffset.js", "defaultCodeOpen": false}}

## Custom colors

:::warning
Unlike [default colors](#default-colors), tokens for custom colors are _not_ automatically calculated.
:::

To add custom colors, you must either provide the tokens manually, or generate them using the `augmentColor` utility:

### Provide tokens manually

The most straightforward approach is to define all tokens—`main`, `light`, `dark`, and `contrastText`—manually:

```jsx
import { createTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

const theme = createTheme({
  palette: {
    ochre: {
      main: '#E3D026',
      light: '#E9DB5D',
      dark: '#A29415',
      contrastText: '#242105',
    },
  },
});
```

{{"demo": "ManuallyProvideCustomColor.js", "defaultCodeOpen": false}}

:::info
The supported color formats are `hex`, `rgb`, and `hsl`.
If you want to use other formats, such as `oklch`, you need to enable the [native color](/material-ui/customization/css-theme-variables/native-color/) feature.
:::

<!-- #target-branch-reference -->

If you need to manipulate colors, `@mui/material/styles` provides [a set of utilities](https://github.com/mui/material-ui/blob/master/packages/mui-material/src/styles/index.d.ts#L52-L67) to help with this.
The following example uses the `alpha()` and `getContrastRatio()` utilities to define tokens using opacity:

```jsx
import { createTheme, alpha, getContrastRatio } from '@mui/material/styles';

const violetBase = '#7F00FF';
const violetMain = alpha(violetBase, 0.7);

const theme = createTheme({
  palette: {
    violet: {
      main: violetMain,
      light: alpha(violetBase, 0.5),
      dark: alpha(violetBase, 0.9),
      contrastText: getContrastRatio(violetMain, '#fff') > 4.5 ? '#fff' : '#111',
    },
  },
});
```

{{"demo": "UsingStylesUtils.js", "defaultCodeOpen": false}}

### Generate tokens using augmentColor utility

Alternatively, you can generate the `light`, `dark` and `contrastText` tokens using the palette's `augmentColor` utility, which is the same function used for the default palette colors.
This requires creating the theme in two steps and providing the `main` token on which the other will be based on:

```jsx
import { createTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

let theme = createTheme({
  // Theme customization goes here as usual, including tonalOffset and/or
  // contrastThreshold as the augmentColor() function relies on these
});

theme = createTheme(theme, {
  // Custom colors created with augmentColor go here
  palette: {
    salmon: theme.palette.augmentColor({
      color: {
        main: '#FF5733',
      },
      name: 'salmon',
    }),
  },
});
```

{{"demo": "UsingAugmentColor.js", "defaultCodeOpen": false}}

The [contrast threshold](#contrast-threshold) and [tonal offset](#tonal-offset) values will apply for the colors defined using this utility.

### Using in components

After adding a custom color, you will be able to use it in components just like you do with default palette colors:

```js
<Button color="custom">
```

### TypeScript

If you're using TypeScript, then you need to use [module augmentation](/material-ui/guides/typescript/#customization-of-theme) for custom colors.

To add a custom color to the palette, you must add it to the `Palette` and `PaletteOptions` interfaces:

<!-- tested with packages/mui-material/test/typescript/augmentation/paletteColors.spec.ts -->

```ts
declare module '@mui/material/styles' {
  interface Palette {
    custom: Palette['primary'];
  }

  interface PaletteOptions {
    custom?: PaletteOptions['primary'];
  }
}
```

To use a custom color for the `color` prop of a component, you must add it to the component's `PropsColorOverrides` interface.
The example below shows how to do this with a Button component:

<!-- tested with packages/mui-material/test/typescript/augmentation/paletteColors.spec.ts -->

```ts
declare module '@mui/material/Button' {
  interface ButtonPropsColorOverrides {
    custom: true;
  }
}
```

## Adding color tokens

To add a new [color token](#color-tokens), include it in the color's object as follows:

```jsx
import { createTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';
import { blue } from '@mui/material/colors';

const theme = createTheme({
  palette: {
    primary: {
      light: blue[300],
      main: blue[500],
      dark: blue[700],
      darker: blue[900],
    },
  },
});
```

{{"demo": "AddingColorTokens.js", "defaultCodeOpen": false}}

### TypeScript

If you're using TypeScript, then you'll need to use [module augmentation](/material-ui/guides/typescript/#customization-of-theme) to add the new color token to the `PaletteColor` and `SimplePaletteColorOptions` interfaces as follows:

<!-- tested with packages/mui-material/test/typescript/augmentation/paletteColors.spec.ts -->

```ts
declare module '@mui/material/styles' {
  interface PaletteColor {
    darker?: string;
  }

  interface SimplePaletteColorOptions {
    darker?: string;
  }
}
```

## Non-palette colors

To learn how to add colors outside of `theme.palette`, see [Theming—Custom variables](/material-ui/customization/theming/#custom-variables).

## Accessibility

To meet the minimum contrast of at least 4.5:1 as defined in [WCAG 2.1 Rule 1.4.3](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/contrast-minimum.html), create a custom theme with a [contrast threshold](#contrast-threshold) value of 4.5 as follows:

```js
import { createTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

const theme = createTheme({
  palette: {
    contrastThreshold: 4.5,
  },
});
```

:::warning
The `contrastThreshold` parameter can produce counterproductive results.\
Please verify that the [APCA](https://contrast.tools/?tab=apca) color contrast is improved (WCAG 3 [will use](https://typefully.com/DanHollick/wcag-3-and-apca-sle13GMW2Brp) this new algorithm).
:::

## Picking colors

Need inspiration? The Material Design team has built an [palette configuration tool](/material-ui/customization/color/#picking-colors) to help you.

## Color schemes

To add both built-in light and dark color schemes without creating separate themes, use the `colorSchemes: { light: true, dark: true }`.
This generates the default tokens for both color schemes:

```js
import { createTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

const theme = createTheme({
  colorSchemes: {
    light: true,
    dark: true,
  },
});
```

To override the default tokens for each color scheme, use the same [palette object](#customization) as shown below:

```js
const theme = createTheme({
  colorSchemes: {
    light: {
      palette: {
        primary: {
          main: '#FF5733',
        },
        // ...other tokens
      },
    },
    dark: {
      palette: {
        primary: {
          main: '#E0C2FF',
        },
        // ...other tokens
      },
    },
  },
});
```

:::warning
The `colorSchemes` API is an enhanced version of the `palette` API, and is the preferred API for this purpose starting from Material UI v6.
If you provide both `colorSchemes` and `palette`, the latter will override any styles defined in the former.

```js
const theme = createTheme({
  palette: {
    primary: {
      main: '...',
    },
  },
  colorSchemes: {
    light: {
      // This will be replaced by the palette defined above
      palette: {
        primary: {
          main: '...',
        },
      },
    },
    dark: { ... },
  },
});
```

:::

## Dark mode

For details of how you can set up a dark mode for your theme, head to the [dark mode guide](/material-ui/customization/dark-mode/).