json2clr

Convert JSON color palettes to macOS .clr color lists — custom colors for Microsoft Office, Keynote, Pages, and any app that uses the native color picker.

What it does

macOS stores custom color palettes as .clr files in ~/Library/Colors/. Once installed, they appear in the system color picker — the palette panel shared by every native and Cocoa-based app.

This means one .clr file gives brand colors to:

• Microsoft Office — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
• Apple iWork — Pages, Numbers, Keynote
• Design tools — Sketch, Figma (Mac app), Pixelmator
• Developer tools — Xcode, Interface Builder
• Any app that uses NSColorPanel

json2clr reads a JSON file of named hex colors, displays each with a terminal swatch and color space breakdown (RGB, HSL, CMYK), and exports the palette as a .clr file — or installs it directly where the color picker can find it.

Install

brew install ansilithic/tap/json2clr

Or build from source (requires Xcode and macOS 14+):

make build && make install

Usage

json2clr <file> [--clr] [--install] [--output <output>]

Flag	Description
<file>	Path to a JSON color palette file
--clr	Export as macOS color list (.clr)
--install	Install .clr to ~/Library/Colors
-o, --output	Output file path for .clr export

Examples

# Inspect a palette in the terminal
json2clr palette.json

# Export to .clr file
json2clr palette.json --clr

# Export to a specific path
json2clr palette.json --clr -o ~/Desktop/BrandColors.clr

# Install directly to the macOS color picker
json2clr palette.json --install

After --install, open any app → color picker → palette tab → the new palette appears immediately.

Input format

A flat JSON object mapping color names to hex values:

{
  "Red": "#BF616A",
  "Orange": "#D08770",
  "Yellow": "#EBCB8B",
  "Green": "#A3BE8C",
  "Purple": "#B48EAD"
}

Hex values work with or without a # prefix.

License

MIT