# Colour Memory MCP server

Colour meaning, history and evidence for AI: 45,000+ source-graded colour records and 91 tools.

## At a glance

Colour Memory is an MCP server in the Dev Tools & Git category. It is hosted remotely and connects over HTTP, and needs X-Api-Key. It exposes 60 tools, including query_conceptual, extract_image_colours and query_hex. It scores B (73/100) on the MCP Skills Hub health score as of Oct 28, 2026.

## Install

### How to install Colour Memory in Claude Code

1. Add the server

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http colour-memory https://api.colourmemory.com/mcp --header 'X-Api-Key: <X-API-KEY>'
```

2. Fill in your credentials

   Replace <X-API-KEY> with your real value. Keep secrets out of any config file you commit.

3. Verify it's connected

```bash
claude mcp list
```

4. Sharing it with your team?

   Add `--scope project` to write it to .mcp.json in the repository root, which you can commit (with the secrets left as environment variables).

5. Use it in a session

   Ask Claude to use the tools this server exposes (e.g. query_conceptual, extract_image_colours, query_hex). It discovers them automatically.

### How to install Colour Memory in Claude Desktop

1. Open your MCP config

   macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this server

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "colour-memory": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://api.colourmemory.com/mcp",
        "--header",
        "X-Api-Key:${X_API_KEY}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "X_API_KEY": "<X-API-KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

3. Fill in your credentials

   Replace <X-API-KEY> with your real value. Keep secrets out of any config file you commit.

4. Why the wrapper?

   This is a remote (HTTP) server and Claude Desktop only launches local processes, so mcp-remote proxies the connection. It will open a browser window if the server needs OAuth.

5. Restart Claude Desktop

   The tools appear under the 🔌 menu once the app reloads.

### How to install Colour Memory in Cursor

1. Create / edit .cursor/mcp.json in your project

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "colour-memory": {
      "url": "https://api.colourmemory.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-Api-Key": "<X-API-KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

2. Fill in your credentials

   Replace <X-API-KEY> with your real value. Keep secrets out of any config file you commit.

3. Enable it

   Cursor Settings → MCP → toggle the server on. Tools become available to the Composer/Agent.

### How to install Colour Memory in Codex CLI

1. Add to ~/.codex/config.toml

```toml
[mcp_servers.colour-memory]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://api.colourmemory.com/mcp", "--header", "X-Api-Key:${X_API_KEY}"]
env = { X_API_KEY = "<X-API-KEY>" }
```

2. Fill in your credentials

   Replace <X-API-KEY> with your real value. Keep secrets out of any config file you commit.

3. Why the wrapper?

   Codex runs MCP servers as local processes, so mcp-remote bridges this HTTP endpoint to stdio.

4. Run Codex

   Codex loads MCP servers from config.toml on startup and exposes their tools to the agent.

### How to install Colour Memory in Windsurf

1. Edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "colour-memory": {
      "serverUrl": "https://api.colourmemory.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-Api-Key": "<X-API-KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

2. Fill in your credentials

   Replace <X-API-KEY> with your real value. Keep secrets out of any config file you commit.

3. Reload

   Windsurf → Cascade → refresh MCP servers. Cascade can now call the tools.

### How to install Colour Memory in Cline

1. Open Cline → MCP Servers → Configure

   Adds to cline_mcp_settings.json.

2. Add the server

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "colour-memory": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "https://api.colourmemory.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-Api-Key": "<X-API-KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

3. Fill in your credentials

   Replace <X-API-KEY> with your real value. Keep secrets out of any config file you commit.

### How to install Colour Memory in VS Code

1. Create .vscode/mcp.json

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "colour-memory": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.colourmemory.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-Api-Key": "<X-API-KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

2. Fill in your credentials

   Replace <X-API-KEY> with your real value. Keep secrets out of any config file you commit.

3. Start it

   VS Code shows a ▶ Start action above the server entry. Agent mode (Copilot Chat) can then use the tools.

## Tools

- `query_conceptual` — Ask a cultural, historical, or material colour question. Returns named archive colours with provenance and cultural context. Works for abstract queries like 'grief' (returns Ophelia Violet, Titan's Grief), 'toxic Victorian pigments' (returns Nightshade Poison Berry Purple, Victorian Arsenic Mirror Silver), or 'the sea at dusk' (returns Evening Sea, Thames Blue Dusk). Even a vague or personal-sound
- `extract_image_colours` — Extract dominant colours from a photograph using Colour Memory's proprietary k-means++ algorithm. Requires either a public image_url, or an image_id. If you only have a raw uploaded file with no public URL (e.g. a local file path or a ChatGPT file attachment without a usable download_url), call ingest_image first to get an image_id, then pass that image_id here. Returns hex values with proportiona
- `query_hex` — Find the closest named archive colours to a hex value using CIEDE2000 perceptual distance.
- `palette_specify` — Generate a complete interior specification from 2-8 hex values. Returns surface assignments, 60-30-10 proportions, lighting behaviour, and archive colour names. The result already carries the rendered palette and its PNG, PDF, ASE, JSON and CSS downloads -- show them to the customer. Never present the archive anchors a colour was derived from as the colours you are recommending. If you go on to ch
- `colour_metrics` — Returns numeric metrics derived from a single display colour: an estimated light reflectance value (LRV) and band, relative luminance, CIELAB lightness, chroma and hue angle, and Bradford corresponding colours under two standard illuminants. It also lists what a hex cannot support, such as thermal performance or a measured LRV. This is one component of colour_passport. Use colour_passport for a ge
- `colour_harmonies` — Return complementary, triadic, analogous, and split-complementary harmonies matched to named archive colours. Also available: 'hay_contrast' -- D.R. Hay's (1838) documented contrast pairing between six named hues (yellow/purple, orange/blue, red/green), with Field's proportional power for the pair. Unlike the fixed-angle types, this snaps the input to Hay's nearest named hue rather than rotating i
- `accessibility_check` — Evaluates contrast for a single foreground/background pair. For palettes or multiple colours, use accessibility_matrix instead, it replaces multiple accessibility_check calls in one response.
- `accessibility_matrix` — 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.
- `accessibility_rules` — 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.
- `colour_slugs` — 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.
- `palette_light_dark` — 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. The result already carries the rendered palette and its PNG, PDF, ASE, JSON and CSS downloads -- show them to the customer. Never present the archive anchors a colour was derived from as the colours you a
- `accessibility_font` — 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.
- `archive_search` — 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. Examples: 'cerulean' (28 matches, e.g. Bourton Cerulean), 'Prussian' (187 matches spanning pigment history), 'medieval' (over 1,000 matches across period archives). N
- `colour_combination` — 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.
- `palette_strict` — 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. The result already carries the rendered palette and its PNG, PDF, ASE, JSON and CSS downloads -- show them to 
- `archive_report_document` — Create a designed, full-colour Word (.docx) report from Colour Memory records. Use this whenever the user asks for a document, report, write-up, handout or Word file built from archive findings, instead of writing a plain document yourself. Pass the records by the record_id or slug exactly as archive_search (or another tool) returned them, grouped into sections with a heading and optional narrativ
- `palette_pdf` — 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. Use this to create client deliverables, specification sheets, and print assets. TRUST BOUNDARY: every colour rendered in this PDF is verified s
- `palette_audit` — 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. The result already carries the rendered palette and its PNG, PDF, ASE, JSON and CSS downloads -- show them to the custom
- `brand_system` — 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. The result already carries the rendered palette and its PNG, PDF, ASE, JSON and CSS downloads -- show them to the customer. Never present the archive ancho
- `brand_asset_pack` — 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.
- `accessibility_simulate` — Return simulated hex values for full-severity protanopia, deuteranopia and tritanopia only, using the Machado, Oliveira & Fernandes (2009) model (severity 1.0, linear sRGB), with a flag when a simulated colour had to be clipped to sRGB. Anomalous trichromacy and partial severities are not simulated. A model prediction on a standard display, not how an individual perceives colour.
- `colour_match_paint` — Find the nearest named colour in commercial paint systems including Farrow and Ball and Little Greene.
- `colour_card` — Look up a named colour and return its hex, archive, provenance, and cultural notes.
- `meta_capabilities` — Return a live inventory of all active endpoints and MCP tools. Use this first to discover what the API can do before making calls. Returns tool count, endpoint list, MCP-exposed tools, and usage notes. Deterministic -- no LLM cost.
- `system_status` — Zero-argument diagnostic call: returns exactly what build is live right now (build_sha, schema_version, schema_hash, archive_revision, tool_count, generated_at, server_environment). Use this to confirm you're seeing the current deployed schema -- e.g. if a tool you expect (like house_specify) seems to be missing, call this first and compare schema_hash against another connection before assuming th
- `colour_story` — 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.
- `palette_concept` — 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. The result alread
- `colour_mix` — 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.
- `colour_timeline` — Given a concept or colour name, traces its documented appearances across cultures and centuries in chronological order. Returns a dated sequence of archive entries showing when and where the colour appeared, with primary sources. Use for historical research, provenance chains, and understanding why a colour carries the cultural weight it does. Example: 'indigo' traces from ancient Indian trade rou
- `image_palette` — 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; sRGB pixels are read as D65 CIELAB for matching. Returns up to 5 dominant colours, each with archive name, cultural story, nearest RAL standard, and WCAG accessibility data. Works for product photography, int
- `colour_compare` — 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 anot
- `colour_cultural_risk` — Cultural risk assessment for a hex value or palette (symbolic weight, regional taboos, religious associations, market flags). This is one component of colour_passport for single colours. Use colour_passport for a general profile; call this directly for palette-level risk checks or when cultural risk is the only thing being asked about.
- `design_session` — 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 + ge
- `image_personal` — 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, ha
- `style_match` — 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. Pairs are judged on hue relationship and lightness contrast; each item is named from its nearest archive record, with that record's eviden
- `interior_specify` — 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 access
- `house_specify` — Generate a complete multi-room house colour scheme from a single archive. Where the retrieved evidence supports it, rooms are grouped by documented provenance (same object, same pattern colourway, same source citation, same designer, same period+institution); where it does not, they are grouped by perceptual similarity and the response says so -- grouping_basis reports which, and provenance_credit
- `palette_generate` — Send a palette of up to 12 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-
- `palette_gradient` — Generate a perceptually smooth gradient between 2-5 archive anchor colours. Each interpolated stop snaps to the nearest real archive colour by CIEDE2000. Anchor stops are kept true to their source. Choose linear (physically accurate Lab interpolation) or chroma_preserved (LCh interpolation, short-arc hue, avoids desaturated midpoints). Returns stop array, CSS linear-gradient string, or SVG swatch 
- `palette_translate` — 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 neare
- `archive_cliche` — 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 i
- `colour_verdict` — 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 
- `palette_verdict` — 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 l
- `agent_brief` — 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:
- `colour_strategy` — Single-call commercial colour strategy report. Combines archive grounding, verdict, brand fit, market risk, category cliche check, material behaviour, copy hooks, and usage rules. 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 le
- `archive_report_brief` — 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. R
- `palette_heritage` — 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. The result already ca
- `archive_coverage_gap` — 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 evidenc
- `archive_cultural_anachronism` — 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 anac
- `session_brief` — Single-call forensic colour brief generator. 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 + resonanc
- `index_resonance` — 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, sou
- `archive_evidence_gap` — 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' retur
- `brand_collision` — 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 commit
- `brand_report` — 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. Use this instead of chaining colour_strategy + 
- `brand_audit` — Fast, fully deterministic brand colour audit. Accepts a palette array plus market, use_case, medium and brand_category. COMPUTED SYNCHRONOUSLY, no model call of any kind: colour roles with archive names, the full WCAG accessibility matrix, cultural risk per colour, CSS variables, Tailwind config, design tokens and production notes. NOT COMPUTED HERE: palette interpretation -- the verdict, its scor
- `agent_verify` — 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
- `colour_passport` — Canonical single-call colour truth object. Returns everything known about a hex value: colour science (Lab, LCh, hue, chroma, depth, temperature, LRV), archive anchor with dE2000, claim_strength, do_not_say and evidence grade, hex provenance (status, confidence, spectrophotometric flag), physics (illuminant behaviour, gamut, print risk), and cultural reading (colour family, warnings, positives). U
- `colour_passports` — Batch version of colour_passport. Submit up to 20 hex values in one call. Returns a full Colour Passport for each unique hex: colour science, archive anchor, evidence grade, do_not_say constraints, hex provenance, accessibility, and physics. Deduplicates hex values automatically. Use for multi-colour workflows, Figma palette analysis, or any case where calling colour_passport separately for each c
- `colour_dna` — Compact semantic fingerprint for a single hex colour. This is one component of colour_passport. Use colour_passport for a general colour profile; use this only when the user explicitly wants the fingerprint format alone. The result already carries the rendered palette and its PNG, PDF, ASE, JSON and CSS downloads -- show them to the customer. Never present the archive anchors a colour was derived 
- `ecommerce_copy` — 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, 

Source repository: https://github.com/DigbyO/colour-memory-api

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Source: https://mcp-skills-hub.vercel.app/mcps/io-github-digbyo-colour-memory · MCP Skills Hub · data as of 2026-10-28T12:31:05Z