CLI Color Strategy¶

Reference for all ANSI color usage in tx. Read this before adding or changing colored output.

Palette¶

All colors are chosen for readability on both dark and light terminal backgrounds.

Role	Name	Hex	Example	Use
Title	Sage	`#3E9287`	`MyCli`	App names, section headers
Command	Default	—	`mycli build`	Commands (bold, no color)
Option	Lav	`#8E7BB8`	`--project`	Flags and options
Value	Terra	`#B5805C`	`api-service`	IDs, names, literals
Path	Harbor	`#4E8AB5`	`./src/api-service`	Files and folders
Success	Moss	`#5C9D52`	`OK Project initialized`	Completed actions
Warning	Amber	`#B5832F`	`WARN Config not found`	Recoverable issues
Error	Rose	`#C25E5E`	`ERROR Build failed`	Failures
Muted	Slate	`#768089`	`(2.3s elapsed)`	Hints, timings, secondary

Palette Implementation¶

Defined in src/Tomix.Cli/Output/Styling.cs:

using Spectre.Console;

namespace Tomix.Cli.Output;

internal static class Palette
{
    public static readonly Color Sage   = new(0x3E, 0x92, 0x87);
    public static readonly Color Lav    = new(0x8E, 0x7B, 0xB8);
    public static readonly Color Terra  = new(0xB5, 0x80, 0x5C);
    public static readonly Color Harbor = new(0x4E, 0x8A, 0xB5);
    public static readonly Color Moss   = new(0x5C, 0x9D, 0x52);
    public static readonly Color Amber  = new(0xB5, 0x83, 0x2F);
    public static readonly Color Rose   = new(0xC2, 0x5E, 0x5E);
    public static readonly Color Slate  = new(0x76, 0x80, 0x89);
}

Use Palette.Sage for Spectre widget styling (table borders, panel borders). Use the markup helpers below for inline text.

Message Categories¶

Category	Style	Example
Banner	`[bold]` on title	`[bold]tx doctor[/]`
Section header	`[bold]` label	`[bold]Tables[/] (4)`
Status progress	Sage	`Validating...` in Sage
Success	Moss	`Saved: model.tmdl` in Moss
Warning	Amber	`Changes not saved.` in Amber
Error	Rose + bold	`Build failed` in Rose bold
Key-value label	`[bold]` label, plain value	`[bold]Version:[/] 1.0.0`
Guidance hint	Slate	`Run 'tx stage commit' to promote.` in Slate
Diff added	Moss prefix `+`	`+ table Sales`
Diff removed	Rose prefix `-`	`- table Sales`
Diff modified	Amber prefix `~`	`~ table Sales`
Table	Spectre `Table().RoundedBorder().BorderColor(Palette.Slate)`	Already established in `LsRenderer`
CI annotations	Plain text, no markup	`::error::...` / `##vso[task.logissue...]`

NO_COLOR Compliance¶

tx follows the NO_COLOR convention:

Environment variable. When NO_COLOR is set (any non-empty value), tx suppresses all ANSI color codes.
Config override. noColor: true in ~/.tomix/config.json also disables color.
Implementation. Both mechanisms set AnsiConsole.Profile.Capabilities.ColorSystem = ColorSystem.NoColors at startup (see Program.cs). Spectre.Console automatically strips all markup and color from output when this is set.
Piped output. Spectre.Console also detects Console.IsOutputRedirected and degrades gracefully.

Do not bypass this by writing raw ANSI escape codes. Always use Spectre.Console APIs or the Styling helpers.

Styling Helpers¶

All output helpers live in src/Tomix.Cli/Output/Styling.cs. Use these instead of raw markup strings.

Helper	Output
`Styling.Bold(text)`	Bold text
`Styling.Title(text)`	Sage bold
`Styling.Success(text)`	Moss
`Styling.Warning(text)`	Amber
`Styling.Error(text)`	Rose bold
`Styling.Muted(text)`	Slate
`Styling.Path(text)`	Harbor
`Styling.Value(text)`	Terra
`Styling.Option(text)`	Lav
`Styling.KeyValue(label, value)`	Bold label + plain value
`Styling.Guidance(text)`	Slate
`Styling.MarkupEscape(text)`	Escapes `[` and `]` for Spectre markup
`Styling.SeverityMarkup(severity)`	Colored severity label (Error/Warning/Info)
`Styling.NewTable(params columns)`	Rounded-border table with Slate border

What NOT to Color¶

JSON output (--format json) — raw JSON, no markup.
CSV output (--format csv) — raw CSV, no markup.
TMDL/BIM raw output (--format tmdl, --format bim) — raw syntax.
CI annotations (::error::, ##vso[task.logissue...]) — plain-text CI protocols.
Completion scripts (completion bash/zsh/fish) — shell script output.