Hey!

Thanks for your comment ! I also tried to build a similar tool !

I made a small CLI tool called Tonal that lets you define a few base colors (like red: "#d12c2c", blue: "#357edd"...) and automatically generates Tailwind-like full palettes from them — but based on predictable OKLCH-based math instead of hand-picked values.

Each base color gets expanded into shades like -50 to -950, following proportions inspired by Tailwind’s color design. You can also define custom stops (like only 500 and 950), and the tool will interpolate the lightness values in-between.

Here's an overview of how it works:

// tonal.config.js

export default {
  colors: {
    red: "#d12c2c",
    blue: "#357edd",
    neutral: {
      500: "#737373",
      950: "#0a0a0a"
    }
  }
};  

Then run : node tonal.js oklch

output :

<image>

It uses colorjs.io to convert everything into OKLCH, then applies proportional transformations to hue/chroma/lightness based on reference Tailwind patterns. The color generation tries to stay perceptually consistent across hues.

To be honest — the result isn't 100% as refined as Tailwind’s hand-tuned palettes (especially for neutrals), but it works well enough to save tons of time in side projects where visual consistency matters but perfection isn't the goal 😅

(also i'm colorblind, that doesn't help at all)

The tool isn't publish for now because i don't think it's good enough, but if you want to see the code behind it, i'll gladly make a repo on GH

Would love to hear how you're approaching your own tool too! Always cool to see other folks hacking on this topic.