Base16

In Rong, Base16 refers to terminal color schemes, not the Base16 Design framework. Rong generates 16 colors compatible by terminals.

Why?

Base16 framework is a styling guide for a base of 16 colors used in UIs. However, we already have a UI color scheme (Material You). Why do we need Base16? The Material You color scheme has three main colors (primary, secondary, and tertiary) with different variants. These are enough for most UI designs but not for terminals. Terminals require 16 colors, which cannot be derived directly from the Material You scheme. Thus, rong uses clever tricks to generate six additional colors and uses Material You’s on_background and background as white and black to get eight unique colors. We then adjust their shades to produce the full set of 16 colors for the terminal.

Methods

Rong provides two different ways to generate Base16 colors:

1. Dynamic: In dynamic mode (--base16.method=dynamic), Base16 colors are generated from the source image or video. Rong also ensures maximum variation between colors, then adjusts saturation and lightness to correct any unwanted tones. Depending on the source, you may get a wide variety of colors or different shades of the same color.

2. Static: In static mode (--base16.method=static), Base16 colors are created from a predefined set. These predefined colors are blended with the primary color from the Material You palette, and Rong then adjusts saturation and lightness to refine the result. You can control the blending ratio to fine-tune the outcome.

Use dynamic mode when you want colors that truly match your wallpaper. Use static mode when you prefer consistent, stable colors—where green looks similar to green and red looks like red.

Dynamic	Static

ANSI terminal colors

Terminal (ANSI) color are arranged like this:

Index	Name	Description
0	Black	normal black
1	Red	normal red
2	Green	normal green
3	Yellow	normal yellow
4	Blue	normal blue
5	Magenta	normal magenta
6	Cyan	normal cyan
7	White	normal white
8	Bright Black	bright black (often gray)
9	Bright Red	bright red
A	Bright Green	bright green
B	Bright Yellow	bright yellow
C	Bright Blue	bright blue
D	Bright Magenta	bright magenta
E	Bright Cyan	bright cyan
F	Bright White	bright white

Examples

• If an app prints ANSI color \x1b[31m (which is index 1), that uses the terminal’s red color. With a Base16 terminal theme applied, that red will be whatever the theme assigns to the terminal’s red slot.
• If an app prints \x1b[91m (bright red / index 9 in 8-bit escape sequences), that uses the terminal’s bright red slot — which is the bright variant of index 1 and will reflect the theme’s bright-red assignment.