The Nine Chrome Tab Group Colours

## Why it matters

Colour is a fast way to tell groups apart at a glance. Red for urgent work, green for reference, blue for news. You see it in the strip and your brain knows what context you're looking at. Chrome fixes the set at nine so colours are consistent, bright enough in both light and dark mode, and accessible for colour-blind readers.

## How it works

The chrome.tabGroups.Color enum has exactly nine names: grey, blue, red, yellow, green, pink, purple, cyan, and orange. These are not RGB values you can tweak: they're fixed system colours that Chrome maps to both light and dark shades automatically. Set a group's colour with chrome.tabGroups.update(groupId, { color: "red" }), and Chrome uses the right shade for the current theme.

The colour shows on the group pill (the name and collapse icon) and on the edge of each tab in the group. A group without a colour is grey by default.

## What does not matter

The colour has no inherent meaning in Chrome. Red doesn't mean "delete these" or "urgent". It's just a visual cue you choose. Use the same colour for every work project, or mix them by mood, or cycle through them alphabetically. It's entirely up to you.

## Code example

// Set a group's colour
chrome.tabGroups.update(groupId, { color: "blue" });

// Cycle through colours when grouping by domain
const colors = ["grey", "blue", "red", "yellow", "green", "pink", "purple", "cyan", "orange"];
let colorIndex = 0;

function nextColor() {
  return colors[colorIndex++ % colors.length];
}

// Create a group with a colour
chrome.tabs.group({ tabIds: [1, 2, 3] }, (groupId) => {
  chrome.tabGroups.update(groupId, { 
    title: "My group",
    color: nextColor()
  });
});
Copy

## How Scalpel Manage Tabs shows it

When you group tabs, the extension shows all nine colours in a picker. Click one to apply it to the group you just made. If you group by domain and want each domain to stand out, the extension cycles through colours automatically so neighbouring groups don't clash.