@jacob-z/chalk

Browser console coloring utilities — a modular, type-safe rewrite of @alita/chalk, themed with Catppuccin Macchiato.

Features

• %c CSS tuple formatters for browser DevTools console output
• 9 foreground colors: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, gray
• 8 background colors: bgBlack, bgRed, bgGreen, bgYellow, bgBlue, bgMagenta, bgCyan, bgWhite
• Mode switching (foreground / background) controls logger output style globally
• bold() text formatting
• add() for merging multiple formatted tuples
• Logger methods: log, wait, error, warn, ready, info, event, debug
• hello(title, version) version banner
• image(url) console image
• createChalk(options?) factory for dependency injection
• Zero runtime dependencies, fully tree-shakeable

Install

pnpm add @jacob-z/chalk

Basic Usage

Color formatters return console.log-ready tuples:

import chalk from '@jacob-z/chalk'

chalk.red('text')
// → ['%ctext', 'color:#ed8796']

chalk.bgRed('text')
// → ['%ctext', 'padding: 2px 4px; border-radius: 3px; color: #24273a; font-weight: bold; background:#ed8796;']

chalk.bold('text')
// → ['%ctext', 'font-weight: bold;']

chalk.add(chalk.red('a'), chalk.blue('b'))
// → [' %ca %cb', 'color:#ed8796', 'color:#8aadf4']

Use with console.log spread:

console.log(...chalk.red('colored text'))
console.log(...chalk.add(chalk.red('error:'), chalk.bold(' not found')))

Foreground vs Background Methods

• Foreground (red, green, blue, …) — pure color:<hex>, no background or padding
• Background (bgRed, bgGreen, bgBlue, …) — background:<hex>; color:#24273a; font-weight: bold; padding: 2px 4px; border-radius: 3px;
• bgBlack special case — dark base background with blue text #8aadf4

These are fixed regardless of the mode setting. Mode only affects logger output.

Mode Switching

createChalk({ mode }) controls how logger methods render. Default is 'background'.

import { createChalk } from '@jacob-z/chalk'

const bgChalk = createChalk({ console, mode: 'background' })
const fgChalk = createChalk({ console, mode: 'foreground' })

// background mode: label + message share same styled background
bgChalk.info('loaded')
// → %c[Info]%c loaded   (both segments use background style)

// foreground mode: label + message share same foreground color
fgChalk.info('loaded')
// → %c[Info]%c loaded   (both segments use color:<hex> only)

Logger label and message body use the same style — no separate styling for the tag vs the content.

Logger Methods

Method	Label	Color	Console Method
log	[Log]	black	console.log
wait	[Wait]	cyan	console.log
error	[Error]	red	console.error
warn	[Warn]	yellow	console.warn
ready	[Ready]	green	console.log
info	[Info]	blue	console.info
event	[Event]	magenta	console.log
debug	[Debug]	gray	console.debug

If a console method is unavailable, the logger falls back to console.log.

Custom Log Levels

Extend the logger with additional methods using built-in color names:

const chalk = createChalk({
  logLevels: [
    { name: 'trace', label: 'Trace', color: 'blue', method: 'debug' },
  ],
})

chalk.trace('details') // → [Trace] in blue via console.debug

color must be a built-in ColorName: black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, gray.

Banner & Image

chalk.hello('MyApp', '1.0.0') // styled title + version banner
chalk.image('https://example.com/logo.png') // console CSS background image

API

createChalk(options?)

Option	Type	Default	Description
console	Console	globalThis.console	Console instance for output
mode	'foreground' | 'background'	'background'	Logger output style
logLevels	LogLevelDefinition[]	(built-in 8 levels)	Custom logger level definitions

getStyle(colors, name, mode)

Low-level utility to get CSS style string for a given color name and mode:

import { getStyle, DEFAULT_COLORS } from '@jacob-z/chalk'

getStyle(DEFAULT_COLORS, 'red', 'foreground')
// → 'color:#ed8796'

getStyle(DEFAULT_COLORS, 'red', 'background')
// → 'padding: 2px 4px; border-radius: 3px; color: #24273a; font-weight: bold; background:#ed8796;'

Architecture

src/
  types.ts    → All public & internal types (ChalkMode, ColorName, LogLevelDefinition)
  colors.ts   → Macchiato palette, getStyle() (pure functions)
  format.ts   → %c format helpers, add(), bold(), coloredText()
  logger.ts   → Debug-gated logger factory (mode-aware)
  banner.ts   → hello(), image()
  create.ts   → createChalk() factory
  index.ts    → Default instance + re-exports

Design principles vs the original @alita/chalk:

• No window dependency — uses globalThis with fallback
• No global cache — no window.chalk mutation
• No module-level side effects — factory pattern, pure functions
• No any / @ts-ignore — strict TypeScript throughout
• Mode-driven styling — single mode option controls all logger output
• Dark-mode friendly — Catppuccin Macchiato palette with proper contrast

License

MIT