diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/InlineTextToolbar.test.tsx b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/InlineTextToolbar.test.tsx
index 148d786f41..c7a70106e6 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/InlineTextToolbar.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/InlineTextToolbar.test.tsx
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import React, { act } from "react";
 import { createRoot } from "react-dom/client";
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
-import { InlineTextToolbar } from "./InlineTextToolbar";
+import { InlineTextToolbar, swatchBackground } from "./InlineTextToolbar";
 import type { InlineTextEditSession } from "../../hooks/useInlineTextEdit";
 
 (globalThis as unknown as { IS_REACT_ACT_ENVIRONMENT: boolean }).IS_REACT_ACT_ENVIRONMENT = true;
@@ -191,4 +191,51 @@ describe("InlineTextToolbar", () => {
     expect(toolbar.style.left).toBe(`${100 + (20 + 50) * scale}px`);
     expect(toolbar.style.top).toBe(`${50 + 40 * scale - 10}px`);
   });
+  it("shows the selection's colours in the swatch when they differ", () => {
+    const { element, session, iframe } = scene(
+      '<span style="color: red">Hello</span><span style="color: lime">world</span>',
+    );
+    const { host } = render(session, iframe);
+
+    selectAll(element);
+
+    const swatch = toolbarIn(host)!.querySelector<HTMLElement>("span[aria-hidden]")!;
+    expect(swatch.style.backgroundImage).toBe("linear-gradient(90deg, red 25.00%, lime 75.00%)");
+    // Without this the gradient repeats under the border, painting the end
+    // colour along the leading edge and the start colour along the trailing one.
+    expect(swatch.style.backgroundOrigin).toBe("border-box");
+  });
+
+  it("shows a plain swatch when the whole selection is one colour", () => {
+    const { element, session, iframe } = scene('<span style="color: red">Hello world</span>');
+    const { host } = render(session, iframe);
+
+    selectAll(element);
+
+    const swatch = toolbarIn(host)!.querySelector<HTMLElement>("span[aria-hidden]")!;
+    expect(swatch.style.backgroundColor).toBe("red");
+  });
+});
+
+describe("swatchBackground", () => {
+  it("blends every colour in the selection, weighted by how much text carries it", () => {
+    expect(
+      swatchBackground(
+        [
+          { value: "red", chars: 5 },
+          { value: "lime", chars: 15 },
+        ],
+        undefined,
+      ),
+    ).toBe("linear-gradient(90deg, red 12.50%, lime 62.50%)");
+  });
+
+  it("stays a plain swatch when the selection is one colour", () => {
+    expect(swatchBackground([{ value: "red", chars: 5 }], "red")).toBe("red");
+  });
+
+  it("falls back to the agreed colour when the characters carry none", () => {
+    expect(swatchBackground([], "rgb(1, 2, 3)")).toBe("rgb(1, 2, 3)");
+    expect(swatchBackground([], undefined)).toBe("#ffffff");
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/InlineTextToolbar.tsx b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/InlineTextToolbar.tsx
index 8ecc2b43f7..04f5e9283e 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/InlineTextToolbar.tsx
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/InlineTextToolbar.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from "react";
-import { applyInlineStyle, readInlineStyle } from "./inlineTextStyleRange";
+import { applyInlineStyle, readInlineStyle, readInlineStyleSpread } from "./inlineTextStyleRange";
 import type { InlineTextEditSession } from "../../hooks/useInlineTextEdit";
 
 /**
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ interface ToolbarPlacement {
   left: number;
   top: number;
   styles: Record<string, string>;
+  colours: Array<{ value: string; chars: number }>;
 }
 
 export function InlineTextToolbar({
@@ -90,7 +91,15 @@ export function InlineTextToolbar({
         <span
           aria-hidden="true"
           className="h-3.5 w-3.5 rounded-full border border-white/25"
-          style={{ background: styles.color || DEFAULT_COLOR }}
+          // `background` maps a gradient to the PADDING box and then repeats it
+          // to fill the border box, so the 1px border shows the strip either
+          // side of the tile: the end colour on the left, the start colour on
+          // the right. A red-to-green swatch grew a green edge and a red one.
+          // Set after the shorthand, which resets it.
+          style={{
+            background: swatchBackground(placement.colours, styles.color),
+            backgroundOrigin: "border-box",
+          }}
         />
         {/* `inset-0` is not enough on its own: a colour input carries a
             user-agent minimum width, which wins over the right edge and lets
@@ -100,7 +109,7 @@ export function InlineTextToolbar({
           type="color"
           aria-label="Text colour"
           className="absolute inset-0 h-full w-full min-w-0 cursor-pointer opacity-0"
-          value={toHexColor(styles.color)}
+          value={toHexColor(styles.color ?? placement.colours[0]?.value)}
           onChange={(event) => apply({ color: event.target.value })}
         />
       </label>
@@ -129,6 +138,27 @@ export function InlineTextToolbar({
   );
 }
 
+/**
+ * The selection's colours blended left to right, each sitting at the middle of
+ * the share of characters that carry it. A selection with one colour is a plain
+ * swatch, as before.
+ */
+export function swatchBackground(
+  colours: Array<{ value: string; chars: number }>,
+  agreed: string | undefined,
+): string {
+  if (colours.length === 0) return agreed || DEFAULT_COLOR;
+  if (colours.length === 1) return colours[0]!.value;
+  const total = colours.reduce((sum, colour) => sum + colour.chars, 0);
+  let offset = 0;
+  const stops = colours.map((colour) => {
+    const middle = ((offset + colour.chars / 2) / total) * 100;
+    offset += colour.chars;
+    return `${colour.value} ${middle.toFixed(2)}%`;
+  });
+  return `linear-gradient(90deg, ${stops.join(", ")})`;
+}
+
 function swallow(event: { preventDefault: () => void; stopPropagation: () => void }): void {
   event.preventDefault();
   event.stopPropagation();
@@ -196,6 +226,7 @@ function placeOverSelection(
     left: box.left + (rect.left + rect.width / 2) * scale,
     top: box.top + rect.top * scale - GAP_PX,
     styles: readInlineStyle(range, READ_PROPERTIES),
+    colours: readInlineStyleSpread(range, "color"),
   };
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/inlineTextStyleRange.test.ts b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/inlineTextStyleRange.test.ts
index b377fbccd1..568689efa8 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/inlineTextStyleRange.test.ts
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/inlineTextStyleRange.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // @vitest-environment happy-dom
 
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
-import { applyInlineStyle, readInlineStyle } from "./inlineTextStyleRange";
+import { applyInlineStyle, readInlineStyle, readInlineStyleSpread } from "./inlineTextStyleRange";
 
 afterEach(() => {
   vi.restoreAllMocks();
@@ -555,3 +555,56 @@ describe("applyInlineStyle when something else is painting the glyphs", () => {
     expect(host.innerHTML).not.toContain("-webkit-text-fill-color");
   });
 });
+
+describe("readInlineStyleSpread", () => {
+  it("reports every colour in the selection, in order, with its share", () => {
+    const host = mount(
+      '<span style="color: red">Hello</span><span style="color: lime">world</span>',
+    );
+
+    expect(readInlineStyleSpread(rangeOver(host, 0, 10), "color")).toEqual([
+      { value: "red", chars: 5 },
+      { value: "lime", chars: 5 },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("collapses characters that share a colour into one band", () => {
+    const host = mount('<span style="color: red">He</span><span style="color: red">llo</span>');
+
+    expect(readInlineStyleSpread(rangeOver(host, 0, 5), "color")).toEqual([
+      { value: "red", chars: 5 },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("reports only what the selection covers", () => {
+    const host = mount(
+      '<span style="color: red">Hello</span><span style="color: lime">world</span>',
+    );
+
+    expect(readInlineStyleSpread(rangeOver(host, 6, 10), "color")).toEqual([
+      { value: "lime", chars: 4 },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("ignores whitespace, which shows no colour at all", () => {
+    // Colour the whole element, then recolour one word: the whitespace around it
+    // keeps the first colour. It paints no glyph, so counting it puts a band of a
+    // colour nothing on screen is painted in at the edge of the swatch.
+    const host = mount(
+      '<span style="color: lime"> </span>' +
+        '<span style="color: red">Hello</span>' +
+        '<span style="color: lime"> world</span>',
+    );
+
+    expect(readInlineStyleSpread(rangeOver(host, 0, 12), "color")).toEqual([
+      { value: "red", chars: 5 },
+      { value: "lime", chars: 5 },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("is empty when the characters carry no colour of their own", () => {
+    const host = mount("Hello world");
+
+    expect(readInlineStyleSpread(rangeOver(host, 0, 5), "color")).toEqual([]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/inlineTextStyleRange.ts b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/inlineTextStyleRange.ts
index 53ab11d75c..1105f24219 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/inlineTextStyleRange.ts
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/inlineTextStyleRange.ts
@@ -176,26 +176,64 @@ function isTrailingHalf(text: string, offset: number): boolean {
  * agrees about it, which is what a control can honestly display.
  */
 export function readInlineStyle(range: Range, properties: string[]): Record<string, string> {
-  const host = editingHost(range.startContainer);
-  if (!host || !holdsBothEnds(host, range)) return {};
-  const start = offsetOf(host, range.startContainer, range.startOffset);
-  const end = offsetOf(host, range.endContainer, range.endOffset);
-  if (start === null || end === null) return {};
-
-  const covered = charRuns(readRuns(host))
-    .slice(start, Math.max(end, start + 1))
-    .map((entry) => entry.style);
-  if (covered.length === 0) return {};
+  const chars = coveredChars(range);
+  if (!chars) return {};
+  const covered = chars.map((entry) => entry.style);
 
   const styles: Record<string, string> = {};
   for (const property of properties) {
-    const first = covered[0]?.[property];
+    const first: string | undefined = covered[0]?.[property];
     if (first === undefined) continue;
     if (covered.every((style) => style[property] === first)) styles[property] = first;
   }
   return styles;
 }
 
+/**
+ * What one property looks like across the range, in document order, as runs of
+ * consecutive characters that share a value: `[{ value: "red", chars: 5 },
+ * { value: "lime", chars: 6 }]`.
+ *
+ * `readInlineStyle` above answers "what is this range" and reports nothing when
+ * the range disagrees with itself — right for a toggle, which can only be on or
+ * off. A swatch can show more than one value at once, and showing the default
+ * instead reads as "this text is white" when none of it is.
+ */
+export function readInlineStyleSpread(
+  range: Range,
+  property: string,
+): Array<{ value: string; chars: number }> {
+  const covered = coveredChars(range);
+  if (!covered) return [];
+  const spread: Array<{ value: string; chars: number }> = [];
+  for (const { char, style } of covered) {
+    // A space paints nothing, so the colour it inherits is not a colour anyone
+    // can see. Counting it puts a band of the element's own colour in the swatch
+    // for text that shows none of it — the stray edge on a selection that just
+    // happens to start or end next to a space.
+    if (!char.trim()) continue;
+    const value = style[property];
+    if (value === undefined) continue;
+    const last = spread.at(-1);
+    if (last?.value === value) last.chars++;
+    else spread.push({ value, chars: 1 });
+  }
+  return spread;
+}
+
+/** Every character the range covers with its style, or null when it covers none. */
+function coveredChars(range: Range): Array<{ char: string; style: Record<string, string> }> | null {
+  const host = editingHost(range.startContainer);
+  if (!host || !holdsBothEnds(host, range)) return null;
+  const start = offsetOf(host, range.startContainer, range.startOffset);
+  const end = offsetOf(host, range.endContainer, range.endOffset);
+  if (start === null || end === null) return null;
+  const covered = charRuns(readRuns(host))
+    .slice(start, Math.max(end, start + 1))
+    .map((entry) => ({ char: entry.char, style: entry.style }));
+  return covered.length > 0 ? covered : null;
+}
+
 /**
  * The element the caret is in: the one made editable, never a span inside it.
  *
@@ -274,11 +312,18 @@ function ownStyle(element: HTMLElement): Record<string, string> {
 }
 
 /** One entry per character, which is the easiest thing to slice and compare. */
-function charRuns(runs: StyledRun[]): Array<Omit<StyledRun, "text">> {
-  const perChar: Array<Omit<StyledRun, "text">> = [];
+function charRuns(runs: StyledRun[]): Array<Omit<StyledRun, "text"> & { char: string }> {
+  const perChar: Array<Omit<StyledRun, "text"> & { char: string }> = [];
   for (const run of runs) {
+    // By UTF-16 unit, not code point: `restyle` indexes this list with selection
+    // offsets, which count units, so an emoji has to stay two entries long.
     for (let index = 0; index < run.text.length; index += 1) {
-      perChar.push({ style: run.style, origin: run.origin, identity: run.identity });
+      perChar.push({
+        char: run.text[index] ?? "",
+        style: run.style,
+        origin: run.origin,
+        identity: run.identity,
+      });
     }
   }
   return perChar;