Brand gradient

Tailwind CSS gradient

The gradient Tailwind CSS's published colour tokens imply, derived by a pure function of the palette: primary → secondary in OKLab (OKLCH shorter hue when the hues are more than 140° apart; a tonal ramp when they are within ΔE 0.15), then a hero background with an ink that passes AA at the worst point along the line, a button surface with hover and active states, and the variant contact sheet. Same inputs, same gradients, forever — which is what makes them citable; the same values are served as --brand-gradient in the brand's brand.css.

#06b6d4

Open in the maker Tailwind CSS colors →Full brand page →

Source: tailwindcss.com
Extracted: 2 September 2026
Version: 4

Tailwind CSS

black text · worst 8.40:1 · AA

white 2.42 failsblack 8.40 AAbanding high

Hero and button

Hero background

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Chroma ×0.35 so it can carry text; ink black (inkFor at the midpoint). Passes AA for that ink at the worst point (8.41:1) without adjusting L.

white 2.47 failsblack 8.41 AAbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #84abb4 0%, #87a8c4 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#84abb4] to-[#87a8c4]

Button / CTA

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ΔL 0.08 top→bottom in the primary's hue (a lit surface, not a rainbow); hover L +0.03, active L −0.03. Black ink passes AA on the surface and both states (worst 6.76:1).

white 2.10 failsblack 7.50 AAbanding high

Get started

hover

active

label ink passes AA on all three

css

linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #2ac3e1 0%, #00a9c7 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-b/oklch from-[#2ac3e1] to-[#00a9c7]

Variants

Tonal ramp

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white 1.34 failsblack 4.38 AA largebanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #74f0ff 0%, #06b6d4 50%, #007d97 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#74f0ff] via-[#06b6d4] to-[#007d97]

Analogous

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Partner hue from the analogous rule at the source colour's lightness.

white 2.38 failsblack 8.62 AAbanding high

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #06b6d4 0%, #06bcad 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#06b6d4] to-[#06bcad]

Complementary

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Partner hue from the complementary rule at the source colour's lightness. ΔH 180° > 140° — interpolating in oklch (shorter hue) keeps the midpoint saturated.

white 2.42 failsblack 7.62 AAbanding medium

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklch shorter hue, #06b6d4 0%, #ff714e 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklch from-[#06b6d4] to-[#ff714e]

Triadic

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Partner hue from the triadic rule at the source colour's lightness.

white 2.42 failsblack 7.29 AAbanding medium

css

linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #06b6d4 0%, #ff49e2 100%)

tailwind v4

bg-linear-to-br/oklab from-[#06b6d4] to-[#ff49e2]

Report — brand gradient

white ink: worst 2.42:1 at 5% (fails AA); black ink: worst 8.40:1 at 96% (AA) → use black text.
Banding high: ~29px bands at 1440px — add grain 50 (≈3% soft-light noise) or shorten the ramp.

Export

The custom properties below are byte-identical to the gradient block in brand.css; the DTCG token is what tokens.json carries.

css custom properties · brand.css

:root {
  /* Brand gradient (derived) */
  /* worst-case contrast: white 2.42:1, black 8.40:1 AA */
  --brand-gradient: linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #06b6d4 0%, #37abff 100%);
  /* hero — worst-case contrast: white 2.47:1, black 8.41:1 AA; ink passes AA at the worst point */
  --brand-gradient-hero: linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #84abb4 0%, #87a8c4 100%);
  --brand-gradient-hero-ink: #000000;
  /* button — worst-case contrast: white 2.10:1, black 7.50:1 AA */
  --brand-gradient-button: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #2ac3e1 0%, #00a9c7 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-hover: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #3acdeb 0%, #00b3d1 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-active: linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #13b9d7 0%, #00a0bd 100%);
  --brand-gradient-button-ink: #000000;
}

svg · brand gradient

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="1440" height="600" viewBox="0 0 1440 600"><defs><linearGradient id="bs-gradient" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse" x1="210" y1="-210" x2="1230" y2="810"><stop offset="0%" stop-color="#06b6d4"/><stop offset="7.14%" stop-color="#0db5d7"/><stop offset="14.29%" stop-color="#13b5da"/><stop offset="21.43%" stop-color="#17b4dd"/><stop offset="28.57%" stop-color="#1bb3e0"/><stop offset="35.71%" stop-color="#1fb2e4"/><stop offset="42.86%" stop-color="#22b2e7"/><stop offset="50%" stop-color="#25b1ea"/><stop offset="57.14%" stop-color="#28b0ed"/><stop offset="64.29%" stop-color="#2baff0"/><stop offset="71.43%" stop-color="#2eaff3"/><stop offset="78.57%" stop-color="#30aef6"/><stop offset="85.71%" stop-color="#32adf9"/><stop offset="92.86%" stop-color="#35acfc"/><stop offset="100%" stop-color="#37abff"/></linearGradient></defs><rect width="1440" height="600" fill="url(#bs-gradient)"/></svg>

dtcg · tokens.json

{
  "gradient": {
    "brand": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.024,
              0.714,
              0.831
            ],
            "hex": "#06b6d4"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.216,
              0.671,
              1
            ],
            "hex": "#37abff"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #06b6d4 0%, #37abff 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklab",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "brand",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 2.42,
              "at": 0.0531,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 8.4,
              "at": 0.9646,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#000000"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "The canonical brand gradient (--brand-gradient)."
    },
    "hero": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.518,
              0.671,
              0.706
            ],
            "hex": "#84abb4"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.529,
              0.659,
              0.769
            ],
            "hex": "#87a8c4"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(135deg in oklab, #84abb4 0%, #87a8c4 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklab",
          "angle": 135,
          "name": "hero",
          "ink": "#000000",
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 2.469,
              "at": 0.1746,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 8.41,
              "at": 0.8571,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#000000"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Low-chroma hero background with a text-safe ink (--brand-gradient-hero)."
    },
    "button": {
      "$type": "gradient",
      "$value": [
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0.165,
              0.765,
              0.882
            ],
            "hex": "#2ac3e1"
          },
          "position": 0
        },
        {
          "color": {
            "colorSpace": "srgb",
            "components": [
              0,
              0.663,
              0.78
            ],
            "hex": "#00a9c7"
          },
          "position": 1
        }
      ],
      "$extensions": {
        "com.brandsweets": {
          "kind": "linear",
          "css": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #2ac3e1 0%, #00a9c7 100%)",
          "interpolation": "oklch",
          "hue": "shorter",
          "angle": 180,
          "name": "button",
          "ink": "#000000",
          "states": {
            "hover": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #3acdeb 0%, #00b3d1 100%)",
            "active": "linear-gradient(180deg in oklch shorter hue, #13b9d7 0%, #00a0bd 100%)"
          },
          "contrast": {
            "white": {
              "ratio": 2.102,
              "at": 0,
              "passesAA": false,
              "passesAALarge": false
            },
            "black": {
              "ratio": 7.5,
              "at": 1,
              "passesAA": true,
              "passesAALarge": true
            },
            "suggestedInk": "#000000"
          }
        }
      },
      "$description": "Button / CTA surface with hover and active states (--brand-gradient-button)."
    }
  }
}

Colours

#06b6d4

mcpConnect your agent — Tailwind CSS's gradients on demand

live endpoint

Point any MCP client at the shared gradients endpoint and your agent gets the same engine as this page — make_gradient returns CSS with the interpolation space, Tailwind v4, SVG, a PNG URL, a DTCG token and the contrast report in one call; brand_gradients derives the whole contact sheet from a brand or a palette. Read-only, no key. Every gradient is a /gradients/new/… link: open it, refine, paste it back.

endpointhttps://mcp.brandsweets.com/gradients/mcp

claude mcp add --transport http brandsweets-gradients https://mcp.brandsweets.com/gradients/mcp

try this prompt

›brand_gradients for tailwind-css — give me the hero CSS and the ink that passes AA, then a version in oklch

Want the agent to remember your picks and write them into a living brand? Create a free BrandSweets workspace.

Tailwind CSS and its marks belong to their owner. This page uses the name nominatively to describe gradients derived from the brand's published colour values; it does not reproduce logos or other brand assets, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Tailwind CSS. Owner of this brand? Request a correction or removal → Machine-readable: gradients.md