Recommend Chart Palettes

palette.recommend

ProductionBounded custom (Class B)Deterministicstrictfastv5.0.0

No network

Overview

Tell us the colour-set kind (distinct series colours or a continuous scale), light or dark background, and optional preferences (context, tone, hues). We return a short ranked list of reviewed Squillify palettes with colours or continuous stops and ready-to-apply tokens. We choose among already approved palettes; if none of them can meet your requirements, you can send whenNothingFits=generate and we build one to those requirements instead of sending you to another skill with the same constraints. At most 8 candidates (default 3). Max input 8192 bytes.

You need safe, reviewed chart colours without inventing one-off palettes.

Reliability

STRICT and deterministic for the same input, including when whenNothingFits=generate builds one: the colours come from the request, so the same requirements always give the same palette. Returns at most 8 candidates. Domain errors (not retryable — fix the input; unchanged input will fail again): PALETTE_UNSATISFIABLE (nothing matches — the message names the requirement that emptied the list and how close the library gets, so you know what to relax; send whenNothingFits=generate to have one built instead, and if that is impossible too the message says why both failed); PALETTE_KIND_UNSUPPORTED (the kind is not one we publish — use one of categorical, cyclical, diverging, sequential — or a field that does not apply to the kind you asked for, such as center on anything but a diverging scale, which you should remove); PALETTE_TARGET_UNSUPPORTED (target belongs to the other shape, or is not one of chart_series, color_gradient, generic — leave it out and kind decides); PALETTE_COUNT_REQUIRED (kind=categorical without count — pass count 2..8); PALETTE_UNSUPPORTED_COUNT (count outside the range for the kind you asked for — 2..8 series colours, 2..32 stops); PALETTE_VALUE_INVALID (a value we do not recognise, such as an unknown whenNothingFits, avoid with kind=cyclical, or a center that is not one of neutral, target, zero — correct the value).

Context footprint

Returns a short ranked list of palette objects with hex colours and, for continuous kinds, stops. No chart image is rendered. A successful call costs 1 execution credit.

When to use it

You know the colour-set kind and background and want Squillify-approved options.

You already have an exact palette id — use palette.get. If you want a palette built to order rather than chosen, use palette.generate — or send whenNothingFits=generate and let this skill fall back to it.

Scope

Note

Suggests reviewed Squillify chart palettes — series colours or continuous scales — matched to kind, background, and optional preferences.

Non-goals

Does not invent colours unless you ask for it with whenNothingFits=generate, and says so when it did
Does not present a generated palette as a reviewed library member
Does not change chart layout, typography, or themes
Does not accept free-form mood prompts — use the preference fields below
Does not map your data values onto colours — your chart skill does that

Properties

IdempotentRetry safeStreaming supportedFile input supportedRequires external service

Capabilities

analysissearch

Cost & billing

Flat rate per invocation

MetercallsBillable onsuccessCost per call1 credit

File handling

Accepts file_refProduces file_refMax input8 KB

How we handle your data

Sensitive input, safe output

What this means

This skill may receive sensitive content, but it does not target sensitive data and returns only a structured non-sensitive result.

Squillify guarantees

Runs inside Squillify
This skill runs inside Squillify.
Payloads are not sent to an external service by this skill.
Squillify does not permanently store submitted payloads.
Telemetry records metadata only, not submitted content.
Submitted payloads are not used for training.
Submitted payloads are not reviewed by humans.
This skill does not target sensitive data.
The response does not contain submitted content.

Your responsibility

Squillify does not determine whether submitted content is sensitive. Your application is responsible for deciding what data it is allowed to submit. Your application is responsible for securing the response.

Read the Microskill Data Handling Policy

Input schema

Field	Type	Required	Description
kind	string	Yes	Which colour-set family to generate or look up.
count	integer	No	How many colours to return, 2 through 8 for categorical and 2 through 32 stops for a continuous ramp. Required for kind=categorical; omit it on a continuous kind to get the ramp's own stops.
center	string	No	Where a diverging ramp is centred; omit it for zero on diverging palettes. Rejected for other kinds.
surface	string	Yes	Chart background the colours were checked against.
context	string	No	Where the chart will be read, which lifts matching palettes; omit it for general.
tone	array	No	Preferred tones in priority order, 1 through 9 names; omit it when you have no tone preference.
intensity	string	No	Preferred intensity which lifts matching palettes; omit it when you have no intensity preference.
temperature	string	No	Preferred colour temperature which lifts matching palettes; omit it when you have no temperature preference.
huePreference	array	No	Preferred hue families in priority order, 1 through 14 names; omit it when you have no hue preference.
avoid	array	No	Hue families to drop, 0 through 8 names; omit it or send [] when nothing is ruled out. Not accepted with kind=cyclical.
accessibility	object	No	Closed readability requirements that remove palettes rather than reorder them: colorVision, print and optional minimumSurfaceContrast; omit the whole object for default checks only.
whenNothingFits	string	No	fail returns PALETTE_UNSATISFIABLE; generate builds one palette to the same requirements. Omit it for fail.
target	string	No	Where the colours will be applied: chart_series, color_gradient or generic; omit it so the palette's own shape chooses.
direction	string	No	Colour order; omit it for normal.
resultLimit	integer	No	How many candidates to return, 1 through 8; omit it for 3.

Output schema

Field	Type	Required	Description
library	object	Yes	Closed reviewed-library identity with id, content digest and publication status.
candidates	array	Yes	Ranked options best first, 1 through 8 closed {palette, score, reasons} objects.
warnings	array	Yes	Non-fatal notices as strings, 0 through 32 items, often empty.

API contract

POST /v1/execute

curl

curl -sS -X POST "$BASE/v1/execute" -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"skillKey":"palette.recommend","input":{"kind":"categorical","count":6,"surface":"light","context":"dashboard","resultLimit":1}}'

Integrations

TypeScript SDK

import { Squillify } from "@squillify/sdk";

const sq = new Squillify({ apiKey: process.env.SQUILLIFY_API_KEY });

const { output } = await sq.execute("palette.recommend", {"tone":["professional","calm"],"count":6,"kind":"categorical","surface":"light","context":"dashboard","resultLimit":1});

Errors

Code	HTTP	Retryable	Description
VALIDATION_ERROR	400	No	The request payload failed schema validation.
UNAUTHORIZED	401	No	Missing or invalid API key.
SKILL_NOT_ACCESSIBLE	403	No	The API key is not granted access to this skill.
SKILL_NOT_AVAILABLE_FOR_PLAN	403	No	This skill is not included in your current plan.
PLAN_ELIGIBILITY_UNAVAILABLE	503	Yes	Plan eligibility could not be decided. Retry after backoff.
SKILL_NOT_FOUND	404	No	The requested skill or version does not exist.
TENANT_RATE_LIMITED	429	Yes	Request rate limit exceeded. Retry after backoff.
QUOTA_EXCEEDED	429	Yes	Plan quota exhausted. Retryable once the quota period resets.
EXECUTION_TIMEOUT	504	Yes	Execution exceeded the allowed time budget.
PALETTE_UNSATISFIABLE	412	No	The input is valid but cannot be processed as-is.
PALETTE_KIND_UNSUPPORTED	400	No	The skill does not support the requested variant.
PALETTE_TARGET_UNSUPPORTED	400	No	The skill does not support the requested variant.
PALETTE_COUNT_REQUIRED	400	No	The request payload failed this skill's input validation.
PALETTE_UNSUPPORTED_COUNT	400	No	The request payload failed this skill's input validation.
PALETTE_VALUE_INVALID	400	No	The request payload failed this skill's input validation.

Other limits

Limit	Value
Recommended inline bytes	32 KiB

Limitations

Does not invent colours unless you ask for it with whenNothingFits=generate, and says so when it did
Does not present a generated palette as a reviewed library member
Does not change chart layout, typography, or themes
Does not accept free-form mood prompts — use the preference fields below
Does not map your data values onto colours — your chart skill does that
Open-ended mood prompts instead of the preference fields
Exact lookup when you already have a palette id — use palette.get

How to call

POST /v1/execute (requires authentication)

Request bodyjson

{
  "skillKey": "palette.recommend",
  "input": {
    "tone": [
      "professional",
      "calm"
    ],
    "count": 6,
    "kind": "categorical",
    "surface": "light",
    "context": "dashboard",
    "resultLimit": 1
  }
}

Examples

Six-series professional dashboard on a light background

Inputjson

{
  "tone": [
    "professional",
    "calm"
  ],
  "count": 6,
  "kind": "categorical",
  "surface": "light",
  "context": "dashboard",
  "resultLimit": 1
}

Expected outputjson

{
  "warnings": [],
  "candidates": [
    {
      "palette": {
        "ref": {
          "source": "registry",
          "registry": "squillify-core-palettes",
          "registryDigest": "sha256:d5d4ee7cdb6425cdfe6cc0cf1bac317cb9bb0bc7c9b70380de4adf31fb0b3e17",
          "paletteId": "sq.categorical.dashboard.professional-cool-spectrum.002@1",
          "variant": "count-6.light",
          "paletteDigest": "sha256:73536ed4d96c4c3dcc431ea6094df3ca993597ffd17f2e86ab42073f17025a9f"
        },
        "displayName": "Squillify Dashboard Professional — Cool Spectrum 002",
        "kind": "categorical",
        "model": "adaptive",
        "surface": "light",
        "cardinality": 6,
        "colors": [
          "#077F61",
          "#00616C",
          "#2E8FB5",
          "#004273",
          "#705FA2",
          "#004E1E"
        ],
        "direction": "normal",
        "application": {
          "target": "chart_series",
          "chartStyleTokens": {
            "--sq-series-1": "#077F61",
            "--sq-series-2": "#00616C",
            "--sq-series-3": "#2E8FB5",
            "--sq-series-4": "#004273",
            "--sq-series-5": "#705FA2",
            "--sq-series-6": "#004E1E"
          }
        },
        "evidence": {
          "state": "certified"
        },
        "warnings": []
      },
      "score": 52,
      "reasons": [
        "matches categorical cardinality 6",
        "matches dashboard context",
        "matches light surface"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "library": {
    "id": "squillify-core-palettes",
    "digest": "sha256:d5d4ee7cdb6425cdfe6cc0cf1bac317cb9bb0bc7c9b70380de4adf31fb0b3e17",
    "status": "CERTIFIED"
  }
}

Tip

One ranked palette with six colours and chart style tokens for a light dashboard

Sequential scale for a light heatmap