color picker for mac
you need the hex of a colour you can see but cannot reach — in a photo, in someone else's app, in a screenshot on a page. hop.tools puts the system loupe on that pixel and hands back hex, rgb and hsl at the same time.
how to get a hex code from your screen
- press the shortcut — macOS's own loupe appears under the cursor
- click the pixel you want; the colour joins a list and is already on your clipboard
- click hex, rgb or hsl on that row to copy exactly the notation you need
- keep clicking to collect a whole palette — the list holds the order you picked in
three notations, no conversion
every row carries hex, rgb and hsl together. you do not pick a format up front and you do not convert afterwards — the one you need is one click away, whichever it turns out to be.
picked colours land in the clipboard history along with everything else you copy, so a shade from twenty minutes ago is still there when the design conversation comes back around.
no screen recording permission
most colour pickers read the screen, which means macOS asks you to grant screen recording — a permission that lets an app watch everything you do, granted for the sake of one pixel.
hop.tools does not ask for it. the picker uses the system loupe, and macOS hands back a single colour rather than the screen. the permission dialogue never appears, because the permission is not needed.
it works over anything on screen
- a website in any browser
- a photo, in Photos or anywhere else
- another app's window — a design tool, a video, a pdf
- a screenshot someone pasted into a chat
how it compares
macOS ships Digital Colour Meter, and it works — but getting a hex value out of it means switching the display mode by hand every time, and it keeps no list.
dedicated pickers like ColorSlurp do more, and if you live in colour all day they are worth their space. most people need a hex value a few times a week, and would rather not add an app and a screen recording permission for it.
this module is for that middle case: the value you need, in the notation you need, without a new icon in the menu bar.
frequently asked questions
- does it need screen recording permission?
- no. it uses the system loupe, which returns a single colour rather than the screen, so the permission is never requested.
- which formats can it copy?
- hex, rgb and hsl. every picked colour carries all three, and you click the one you want.
- can i pick several colours in a row?
- yes. each click adds a row to the list, in the order you picked them, and the list stays until you clear it.
- does it work over full screen video?
- yes — the loupe sits above whatever is on screen, including video and other apps' windows.
- is it really free?
- completely. no trial and no pro tier, and the other fifteen tools come with it.
other tools in hop.tools
- Text Recognition — Pull text off anything on screen — even a paused video or a locked PDF.
- Archives — zip, rar, 7z and the rest — unpacked right where you are looking.
- Keyboard Lock — Wipe the keyboard clean without shutting the Mac down.