---
id: colored
version: "2.3.2"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# colored — Simple python library for color and formatting to terminal

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 1.4M/mo

## What it is and what it does

Colored is a Python library that generates ANSI/VT100 escape sequences to add color and text formatting to terminal output. It exposes color names and codes through simple objects like Fore (foreground), Back (background), and Style (text effects), making it straightforward to colorize printed text without manually constructing escape sequences.

The library supports three color modes: named colors (e.g., red, green), 256-color terminal palettes, and modern 24-bit RGB colors. It works across Windows, Linux, and most terminal emulators that recognize ANSI escape sequences, including Xterm, KDE Konsole, iTerm, and GNOME Terminal. With no runtime dependencies and Python 3.9+ as its only requirement, it is lightweight and easy to integrate into terminal-based applications.

Use it for:

- Colorize log output in CLI tools to highlight errors, warnings, and info messages by severity level.
- Build interactive terminal applications with colored prompts, status messages, and formatted tables.
- Add visual distinction to test output or build system reports for easier scanning.
- Create colored help text and usage documentation in command-line interfaces.
- Highlight syntax or structure in terminal-based data viewers or debugging utilities.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Colored provides ANSI/VT100 escape sequences for terminal text coloring and formatting, supporting 256-color and RGB (24-bit) modes across Windows, Linux, and compatible terminal emulators.

Yes. Colored is a stable, permissively licensed library with zero dependencies, low install friction, and active maintenance. It solves a common terminal formatting need with a simple API. Install it if you need to add color to CLI output; skip it only if your application has no terminal component or already uses a heavier framework that bundles terminal styling.

## Install

pip install colored
uv add colored
poetry add colored

## Installing colored

Before you install: Low install friction with no runtime dependencies; marked active maintenance as of 139 days since last release.

License in practice: MIT license (permissive) allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install colored

from colored import Fore, Back, Style

print(f'{Fore.white}{Back.green}Colored is Awesome!!!{Style.reset}')

Requires Python 3.9 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Actual RGB color support breadth across different terminal emulators beyond Xterm, Konsole, iTerm, and libvte-based terminals.
- Whether the library handles color fallback gracefully on terminals that do not support 256-color or RGB modes.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 1.4M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

terminal text color, ansi escape sequences, rgb terminal output, colored text formatting, 256 color terminal, terminal styling library, console text colors, cli-formatting, ansi-colors

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/colored) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/colored/)