Tailwind CSS v4 default palette
Tailwind yellow-400: #FCC800
In Tailwind CSS v4, yellow-400 is defined as --color-yellow-400: oklch(85.2% 0.199 91.936), which is #FCC800 in hex and rgb(252, 200, 0): a very light, vivid amber. In Tailwind v3, yellow-400 was #FACC15.
In OKLCH, yellow-400 has a lightness of 85.2%, chroma 0.199 and hue 91.9°. It is the most saturated shade of the yellow scale.
This OKLCH value lies outside sRGB. The hex #FCC800 is the sRGB fallback from the CSS Color 4 gamut mapping algorithm; on Display P3 screens browsers show a more saturated color, close to color(display-p3 0.9599 0.7902 0.0585).
In v3, yellow-400 was #FACC15. The v4 value is ΔE OK 2.7 away; v4 is darker and more saturated.
Tailwind yellow has very high lightness through 400, so only the 700 and darker shades are suitable for text on white.
Color codes for yellow-400
| Tailwind v4 token | --color-yellow-400 |
|---|---|
| OKLCH (source value) | oklch(85.2% 0.199 91.936) |
| HEX | #FCC800 |
| RGB | rgb(252, 200, 0) |
| HSL | hsl(48, 100%, 49%) |
| HWB | hwb(48 0% 1%) |
| CMYK (naive, no ICC profile) | cmyk(0%, 21%, 100%, 1%) |
| Decimal | 16,566,272 |
| Display P3 | color(display-p3 0.9599 0.7902 0.0585) |
| Tailwind v3 hex | #FACC15 |
| Utility classes | bg-yellow-400, text-yellow-400, border-yellow-400 |
Tailwind yellow scale
Contrast and accessibility
On yellow-400, black text has a contrast ratio of 13.40:1 and passes AAA at any text size; white text reaches 1.56:1.
WCAG 2.2 contrast ratios (success criteria 1.4.3 and 1.4.6: AA needs 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text, AAA needs 7:1 and 4.5:1). APCA Lc is the lightness contrast from the APCA-W3 0.0.98G model proposed for WCAG 3; a higher absolute value is more readable, and Lc 75 is its suggested minimum for body text.
| Pair | Ratio | AA | AA large | AAA | AAA large | APCA Lc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black text on yellow-400 | 13.40:1 | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | 78.2 |
| White text on yellow-400 | 1.56:1 | Fail | Fail | Fail | Fail | −29.0 |
| Yellow-400 text on white | 1.56:1 | Fail | Fail | Fail | Fail | 25.6 |
| Yellow-400 text on black | 13.40:1 | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | −77.4 |
Tints and shades
Each step mixes var(--color-yellow-400) with white (tints) or black (shades) in gamma-encoded sRGB, the same result as color-mix(in srgb, var(--color-yellow-400), white 25%) in CSS.
Tints (mixed with white)
- 5%
#fccb0d - 15%
#fcd026 - 25%
#fdd640 - 35%
#fddb59 - 45%
#fde173 - 55%
#fee68c - 65%
#feeca6 - 75%
#fef1bf - 85%
#fff7d9 - 95%
#fffcf2
Shades (mixed with black)
- 5%
#efbe00 - 15%
#d6aa00 - 25%
#bd9600 - 35%
#a48200 - 45%
#8b6e00 - 55%
#715a00 - 65%
#584600 - 75%
#3f3200 - 85%
#261e00 - 95%
#0d0a00
Color harmonies
Rotating the hue in OKLCH while keeping lightness and chroma, yellow-400's complementary color is #B8CBFF (close to lightsteelblue), its analogous colors are #FFBA70 and #BAE123, and its triadic partners are #00E9FF and #FFA5FD. For text on top, black gives the higher contrast.
| Harmony | Rotation | Color |
|---|---|---|
| Complementary | +180° | #b8cbff |
| Analogous | −30°, +30° | #ffba70#bae123 |
| Triadic | +120°, +240° | #00e9ff#ffa5fd |
| Split-complementary | +150°, +210° | #90d7ff#dcbdff |
Computed in OKLCH: the hue is rotated by 180° (complementary), ±30° (analogous), ±120° (triadic) and 180° ±30° (split-complementary) while lightness and chroma stay fixed. Results that fall outside sRGB are brought back with the CSS Color 4 gamut mapping algorithm. Because this uses OKLCH, the values differ from tools that rotate hue in HSL, but every color keeps the same perceived lightness.
Warm or cool?
Tailwind yellow-400 is a warm color: its hue is 48° on the HSL wheel, in the red, orange and yellow range (0° to about 70°, plus reds above 330°) that is conventionally called warm.
Nearest named and Tailwind colors
Distance is ΔE OK, the Euclidean distance in OKLab multiplied by 100. Values under about 2 are hard to tell apart side by side.
Code snippets
<div class="bg-yellow-400 text-black">...</div>
<p class="text-yellow-400 border-yellow-400">...</p>.element {
color: var(--color-yellow-400);
background-color: oklch(85.2% 0.199 91.936);
border-color: #fcc800;
outline-color: rgb(252 200 0);
}import SwiftUI
extension Color {
static let yellow400 = Color(red: 0.988, green: 0.784, blue: 0.000)
}import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color
val Yellow400 = Color(0xFFFCC800)import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
const yellow400 = Color(0xFFFCC800);<!-- res/values/colors.xml -->
<color name="yellow_400">#FCC800</color>Frequently asked questions
- What is the hex code for Tailwind yellow-400?
- In Tailwind CSS v4, yellow-400 is oklch(85.2% 0.199 91.936), which converts to #FCC800 (rgb(252, 200, 0)) in sRGB after gamut mapping, because the OKLCH value is outside sRGB. In Tailwind v3 the same name was #FACC15.
- What is the difference between yellow-400 in Tailwind v3 and v4?
- v3 used the hex #FACC15; v4 redefined the palette in OKLCH as oklch(85.2% 0.199 91.936). In v3, yellow-400 was #FACC15. The v4 value is ΔE OK 2.7 away; v4 is darker and more saturated.
- How do I use yellow-400 in plain CSS?
- Tailwind v4 defines every palette color as a theme variable, so in CSS you write var(--color-yellow-400). By default Tailwind only emits the variables your project uses; @theme static emits all of them.
- Can you use white text on yellow-400?
- White text on yellow-400 has a contrast ratio of 1.56:1, which fails AA even for large text under WCAG 2.2. Black text reaches 13.40:1 and passes both AA and AAA. In APCA terms that is Lc −29.0 for white and Lc 78.2 for black.
- Which CSS named color is closest to yellow-400?
- The closest is gold (#FFD700) at ΔE OK 4.0, followed by orange and khaki.
Last reviewed by Arielton Oberek.