# Pika: a native macOS colour picker with a URL scheme for automation

> Pika is an MIT-licensed SwiftUI colour picker that lives in the menu bar and exposes every action through a pika:// URL scheme. It is a Mac-only tool, currently shipping 2.0.0 betas.

**superhighfives/pika** — An open-source colour picker app for macOS

- Repository: https://github.com/superhighfives/pika
- Website: https://superhighfives.com/pika
- Stars: 2,581 · Forks: 82
- Language: Swift
- License: MIT
- Published: 2026-09-28 · Updated: 2026-09-28 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/superhighfives-pika

## The gap Pika fills for designers on macOS

macOS ships a system colour picker, and Pika does not try to replace it. The README describes Pika as a native colour picker that helps you "quickly find colours onscreen, in the format you need". That wording points at the actual problem: the system picker gives you a colour, but not always in the notation your project expects. A CSS file wants hex or OKLCH, a shader wants OpenGL values, a design handoff may want LAB.

Pika holds a foreground and a background colour at the same time, which is what makes the contrast workflow possible. You pick one, pick the other, and the app can show a compliance panel and a colour preview. The keyboard table in the README maps pick, copy, format switching and window actions to single keys or Command combinations, so the loop stays on the keyboard.

The audience is narrow and clearly stated: people doing visual work on a Mac who care about colour notation. It is not a palette manager, not a design-token pipeline, and not a cross-platform library.

## How the picker, formats and URL scheme fit together

The repository is a single Xcode project. Pika.xcodeproj sits at the top level next to Pika/, PikaTests/, a Mintfile, a .swiftlint.yml and a .swift-version file. The primary language is Swift, and the topics list swiftui, so the interface is built with SwiftUI rather than AppKit views.

The interesting mechanism is the pika:// URL scheme, which the README documents as a full action table. Every keyboard action has a URL equivalent: pika://pick/foreground, pika://copy/background, pika://swap, pika://undo, pika://redo. Formats are a path segment, so pika://pick/foreground/hex picks in hex and pika://format/oklch switches the active format. Copy actions can emit structured output: pika://copy/json and pika://copy/text copy all colours at once.

That design turns the app into something other software can drive. A shell script, a Shortcuts action or a launcher can call a URL and get a colour back into the clipboard without any GUI interaction. The same table also covers window and appearance control, including pika://window/resize/<w>/<h> and pika://appearance/dark.

Undo and redo exist as first-class actions, which matters because picking is destructive to your current colour state. Pika keeps a history you can toggle with H or pika://history/toggle.

## Installing Pika and picking your first colour

The README points at superhighfives.com/pika for the latest download, and also gives a Homebrew cask. If you already use Homebrew, one command installs it:

```bash
brew install --cask pika
```

After that, Pika appears as an installed application. The README states the OS requirement as macOS Sequoia (Version 14) and newer, so check that before you start.

Once running, the fastest path is the keyboard. Press Command D to pick the foreground colour from anywhere on screen, then Command C to copy it. The README's shortcut table lists Command 1 through Command 7 for switching format, covering Hex, RGB, HSB, HSL, LAB, OpenGL and OKLCH.

For scripting, the URL scheme is the entry point. The README gives this example, which picks the foreground in hex:

```
pika://pick/foreground/hex
```

Swapping the word foreground for background gives you the other slot, and pika://pick/contrast picks both. To pull structured data out, the README documents this URL:

```
pika://copy/json
```

According to the README table, that copies all colours as JSON to the clipboard. From there you can paste into a config file or pipe it into another tool.

## Where Pika stops being the right tool

The hard boundary is the operating system. Pika is a macOS app, the README's requirement section names macOS Sequoia (Version 14) and newer, and the repository is an Xcode project with a .swift-version file. There is no Windows or Linux build, and nothing in the README suggests one is planned. If your team is mixed-platform, Pika covers only the Mac half.

The second limitation is release maturity. The recent releases are 2.0.0-beta1, beta2 and beta3, all published in August 2026. The README's download section does not distinguish stable from beta, and it does not document a rollback path if a beta misbehaves. If you need a version you can pin and forget, the README does not tell you which build that is.

The third is the URL scheme itself. It is powerful, but it is also the whole automation surface. Anything not in the README's URL table cannot be scripted through this interface. The README does not document a CLI binary, a plugin API or a network endpoint, so integrations have to go through pika:// or through the clipboard.

Building from source has its own trap. The README warns that Sparkle requires a team and signing profile set for the project, or the app will crash with a dyld / signal SIGABRT error. That is a real setup cost for contributors.

## Pika compared with the macOS system colour picker

The obvious alternative is the colour picker Apple ships with macOS, which Pika itself integrates with. The README lists "System color picker integration" as a feature and gives it dedicated shortcuts: Command S uses the system picker for the foreground, Command Shift S for the background, with pika://system/foreground and pika://system/background as the URL equivalents.

The difference in approach is what each one is built for. The system picker is a general utility available to any app that requests a colour; it is not a standalone workflow tool. Pika keeps two colour slots, a history, a compliance view and a preview window, and it converts between seven named formats with a keystroke. It also exposes those actions as URLs, which the system picker does not.

So the choice is not either/or in practice. If you only need to sample a pixel occasionally, the system picker is already installed and there is nothing to add. If you need foreground and background side by side, format switching, or a scriptable trigger, Pika is the layer on top. The README's own shortcut table shows the two coexisting rather than competing.

## Maintenance, licence and the cost of upgrading

The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-09-25. Releases are frequent enough that the 2.0.0 line produced three betas inside five days in August 2026. That pace cuts both ways: fixes arrive quickly, and so do changes you may not have asked for.

The licence is MIT, stated in LICENSE.md at the top level. MIT is permissive, so redistributing Pika or shipping a modified build is broadly allowed, provided you keep the copyright and licence notice. That is a description of the licence text, not legal advice; if you plan to bundle Pika inside a commercial product, have someone qualified read the file.

Upgrade cost depends on how you installed it. The Homebrew cask path means upgrades come through Homebrew. The app also bundles Sparkle, the software update framework, which the README lists under dependencies. The README does not describe a rollback procedure, so if you script against pika:// URLs, treat the URL table as the compatibility surface to watch between releases. Nothing in the README states whether the URL scheme is versioned or guaranteed stable across major versions.

## Conclusion

Adopt Pika if you work on macOS Sequoia or newer and want a colour picker you can script from Shortcuts, a shell script or another app through pika:// URLs. Skip it if you need Windows or Linux support, or if you want a stable non-beta build, since the newest releases are 2.0.0-beta1 through beta3. Before relying on it, confirm your macOS version against the stated requirement, check whether the URL scheme you plan to call appears in the README table, and decide whether you will install the cask or build from source, which needs a signing profile for Sparkle.

## FAQ

### What is Pika and which platforms does it run on?

Pika is an open-source colour picker app for macOS, written in Swift and licensed under MIT. The README states the requirement as macOS Sequoia (Version 14) and newer, and the repository is an Xcode project, so there is no Windows or Linux build.

### How do I install the Pika color picker on a Mac?

The README points to superhighfives.com/pika for the latest download, and also gives the Homebrew cask command brew install --cask pika. Both routes install the same macOS application.

### Which colour formats does Pika support?

The README lists Hex, RGB, HSB, HSL, LAB and OpenGL in the features, and the shortcut and URL tables add OKLCH, giving seven formats. Each has a Command-key shortcut and a pika://format/ URL.

### Can Pika be triggered from a script or another app?

Yes. The README documents a pika:// URL scheme covering pick, copy, format, history, compliance, preview, window and appearance actions, including pika://copy/json to copy all colours as JSON. Any action not in that table has no documented URL equivalent.

### Why does building Pika from source crash with a dyld error?

The README states that Sparkle requires a team and signing profile set for the project, and that without one the app crashes with a dyld / signal SIGABRT error. Contributors need to configure signing before running the project in Xcode.

## Sources

- [License: MIT](https://github.com/superhighfives/pika/blob/main/LICENSE)
- [Project website](https://superhighfives.com/pika)
- [README](https://github.com/superhighfives/pika/blob/main/README.md)
- [Releases](https://github.com/superhighfives/pika/releases)
- [superhighfives/pika on GitHub](https://github.com/superhighfives/pika)

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Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/superhighfives-pika