GitHub Color Accessibility — WCAG Contrast Audit

GitHub’s primary brand colors audited against WCAG contrast — 4 of 4 pairs pass AA for normal text.

At a glance

Pairs audited
4
Passing AA (normal text)
4 of 4
AA threshold
4.5:1
AAA threshold
7:1

GitHub’s primary brand color is essentially black, which makes contrast trivial on white. Their accent colors (success green, danger red) follow Bootstrap patterns and have known light-mode failures. This page audits GitHub’s primary brand-color combinations against the WCAG 2.1 AA threshold (4.5:1 for normal-size body text). Results are computed live from the published brand colors and the WCAG luminance formula.

Brand pair audit

GitHub Black on White

Body sample text for accessibility check.

#0D1117 on #FFFFFF
18.92:1AAA

GitHub Blue on White

Body sample text for accessibility check.

#0969DA on #FFFFFF
5.19:1AA

GitHub Green on White

Body sample text for accessibility check.

#1F883D on #FFFFFF
4.52:1AA

GitHub Red on White

Body sample text for accessibility check.

#CF222E on #FFFFFF
5.36:1AA

Audit results

GitHub Black on White — #0D1117 on #FFFFFF → 18.92:1 ✓ AAA GitHub Blue on White — #0969DA on #FFFFFF → 5.19:1 ✓ AA GitHub Green on White — #1F883D on #FFFFFF → 4.52:1 ✓ AA GitHub Red on White — #CF222E on #FFFFFF → 5.36:1 ✓ AA

What this means in practice

GitHub redesigned its primer color system in 2021 specifically to ensure all primary tokens pass AA on the default theme. The link blue, success green, and danger red are all comfortably above the 4.5:1 threshold — a well-engineered system.

Frequently asked questions

Does GitHub comply with WCAG?
Brand color tokens are one input to compliance — actual page conformance depends on which pairs are used where. GitHub has 4 of 4 primary pairs passing AA at body size. Some pairs are intended for large text or background usage only.
Where can I check the latest brand guidelines?
Brand guidelines change without notice. Always cross-check against GitHub’s current published brand site or design-system documentation before shipping. The hex values used here reflect publicly documented brand color tokens at the time of writing.
How do I fix failing brand pairs in my own design system?
When a brand color fails AA on white, the standard fix is to introduce a darker variant (often suffixed -700 or -600 in design-system terminology) for use as text on light surfaces, while reserving the lighter brand color for large headings or background usage. The contrast checker above suggests the nearest passing color in either direction.

Related Tools

palette

Color Palette

Extract colors from images or generate harmonious palettes.

blur_on

Color Gradient Test

Test your monitor for color banding and 8-bit vs 10-bit depth with smooth gradients across grayscale, red, green, blue, and hue channels.

gradient

CSS Gradient

Visual CSS background generator & code.

draw

Logo Maker

Design logos with a drag-and-drop canvas editor. Add text, icons, and shapes — export PNG, SVG, or ZIP.

style

CSS Cheatsheet

Quick reference for CSS selectors, Flexbox, Grid, typography, animations, and modern CSS. Search and copy instantly.