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GitHub Brand Color Palette

What GitHub's brand colors are, what is and isn't confirmed here, and how to verify color values from official vector logo files before use.

Published

Contents
  1. The Short Answer
  2. Brand Colors Versus Interface Colors
  3. Verifying Colors From the Artwork Itself
  4. Raster Previews Are Not a Color Reference
  5. Download Access Is Not Usage Permission
  6. What This Article Could Not Confirm

The Short Answer

GitHub's logo is generally presented as a single-color mark: the Octocat silhouette, often called the Invertocat, and the GitHub wordmark, shown in a dark tone on light backgrounds or in white on dark backgrounds. The core of GitHub's brand color question is therefore less about a multi-hue palette and more about which dark value and which light value the official artwork uses.

Exact hex, RGB, CMYK or Pantone values are not given here. No confirmed source evidence for those numbers was available while this article was prepared. Any specific code you find should be checked against GitHub's own current logo downloads or brand guidance rather than taken from a third-party swatch list.

Brand Colors Versus Interface Colors

People searching for GitHub's colors often mean one of two different things. The first is the logo palette: the colors applied to the mark and wordmark in official artwork. The second is the product interface palette: the greens, blues, reds, grays and theme variants used for buttons, status labels, diff highlights and dark mode on the site. GitHub's interface styling is associated with its design system, Primer. Interface colors are not automatically approved logo colors. A green from a merge button, for example, should not be treated as a sanctioned logo fill.

Question | Logo palette | Interface palette
What it covers | Fills used on the mark and wordmark | UI elements, states and themes on the product
Typical character | Monochrome, dark or light | Many hues and shades, varying by theme
Where to verify | Official logo files and brand guidance | The design system's published color tokens
Safe to reuse on a logo? | Only within the owner's usage terms | Not as a substitute for logo colors

Verifying Colors From the Artwork Itself

The most reliable way to confirm a logo color is to inspect the official file. The steps below assume you have the file open in a vector editor.

  • Open the file and select the mark or wordmark shapes directly. Read the fill value from the object, not from a preview thumbnail.
  • Check whether the shapes are true vector paths. A file ending in SVG, EPS, AI or PDF can still contain an embedded raster image, so the extension alone does not prove the artwork is editable vector.
  • If the logo turns out to be an embedded bitmap, an eyedropper reading may be affected by anti-aliasing, compression or color-profile conversion. Treat such a reading as approximate.
  • Note the document color mode. RGB values intended for screens and CMYK values intended for print are not interchangeable, and converting between them can shift the result.
  • Compare the light and dark versions separately. A reversed white logo is a distinct approved version, not just an inverted copy.

Raster Previews Are Not a Color Reference

PNG or JPG previews and screenshots are convenient, but color sampled from them can drift from the source artwork. JPG compression, browser color management and background blending at the shape edges all alter pixel values. For a palette you intend to reuse, start from the vector source and read the declared fill.

Download Access Is Not Usage Permission

Being able to download GitHub's logo does not grant permission to recolor it, alter it, combine it with other marks or use it in ways that imply endorsement. The GitHub name and logo are trademarks, and their use is governed by GitHub's own terms. Those terms can restrict color changes, placement and context. Any fonts appearing in brand materials may also have separate licensing. Matching a color value is a technical task; whether you may apply that color to GitHub's mark is a permission question to settle with the owner's guidelines.

What This Article Could Not Confirm

  • Specific hex, RGB, CMYK or Pantone values for the GitHub logo.
  • Whether GitHub's current brand guidance specifies any accent colors beyond the monochrome logo treatment.
  • The current wording of GitHub's logo usage and trademark terms.
  • Which file formats the official logo package currently includes and whether each contains live vector paths.

For any of these points, the official logo package and GitHub's published brand or trademark guidance are the authoritative references. Check them before finalizing artwork or a palette document.