color_picker

Every colored tag in Odoo stores its color as a small integer, and this widget is the standard editor for that integer. It renders Odoo's twelve-swatch palette, index 0 for "no color" through 11, and writes the picked index into the field.

The source adapts the presentation to the view. In list views, where a tag model's rows are usually edited inline, the full swatch row is always expanded so recoloring is one click. In form and kanban views it starts as just the current swatch and expands when clicked, verified in extractProps, which derives that toggle behavior from the view type. Readonly contexts show the swatch without interaction.

What it deliberately is not: a free color picker. There is no hex input and no custom colors, because the value is an index into a palette, not a color itself.

The palette being an index is what keeps Odoo's color language consistent. Tag color 3 looks identical in the tags widget, on kanban cards and in badges, across every app, and this widget is where that number gets set. Give your custom tag models the standard pair, a name and an integer color edited with this widget, and every consumer of the palette works with zero extra code.

The twelve-swatch limit is a feature in disguise. Teams that want brand-exact hex colors on tags are usually about to build an unmaintainable styling exception; the palette forces a small, readable color vocabulary that survives upgrades. Spend the effort on assigning meanings to colors, red for blocked, green for approved, and writing those meanings down.

Studio can apply the widget to any integer field.

1. Open the form or list in Studio and select the integer field (conventionally named color).

2. In Properties, set Widget to the color picker entry.

Nothing further to configure: the widget has no options, and the palette itself is not customizable from Studio (or from XML; it is the shared core palette).

The standard tag-model pair

class ProjectTag(models.Model):
    _name = "project.tag"

    name  = fields.Char(required=True)
    color = fields.Integer(string="Color")  # 0 = none, 1..11 = palette

Inline recoloring in the tag list

<list editable="bottom">
    <field name="name"/>
    <field name="color" widget="color_picker"/>
</list>

List views render the full swatch row, so managing a tag taxonomy's colors is one screen.

On the tag's form

<field name="color" widget="color_picker"/>

Shows the current swatch; clicking expands the palette. The pick updates the field and saves with the record like any other edit.

The index this widget writes is consumed by a small family of widgets, and knowing the wiring turns color features from custom work into configuration.

many2many_tags reads it through its color_field option, colors the pills, and in form views offers its own mini palette on click; that popup and this widget write the same integer.

badge reads it through color_field too, as classes o_badge_color_0 to _11.

kanban_color_picker is the card-menu variant that sets the same index from a kanban card's dropdown.

And index 0 has shared meaning: everywhere in the family, 0 renders as the neutral no-color state, which is why hiding a tag's color band and clearing a badge are both "set it to 0".

Odoo 20 is expected at Odoo Experience in Brussels, 24 to 26 September 2026. The changes below are read from the public development branch and are not final until release.

Nothing changes for this widget. Same twelve indexes, same view-dependent toggle behavior, same absence of options. Internal syntax moves to the new Owl props system, affecting JavaScript patches only. We re-verify once Odoo 20 ships.