Overview

AutoColor is a REAPER script that colours tracks, items, regions and markers according to their names. It can also set track icons the same way. For example, every track whose name contains kick can be coloured red, and every track whose name contains vox green, without picking either colour by hand.

You describe which names get which colour once. AutoColor then colours every matching track, item, region and marker in the project, and can keep doing so as you add and rename them.

Main features

Automatic. With auto-apply on, new and renamed objects are processed as you work.
Gradients. Solid color and gradient colouring. See Gradients.
Icons. Including icons browser. See Track Icons
Three match modes per rule. contains, glob and regular expression. See Match modes
Additional filters. for tracks with instruments, midi inputs, chilren, parents etc. See Filters.
Items coloring. If inheriting from track color is not enough. See Items and their track’s colour.
Live preview. Before anything is applied, see list of objects about to be affected

Concepts

Object type. AutoColor works on four object types: tracks, items, regions and markers. In this documentation, an object is any track, item, region or marker. Each object type has its own tab in the configuration window. Track icons have a fifth tab, Icons.

Rule. A rule pairs a name pattern with a colour, or on the Icons tab with an icon. For example, a rule with the pattern vox and the colour green colours every track whose name contains vox green.

Match. A rule matches an object when the object’s name fits the rule’s pattern. A rule can also have a filter, an extra condition that does not depend on the name, such as “is a folder track”. When a rule has a filter, the object must also meet that condition.

Rule order. The rules on each tab form an ordered list. AutoColor tests an object against the rules on its own tab from top to bottom, and the first rule that matches decides the colour. Rules further down the list are not considered for that object. To give one rule precedence over another, move it higher in the list.

Applying. Editing a rule does not change the project by itself. AutoColor writes colours and icons into the project when the rules are applied. You apply the rules by clicking Apply now in the configuration window, or by running one of the apply actions.

Auto-apply. When auto-apply is on, AutoColor applies the rules automatically whenever the project changes, for example when a track is added or renamed. While auto-apply is running, it does not overwrite a colour or icon that you set by hand. See Colours and icons set by hand.

Rules are shared, colours are saved per project. There is one set of rules, shared by every project. The colours and icons that the rules set are saved in each project, like any colour set by hand.

How a colour is decided

How a rule’s colour is chosen describes, step by step, how AutoColor decides the colour of each object. Track icons are decided in the same way, by the rules on the Icons tab, independently of the track’s colour.

Limitations

The master track is never coloured, because REAPER does not show a custom colour on it. See The master track is never coloured.
Takes have no rules of their own, and AutoColor removes take colours from the items it colours. See Takes.

Where to go next

Requirements: the REAPER version and the ReaImGui extension that the configuration window needs.
Installation: installing through ReaPack, or copying the files by hand.
The configuration window: the tabs, the rule list, the preview and the buttons.
Track colours: the first tab, and a quick way into what rules do.
Matching names: the three match modes, the supported regular expressions, and the filters.
Auto-apply: keeping the project coloured automatically, and what auto-apply leaves alone.
Troubleshooting: what to check when an object does not get the expected colour.