diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 37234fae4..4ba0a7b05 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ export(ansi_hide_cursor)
 export(ansi_html)
 export(ansi_html_style)
 export(ansi_nchar)
+export(ansi_palette_show)
+export(ansi_palettes)
 export(ansi_regex)
 export(ansi_show_cursor)
 export(ansi_simplify)
@@ -213,6 +215,7 @@ export(symbol)
 export(test_that_cli)
 export(ticking)
 export(tree)
+export(truecolor)
 export(utf8_graphemes)
 export(utf8_nchar)
 export(utf8_substr)
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 703cd4fbb..829ce19db 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # cli (development version)
 
+* Support for palettes, including a colorblind friendly palette.
+  See `?ansi_palettes` for details.
+
 * True color support: `num_ansi_colors()` now detects terminals with
   24 bit color support, and `make_ansi_style()` uses the exact RGB colors
   on these terminals.
diff --git a/R/ansi-palette.R b/R/ansi-palette.R
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d059d234a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/ansi-palette.R
@@ -0,0 +1,219 @@
+
+get_palette_color <- function(style, colors = num_ansi_colors()) {
+  opt <- getOption("cli.palette")
+  if (is.null(opt) || colors < 256) return(style)
+  cache_palette_color(opt, style$palette, colors)
+}
+
+palette_cache <- new.env(parent = emptyenv())
+
+cache_palette_color <- function(pal, idx, colors = num_ansi_colors()) {
+  if (is_string(pal)) {
+    if (! pal %in% rownames(ansi_palettes)) {
+      stop("Cannot find cli ANSI palette '", pal, "'.")
+    }
+    pal <- ansi_palettes[pal, ]
+  }
+
+  bg <- idx < 0
+  idx <- abs(idx)
+  col <- pal[[idx]]
+
+  colkey <- as.character(colors)
+  key <- paste0(col, bg)
+  if (key %in% names(palette_cache[[colkey]])) {
+    return(palette_cache[[colkey]][[key]])
+  }
+
+  val <- ansi_style_from_r_color(
+    col,
+    bg = bg,
+    colors,
+    grey = FALSE
+  )
+
+  if (is.null(palette_cache[[colkey]])) {
+    palette_cache[[colkey]] <- new.env(parent = emptyenv())
+  }
+  palette_cache[[colkey]][[key]] <- val
+
+  return(val)
+}
+
+#' @details
+#' `truecolor` is an integer constant for the number of 24 bit ANSI colors.
+#'
+#' @format `truecolor` is an integer scalar.
+#'
+#' @export
+#' @rdname ansi_palettes
+
+truecolor <- as.integer(256 ^ 3)
+
+#' ANSI colors palettes
+#'
+#' If your platform supports at least 256 colors, then you can configure
+#' the colors that cli uses for the eight base and the eight bright colors.
+#' (I.e. the colors of [col_black()], [col_red()], and [col_br_black()],
+#' [col_br_red()], etc.
+#'
+#' To customize the default palette, set the `cli.palette` option to the
+#' name of a built-in palette (see `ansi_palettes()`), or the list of
+#' 16 colors. Colors can be specified with RGB colors strings:
+#' `#rrggbb` or R color names (see the output of [grDevices::colors()]).
+#'
+#' For example, you can put this in your R profile:
+#' ```r
+#' options(cli.palette = "vscode")
+#' ```
+#'
+#' It is currently not possible to configure the background colors
+#' separately, these will be always the same as the foreground colors.
+#'
+#' If your platform only has 256 colors, then the colors specified in the
+#' palette have to be interpolated. On true color platforms they RGB
+#' values are used as-is.
+#'
+#' `ansi_palettes` is a data frame of the built-in palettes, each row
+#' is one palette.
+#'
+#' `ansi_palette_show()` shows the colors of an ANSI palette on the screen.
+#'
+#' @format `ansi_palettes` is a data frame with one row for each palette,
+#'   and one column for each base ANSI color. `attr(ansi_palettes, "info")`
+#'   contains a list with information about each palette.
+#'
+#' @export
+#' @examples
+#' ansi_palettes
+#' ansi_palette_show("dichro", colors = truecolor)
+
+ansi_palettes <- rbind(
+  read.table(
+    "tools/ansi-palettes.txt",
+    comment = ";",
+    stringsAsFactors = FALSE
+  ),
+  read.table(
+    "tools/ansi-iterm-palettes.txt",
+    comment = ";",
+    stringsAsFactors = FALSE
+  )
+)
+
+attr(ansi_palettes, "info") <-
+  list(
+    dichro = paste(
+      "Colorblind friendly palette, from",
+      "https://github.com/romainl/vim-dichromatic#dichromatic."
+    ),
+    vga = paste(
+      "Typical colors that are used when booting PCs and leaving them in",
+      "text mode, which used a 16-entry color table. The colors are",
+      "different in the EGA/VGA graphic modes.",
+      "From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR."
+    ),
+    winxp = paste(
+      "Windows XP Console. Seen in Windows XP through Windows 8.1.",
+      "From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR."
+    ),
+    vscode = paste(
+      "Visual Studio Debug console, 'Dark+' theme.",
+      "From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR."
+    ),
+    win10 = paste0(
+      "Campbell theme, used as of Windows 10 version 1709. Also used",
+      "by PowerShell 6.",
+      "From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR."
+    ),
+    macos = paste0(
+      "Terminal.app in macOS",
+      "From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR."
+    ),
+    putty = paste0(
+      "From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR."
+    ),
+    mirc = paste0(
+      "From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR."
+    ),
+    xterm = paste0(
+      "From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR."
+    ),
+    ubuntu = paste0(
+      "For virtual terminals, from /etc/vtrgb.",
+      "From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR."
+    ),
+    eclipse = paste0(
+      "From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR."
+    ),
+    iterm = "Built-in iTerm2 theme.",
+    "iterm-pastel" = "Built-In iTerm2 theme.",
+    "iterm-smoooooth" = "Built-In iTerm2 theme.",
+    "iterm-snazzy" = "From https://github.com/sindresorhus/iterm2-snazzy.",
+    "iterm-solarized" = "Built-In iTerm2 theme.",
+    "iterm-tango" = "Built-In iTerm2 theme."
+  )
+
+#' @param palette The palette to show, in the same format as for the
+#'   `cli.palette` option, so it can be the name of a built-in palette,
+#'   of a list of 16 colors.
+#' @param colors Number of ANSI colors to use the show the palette. If the
+#'   platform does not have sufficient support, the output might have
+#'   a lower color resolution. Without color support it will have no color
+#'   at all.
+#' @param rows The number of colored rows to print.
+#' @return `ansi_palette_show` returns a character vector, the rows that
+#'   are printed to the screen, invisibly.
+#'
+#' @export
+#' @rdname ansi_palettes
+
+ansi_palette_show <- function(palette = NULL, colors = num_ansi_colors(),
+                              rows = 4) {
+  opts <- options(
+    cli.palette = palette %||% getOption("cli.palette"),
+    cli.num_colors = colors
+  )
+  on.exit(options(opts), add = TRUE)
+
+  blk <- strrep(symbol$lower_block_8, 4)
+  blks <- c(
+    "blck" = col_black(blk),
+    "red " = col_red(blk),
+    "grn " = col_green(blk),
+    "yllw" = col_yellow(blk),
+    "blue" = col_blue(blk),
+    "mgnt" = col_magenta(blk),
+    "cyan" = col_cyan(blk),
+    "whte" = col_white(blk),
+    "blck" = col_br_black(blk),
+    "red " = col_br_red(blk),
+    "grn " = col_br_green(blk),
+    "yllw" = col_br_yellow(blk),
+    "blue" = col_br_blue(blk),
+    "mgnt" = col_br_magenta(blk),
+    "cyan" = col_br_cyan(blk),
+    "whte" = col_br_white(blk)
+  )
+
+  join <- function(x) {
+    paste0(
+      paste(x[1:8], collapse = " "),
+      "  ",
+      paste(x[9:16], collapse = " ")
+    )
+  }
+
+  nms <- join(names(blks))
+  str <- join(blks)
+
+  out <- c(
+    paste(strrep(" ", 52), "bright variants"),
+    nms,
+    "",
+    rep(str, rows)
+  )
+
+  cat_line(out)
+  invisible(out)
+}
diff --git a/R/ansi.R b/R/ansi.R
index c2256c350..9ca2899ad 100644
--- a/R/ansi.R
+++ b/R/ansi.R
@@ -1,5 +1,21 @@
 
-TRUE_COLORS <- as.integer(256^3)
+palette_idx <- function(id) {
+  ifelse(
+    id < 38,
+    id - (30 - 1),
+  ifelse(
+    id < 48,
+    -(id - (40 - 1)),
+  ifelse(
+    id < 98,
+    id - (90 - 9),
+    -(id - (100 - 9))
+  )))
+}
+
+palette_color <- function(x) {
+  c(x, palette = palette_idx(x[[1]]))
+}
 
 ansi_builtin_styles <- list(
   reset = list(0, c(0, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 39, 49)),
@@ -11,42 +27,42 @@ ansi_builtin_styles <- list(
   hidden = list(8, 28),
   strikethrough = list(9, 29),
 
-  black = list(30, 39),
-  red = list(31, 39),
-  green = list(32, 39),
-  yellow = list(33, 39),
-  blue = list(34, 39),
-  magenta = list(35, 39),
-  cyan = list(36, 39),
-  white = list(37, 39),
+  black = palette_color(list(30, 39)),
+  red = palette_color(list(31, 39)),
+  green = palette_color(list(32, 39)),
+  yellow = palette_color(list(33, 39)),
+  blue = palette_color(list(34, 39)),
+  magenta = palette_color(list(35, 39)),
+  cyan = palette_color(list(36, 39)),
+  white = palette_color(list(37, 39)),
   silver = list(90, 39),
 
-  br_black = list(90, 39),
-  br_red = list(91, 39),
-  br_green = list(92, 39),
-  br_yellow = list(93, 39),
-  br_blue = list(94, 39),
-  br_magenta = list(95, 39),
-  br_cyan = list(96, 39),
-  br_white = list(97, 39),
-
-  bg_black = list(40, 49),
-  bg_red = list(41, 49),
-  bg_green = list(42, 49),
-  bg_yellow = list(43, 49),
-  bg_blue = list(44, 49),
-  bg_magenta = list(45, 49),
-  bg_cyan = list(46, 49),
-  bg_white = list(47, 49),
-
-  bg_br_black = list(100, 39),
-  bg_br_red = list(101, 39),
-  bg_br_green = list(102, 39),
-  bg_br_yellow = list(103, 39),
-  bg_br_blue = list(104, 39),
-  bg_br_magenta = list(105, 39),
-  bg_br_cyan = list(106, 39),
-  bg_br_white = list(107, 39),
+  br_black = palette_color(list(90, 39)),
+  br_red = palette_color(list(91, 39)),
+  br_green = palette_color(list(92, 39)),
+  br_yellow = palette_color(list(93, 39)),
+  br_blue = palette_color(list(94, 39)),
+  br_magenta = palette_color(list(95, 39)),
+  br_cyan = palette_color(list(96, 39)),
+  br_white = palette_color(list(97, 39)),
+
+  bg_black = palette_color(list(40, 49)),
+  bg_red = palette_color(list(41, 49)),
+  bg_green = palette_color(list(42, 49)),
+  bg_yellow = palette_color(list(43, 49)),
+  bg_blue = palette_color(list(44, 49)),
+  bg_magenta = palette_color(list(45, 49)),
+  bg_cyan = palette_color(list(46, 49)),
+  bg_white = palette_color(list(47, 49)),
+
+  bg_br_black = palette_color(list(100, 39)),
+  bg_br_red = palette_color(list(101, 39)),
+  bg_br_green = palette_color(list(102, 39)),
+  bg_br_yellow = palette_color(list(103, 39)),
+  bg_br_blue = palette_color(list(104, 39)),
+  bg_br_magenta = palette_color(list(105, 39)),
+  bg_br_cyan = palette_color(list(106, 39)),
+  bg_br_white = palette_color(list(107, 39)),
 
   # similar to reset, but only for a single property
   no_bold          = list(c(0,     23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 39, 49), 22),
@@ -97,19 +113,21 @@ ansi_style_str <- function(x) {
   paste0("\u001b[", x, "m", collapse = "")
 }
 
-create_ansi_style_tag <- function(name, open, close) {
+create_ansi_style_tag <- function(name, open, close, palette = NULL) {
   structure(
-    list(list(open = open, close = close)),
+    list(list(open = open, close = close, palette = palette)),
     names = name
   )
 }
 
 create_ansi_style_fun <- function(styles) {
   fun <- eval(substitute(function(...) {
-    mystyles <- .styles
     txt <- paste0(...)
-    if (num_ansi_colors() > 1) {
+    nc <- num_ansi_colors()
+    if (nc > 1) {
+      mystyles <- .styles
       for (st in rev(mystyles)) {
+        if (!is.null(st$palette)) st <- get_palette_color(st, nc)
         txt <- paste0(
           st$open,
           gsub(st$close, st$open, txt, fixed = TRUE),
@@ -129,7 +147,8 @@ create_ansi_style_fun <- function(styles) {
 create_ansi_style <- function(name, open = NULL, close = NULL) {
   open <- open %||% ansi_style_str(ansi_builtin_styles[[name]][[1]])
   close <- close %||% ansi_style_str(ansi_builtin_styles[[name]][[2]])
-  style <- create_ansi_style_tag(name, open, close)
+  palette <- ansi_builtin_styles[[name]]$palette
+  style <- create_ansi_style_tag(name, open, close, palette)
   create_ansi_style_fun(style)
 }
 
@@ -263,7 +282,7 @@ ansi_style_8_from_rgb <- function(rgb, bg) {
 
 ansi_style_from_rgb <- function(rgb, bg, num_colors, grey) {
   if (num_colors < 256) { return(ansi_style_8_from_rgb(rgb, bg)) }
-  if (num_colors < TRUE_COLORS || grey) return(ansi256(rgb, bg, grey))
+  if (num_colors < truecolor || grey) return(ansi256(rgb, bg, grey))
   return(ansitrue(rgb, bg))
 }
 
diff --git a/R/ansiex.R b/R/ansiex.R
index 533280467..aa971d1fe 100644
--- a/R/ansiex.R
+++ b/R/ansiex.R
@@ -817,19 +817,6 @@ ansi_html <- function(x, escape_reserved = TRUE, csi = c("drop", "keep")) {
   .Call(clic_ansi_html, x, csi == "keep")
 }
 
-ansi_themes <- rbind(
-  read.table(
-    "tools/ansi-themes.txt",
-    comment = ";",
-    stringsAsFactors = FALSE
-  ),
-  read.table(
-    "tools/ansi-iterm-themes.txt",
-    comment = ";",
-    stringsAsFactors = FALSE
-  )
-)
-
 #' CSS styles for the output of `ansi_html()`
 #'
 #'
@@ -837,11 +824,11 @@ ansi_themes <- rbind(
 #' @param colors Whether or not to include colors. `FALSE` will not include
 #'   colors, `TRUE` or `8` will include eight colors (plus their bright
 #'   variants), `256` will include 256 colors.
-#' @param theme Character scalar, theme to use for the first eight colors
+#' @param palette Character scalar, palette to use for the first eight colors
 #'   plus their bright variants. Terminals define these colors differently,
-#'   and cli includes a couple of examples. Sources of themes:
+#'   and cli includes a couple of examples. Sources of palettes:
 #'   * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#3-bit_and_4-bit
-#'   * iTerm2 builtin themes
+#'   * iTerm2 builtin palettes
 #'   * https://github.com/sindresorhus/iterm2-snazzy
 #' @return Named list of CSS declaration blocks, where the names are
 #'   CSS selectors. It has a `format()` and `print()` methods, which you
@@ -851,18 +838,18 @@ ansi_themes <- rbind(
 #' @export
 #' @examples
 #' ansi_html_style(colors = FALSE)
-#' ansi_html_style(colors = 8, theme = "iterm-snazzy")
+#' ansi_html_style(colors = 8, palette = "iterm-snazzy")
 
-ansi_html_style <- function(colors = TRUE, theme = NULL) {
-  if (is.character(theme)) {
-    theme <- match.arg(theme)
-    theme <- as.list(ansi_themes[theme, ])
+ansi_html_style <- function(colors = TRUE, palette = NULL) {
+  if (is.character(palette)) {
+    palette <- match.arg(palette)
+    palette <- as.list(ansi_palettes[palette, ])
   }
 
   stopifnot(
     isTRUE(colors) || identical(colors, FALSE) ||
       (is_count(colors) && colors %in% c(8,256)),
-    is_string(theme) || is.list(theme) && length(theme) == 16
+    is_string(palette) || is.list(palette) && length(palette) == 16
   )
 
   ret <- list(
@@ -879,11 +866,11 @@ ansi_html_style <- function(colors = TRUE, theme = NULL) {
   if (!identical(colors, FALSE)) {
     fg <- structure(
       names = paste0(".ansi-color-", 0:15),
-      paste0("{ color: ", theme, " }")
+      paste0("{ color: ", palette, " }")
     )
     bg <- structure(
       names = paste0(".ansi-bg-color-", 0:15),
-      paste0("{ background-color: ", theme, " }")
+      paste0("{ background-color: ", palette, " }")
     )
     ret <- c(ret, fg, bg)
   }
@@ -918,7 +905,7 @@ ansi_html_style <- function(colors = TRUE, theme = NULL) {
 }
 
 # This avoids duplication, but messes up the source ref of the function...
-formals(ansi_html_style)$theme <- c("vscode", setdiff(rownames(ansi_themes), "vscode"))
+formals(ansi_html_style)$palette <- c("vscode", setdiff(rownames(ansi_palettes), "vscode"))
 attr(body(ansi_html_style), "srcref") <- NULL
 attr(body(ansi_html_style), "wholeSrcref") <- NULL
 attr(body(ansi_html_style), "srcfile") <- NULL
diff --git a/R/bullets.R b/R/bullets.R
index 224cc4194..a0d22d5fc 100644
--- a/R/bullets.R
+++ b/R/bullets.R
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 #' a name create a `div` element of class `memo-item-empty`, and if the
 #' name is a single space character, the class is `memo-item-space`.
 #'
-#' The builtin theme defines the following item types:
+#' The built-in theme defines the following item types:
 #' * No name: Item without a prefix.
 #' * ` `: Indented item.
 #' * `*`: Item with a bullet.
diff --git a/R/num-ansi-colors.R b/R/num-ansi-colors.R
index cfd219c80..9cb65967c 100644
--- a/R/num-ansi-colors.R
+++ b/R/num-ansi-colors.R
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ detect_tty_colors <- function() {
   ct <- Sys.getenv("COLORTERM", NA_character_)
   if (!is.na(ct)) {
     if (ct == "truecolor" || ct == "24bit") {
-      return(TRUE_COLORS)
+      return(truecolor)
     } else {
       return(8L)
     }
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ detect_tty_colors <- function() {
     # this is rather weird, but echo turns on color support :D
     system2("cmd", c("/c", "echo 1 >NUL"))
     # https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/24-bit-color-in-the-windows-console/
-    if (win10 >= 14931) return(TRUE_COLORS) else return(256L)
+    if (win10 >= 14931) return(truecolor) else return(256L)
   }
 
   if (os_type() == "windows") {
diff --git a/R/spinner.R b/R/spinner.R
index 5d7a39507..379732910 100644
--- a/R/spinner.R
+++ b/R/spinner.R
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ usethis::use_data(spinners, internal = TRUE)
 #'   is used, which can be customized via the `cli.spinner_unicode`,
 #'   `cli.spinner_ascii` and `cli.spinner` options. (The latter applies to
 #'   both Unicode and ASCII displays. These options can be set to the name
-#'   of a builting spinner, or to a list that has an entry called `frames`,
+#'   of a built-in spinner, or to a list that has an entry called `frames`,
 #'   a character vector of frames.
 #' @return A list with entries: `name`, `interval`: the suggested update
 #'   interval in milliseconds and `frames`: the character vector of the
diff --git a/_pkgdown.yml b/_pkgdown.yml
index 2b6710d86..faab399c0 100644
--- a/_pkgdown.yml
+++ b/_pkgdown.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ navbar:
       href: articles/progress.html
     - text: Advanced cli Progress Bars
       href: articles/progress-advanced.html
+    - text: cli color palettes
+      href: articles/palettes.html
   - text: News
     href: news/index.html
 
@@ -37,6 +39,9 @@ articles:
   contents:
   - progress
   - progress-advanced
+- title: Customization
+  contents:
+  - palettes
 
 reference:
 - title: Introduction
@@ -123,6 +128,7 @@ reference:
   
 - title: Terminal Colors and Styles
   contents:
+  - ansi_palettes
   - num_ansi_colors
   - starts_with("bg_")
   - starts_with("col_")
diff --git a/man/ansi_html_style.Rd b/man/ansi_html_style.Rd
index 4c8dac3bb..40afb36ae 100644
--- a/man/ansi_html_style.Rd
+++ b/man/ansi_html_style.Rd
@@ -6,10 +6,9 @@
 \usage{
 ansi_html_style(
   colors = TRUE,
-  theme = c("vscode", "vga", "winxp", "win10", "macos", "putty", "mirc", "xterm",
-    "ubuntu", "eclipse", "iterm-dark", "iterm-light", "iterm-pastel", "iterm-smoooooth",
-    "iterm-snazzy", "iterm-sol-dark", "iterm-sol-light", "iterm-tango-dark",
-    "iterm-tango-light")
+  palette = c("vscode", "dichro", "vga", "winxp", "win10", "macos", "putty", "mirc",
+    "xterm", "ubuntu", "eclipse", "iterm", "iterm-pastel", "iterm-smoooooth",
+    "iterm-snazzy", "iterm-solarized", "iterm-tango")
 )
 }
 \arguments{
@@ -17,12 +16,12 @@ ansi_html_style(
 colors, \code{TRUE} or \code{8} will include eight colors (plus their bright
 variants), \code{256} will include 256 colors.}
 
-\item{theme}{Character scalar, theme to use for the first eight colors
+\item{palette}{Character scalar, palette to use for the first eight colors
 plus their bright variants. Terminals define these colors differently,
-and cli includes a couple of examples. Sources of themes:
+and cli includes a couple of examples. Sources of palettes:
 \itemize{
 \item https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#3-bit_and_4-bit
-\item iTerm2 builtin themes
+\item iTerm2 builtin palettes
 \item https://github.com/sindresorhus/iterm2-snazzy
 }}
 }
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ CSS styles for the output of \code{ansi_html()}
 }
 \examples{
 ansi_html_style(colors = FALSE)
-ansi_html_style(colors = 8, theme = "iterm-snazzy")
+ansi_html_style(colors = 8, palette = "iterm-snazzy")
 }
 \seealso{
 Other ANSI to HTML conversion: 
diff --git a/man/ansi_palettes.Rd b/man/ansi_palettes.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..189bfcb72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/ansi_palettes.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/ansi-palette.R
+\docType{data}
+\name{truecolor}
+\alias{truecolor}
+\alias{ansi_palettes}
+\alias{ansi_palette_show}
+\title{ANSI colors palettes}
+\format{
+\code{truecolor} is an integer scalar.
+
+\code{ansi_palettes} is a data frame with one row for each palette,
+and one column for each base ANSI color. \code{attr(ansi_palettes, "info")}
+contains a list with information about each palette.
+}
+\usage{
+truecolor
+
+ansi_palettes
+
+ansi_palette_show(palette = NULL, colors = num_ansi_colors(), rows = 4)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{palette}{The palette to show, in the same format as for the
+\code{cli.palette} option, so it can be the name of a built-in palette,
+of a list of 16 colors.}
+
+\item{colors}{Number of ANSI colors to use the show the palette. If the
+platform does not have sufficient support, the output might have
+a lower color resolution. Without color support it will have no color
+at all.}
+
+\item{rows}{The number of colored rows to print.}
+}
+\value{
+\code{ansi_palette_show} returns a character vector, the rows that
+are printed to the screen, invisibly.
+}
+\description{
+If your platform supports at least 256 colors, then you can configure
+the colors that cli uses for the eight base and the eight bright colors.
+(I.e. the colors of \code{\link[=col_black]{col_black()}}, \code{\link[=col_red]{col_red()}}, and \code{\link[=col_br_black]{col_br_black()}},
+\code{\link[=col_br_red]{col_br_red()}}, etc.
+}
+\details{
+\code{truecolor} is an integer constant for the number of 24 bit ANSI colors.
+
+To customize the default palette, set the \code{cli.palette} option to the
+name of a built-in palette (see \code{ansi_palettes()}), or the list of
+16 colors. Colors can be specified with RGB colors strings:
+\verb{#rrggbb} or R color names (see the output of \code{\link[grDevices:colors]{grDevices::colors()}}).
+
+For example, you can put this in your R profile:\if{html}{\out{<div class="sourceCode r">}}\preformatted{options(cli.palette = "vscode")
+}\if{html}{\out{</div>}}
+
+It is currently not possible to configure the background colors
+separately, these will be always the same as the foreground colors.
+
+If your platform only has 256 colors, then the colors specified in the
+palette have to be interpolated. On true color platforms they RGB
+values are used as-is.
+
+\code{ansi_palettes} is a data frame of the built-in palettes, each row
+is one palette.
+
+\code{ansi_palette_show()} shows the colors of an ANSI palette on the screen.
+}
+\examples{
+ansi_palettes
+ansi_palette_show("dichro", colors = truecolor)
+}
+\keyword{datasets}
diff --git a/man/cli_bullets.Rd b/man/cli_bullets.Rd
index 9463e4bb7..61ddcc289 100644
--- a/man/cli_bullets.Rd
+++ b/man/cli_bullets.Rd
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ item is another \code{div} element of class \verb{memo-item-<name>}, where
 a name create a \code{div} element of class \code{memo-item-empty}, and if the
 name is a single space character, the class is \code{memo-item-space}.
 
-The builtin theme defines the following item types:
+The built-in theme defines the following item types:
 \itemize{
 \item No name: Item without a prefix.
 \item \verb{}: Indented item.
diff --git a/man/get_spinner.Rd b/man/get_spinner.Rd
index 34dd5904b..7f59e43d2 100644
--- a/man/get_spinner.Rd
+++ b/man/get_spinner.Rd
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ get_spinner(which = NULL)
 is used, which can be customized via the \code{cli.spinner_unicode},
 \code{cli.spinner_ascii} and \code{cli.spinner} options. (The latter applies to
 both Unicode and ASCII displays. These options can be set to the name
-of a builting spinner, or to a list that has an entry called \code{frames},
+of a built-in spinner, or to a list that has an entry called \code{frames},
 a character vector of frames.}
 }
 \value{
diff --git a/man/make_spinner.Rd b/man/make_spinner.Rd
index 11d65c4eb..cafff2270 100644
--- a/man/make_spinner.Rd
+++ b/man/make_spinner.Rd
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ make_spinner(
 is used, which can be customized via the \code{cli.spinner_unicode},
 \code{cli.spinner_ascii} and \code{cli.spinner} options. (The latter applies to
 both Unicode and ASCII displays. These options can be set to the name
-of a builting spinner, or to a list that has an entry called \code{frames},
+of a built-in spinner, or to a list that has an entry called \code{frames},
 a character vector of frames.}
 
 \item{stream}{The stream to use for the spinner. Typically this is
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/ansi-html.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/ansi-html.md
index ba706b723..146291a53 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/ansi-html.md
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/ansi-html.md
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@
 ---
 
     Code
-      ansi_html_style(colors = 256, theme = "ubuntu")
+      ansi_html_style(colors = 256, palette = "ubuntu")
     Output
       .ansi-bold         { font-weight: bold;             }
       .ansi-italic       { font-style: italic;            }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-ansi-html.R b/tests/testthat/test-ansi-html.R
index e22eb4a47..4ea63cdb1 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-ansi-html.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-ansi-html.R
@@ -81,6 +81,6 @@ test_that("ansi_html_style", {
     ansi_html_style(colors = 8)
   )
   expect_snapshot(
-    ansi_html_style(colors = 256, theme = "ubuntu")
+    ansi_html_style(colors = 256, palette = "ubuntu")
   )
 })
diff --git a/tools/ansi-iterm-palettes.txt b/tools/ansi-iterm-palettes.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0eeb007cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/ansi-iterm-palettes.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+black red green yellow blue magenta cyan white br_black br_red br_green br_yellow br_blue br_magenta br_cyan br_white
+iterm #000000 #c91b00 #00c200 #c7c400 #0225c7 #ca30c7 #00c5c7 #c7c7c7 #686868 #ff6e67 #5ffa68 #fffc67 #6871ff #ff77ff #60fdff #ffffff
+iterm-pastel #626262 #ff8373 #b4fb73 #fffdc3 #a5d5fe #ff90fe #d1d1fe #f1f1f1 #8f8f8f #ffc4be #d6fcba #fffed5 #c2e3ff #ffb2fe #e6e7fe #ffffff
+iterm-smoooooth #14191e #b43c2a #00c200 #c7c400 #2744c7 #c040be #00c5c7 #c7c7c7 #686868 #dd7975 #58e790 #ece100 #a7abf2 #e17ee1 #60fdff #ffffff
+iterm-snazzy #000000 #ff5c57 #5af78e #f3f99d #57c7ff #ff6ac1 #9aedfe #f1f1f0 #686868 #ff5c57 #5af78e #f3f99d #57c7ff #ff6ac1 #9aedfe #f1f1f0
+iterm-solarized #073642 #dc322f #859900 #b58900 #268bd2 #d33682 #2aa198 #eee8d5 #002b36 #cb4b16 #586e75 #657b83 #839496 #6c71c4 #93a1a1 #fdf6e3
+iterm-tango #000000 #d81e00 #5ea702 #cfae00 #427ab3 #89658e #00a7aa #dbded8 #686a66 #f54235 #99e343 #fdeb61 #84b0d8 #bc94b7 #37e6e8 #f1f1f0
diff --git a/tools/ansi-iterm-themes.txt b/tools/ansi-iterm-themes.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 9bae0cccb..000000000
--- a/tools/ansi-iterm-themes.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-black red green yellow blue magenta cyan white bblack bred bgreen byellow bblue bmagenta bcyan bwhite
-iterm-dark #000000 #c91b00 #00c200 #c7c400 #0225c7 #ca30c7 #00c5c7 #c7c7c7 #686868 #ff6e67 #5ffa68 #fffc67 #6871ff #ff77ff #60fdff #ffffff
-iterm-light #000000 #c91b00 #00c200 #c7c400 #0225c7 #ca30c7 #00c5c7 #c7c7c7 #686868 #ff6e67 #5ffa68 #fffc67 #6871ff #ff77ff #60fdff #ffffff
-iterm-pastel #626262 #ff8373 #b4fb73 #fffdc3 #a5d5fe #ff90fe #d1d1fe #f1f1f1 #8f8f8f #ffc4be #d6fcba #fffed5 #c2e3ff #ffb2fe #e6e7fe #ffffff
-iterm-smoooooth #14191e #b43c2a #00c200 #c7c400 #2744c7 #c040be #00c5c7 #c7c7c7 #686868 #dd7975 #58e790 #ece100 #a7abf2 #e17ee1 #60fdff #ffffff
-iterm-snazzy #000000 #ff5c57 #5af78e #f3f99d #57c7ff #ff6ac1 #9aedfe #f1f1f0 #686868 #ff5c57 #5af78e #f3f99d #57c7ff #ff6ac1 #9aedfe #f1f1f0
-iterm-sol-dark #073642 #dc322f #859900 #b58900 #268bd2 #d33682 #2aa198 #eee8d5 #002b36 #cb4b16 #586e75 #657b83 #839496 #6c71c4 #93a1a1 #fdf6e3
-iterm-sol-light #073642 #dc322f #859900 #b58900 #268bd2 #d33682 #2aa198 #eee8d5 #002b36 #cb4b16 #586e75 #657b83 #839496 #6c71c4 #93a1a1 #fdf6e3
-iterm-tango-dark #000000 #d81e00 #5ea702 #cfae00 #427ab3 #89658e #00a7aa #dbded8 #686a66 #f54235 #99e343 #fdeb61 #84b0d8 #bc94b7 #37e6e8 #f1f1f0
-iterm-tango-light #000000 #d81e00 #5ea702 #cfae00 #427ab3 #89658e #00a7aa #dbded8 #686a66 #f54235 #99e343 #fdeb61 #84b0d8 #bc94b7 #37e6e8 #f1f1f0
diff --git a/tools/ansi-themes.txt b/tools/ansi-palettes.txt
similarity index 86%
rename from tools/ansi-themes.txt
rename to tools/ansi-palettes.txt
index 0f2d6b424..1c734cc8d 100644
--- a/tools/ansi-themes.txt
+++ b/tools/ansi-palettes.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-        black   red     green   yellow  blue    magenta cyan    white   bblack  bred    bgreen  byellow bblue   bmagenta bcyan   bwhite
+        black   red     green   yellow  blue    magenta cyan    white   br_black br_red br_green br_yellow br_blue br_magenta br_cyan br_white
+dichro  #000000 #882255 #117733 #ddcc77 #332288 #aa4499 #88ccee #e5e5e5 #000000 #cc6677 #999933 #ddcc77 #44aa99 #aa4499 #88ccee #ffffff
 vga     #000000 #aa0000 #00aa00 #aa5500 #0000aa #aa00aa #00aaaa #aaaaaa #555555 #ff5555 #55ff55 #ffff55 #5555ff #ff55ff #55ffff #ffffff
 winxp   #000000 #800000 #008000 #808000 #000080 #800080 #008080 #c0c0c0 #808080 #ff0000 #00ff00 #ffff00 #0000ff #ff00ff #00ffff #ffffff
 vscode  #000000 #cd3131 #0dbc79 #e5e510 #2472c8 #bc3fbc #11a8cd #e5e5e5 #666666 #f14c4c #23d18b #f5f543 #3b8eea #d670d6 #29b8db #e5e5e5
diff --git a/vignettes/palettes.Rmd b/vignettes/palettes.Rmd
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8a61299b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vignettes/palettes.Rmd
@@ -0,0 +1,272 @@
+---
+title: "cli color palettes"
+author: "Gábor Csárdi"
+date: "`r Sys.Date()`"
+output:
+  html_document:
+    css: "palettes.css"
+editor_options:
+  markdown:
+    wrap: sentence
+---
+
+```{r, include = FALSE, cache = FALSE}
+knitr::opts_chunk$set(
+  collapse = TRUE,
+  comment = "#>",
+  out.width = "100%",
+  cache = TRUE
+)
+# Turn on ANSI colors
+options(cli.num_colors = cli::truecolor)
+asciicast::init_knitr_engine(
+  startup = quote({
+    library(cli)
+    set.seed(1) }),
+  echo = TRUE,
+  echo_input = FALSE,
+  options = list(
+    asciicast_theme = list(background = c(255, 255, 255, 0), text = c(51, 51, 51)),
+    asciicast_cols = 80
+  ))
+```
+
+# Built-in palettes
+
+## dichro
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$dichro)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, dichro, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("dichro", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, dichro-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("dichro", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## vga
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$vga)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, vga, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("vga", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, vga-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("vga", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## winxp
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$winxp)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, winxp, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("winxp", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, winxp-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("winxp", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## vscode
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$vscode)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, vscode, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("vscode", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, vscode-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("vscode", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## win10
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$win10)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, win10, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("win10", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, win10-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("win10", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## macos
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$macos)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, macos, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("macos", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, macos-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("macos", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## putty
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$putty)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, putty, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("putty", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, putty-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("putty", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## mirc
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$mirc)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, mirc, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("mirc", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, mirc-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("mirc", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## xterm
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$xterm)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, xterm, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("xterm", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, xterm-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("xterm", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## ubuntu
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$ubuntu)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, ubuntu, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("ubuntu", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, ubuntu-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("ubuntu", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## eclipse
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$eclipse)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, eclipse, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("eclipse", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, eclipse-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("eclipse", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## iterm
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$iterm)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## iterm-pastel
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$`iterm-pastel`)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm-pastel, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm-pastel", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm--pastel-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm-pastel", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## iterm-smoooooth
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$`iterm-smoooooth`)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm-smoooooth, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm-smoooooth", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm--smoooooth-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm-smoooooth", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## iterm-snazzy
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$`iterm-snazzy`)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm-snazzy, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm-snazzy", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm--snazzy-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm-snazzy", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## iterm-solarized
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$`iterm-solarized`)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm-solarized, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm-solarized", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm--solarized-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm-solarized", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+## iterm-tango
+
+```{r, results = "asis", echo = FALSE}
+cat(attr(cli::ansi_palettes, "info")$`iterm-tango`)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm-tango, echo = FALSE}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm-tango", colors = truecolor)
+```
+
+```{asciicast, iterm--tango-dark, echo = FALSE, R.options = list(asciicast_theme = list(background = c(40, 45, 53), text = c(185, 192, 203)))}
+ansi_palette_show("iterm-tango", colors = truecolor)
+```
diff --git a/vignettes/palettes.css b/vignettes/palettes.css
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2910a87b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vignettes/palettes.css
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+
+img {
+  border: 1px solid #111;
+}