[BREAKING] v0.18.0 - Comp-time Unification, Part 1

Farben is constantly updating. Here are the new changes to v0.18.0: Comp-time Unification, Part 1.

Note

This implementation was suggested by redditor u/manpacket on the r/Rust subreddit. The post can be seen here. Thank you manpacket!

core0.13.4 / macros0.6.0 / frb0.18.0 / build0.1.4 — 2026-04-20

Compile-time Runtime Detection

Important

This update introduces breaking changes to compile users. See the Breaking section down below and the migration guide.

Added

• strip_markup(input: &str) -> String in farben-core::strip: strips farben
  markup tags from a string, returning plain text. Re-exported from farben as
  farben::strip_markup.
• markup_strip! macro that behaves the same as ansi_strip! but uses strip_markup
• render_forced(tokens: Vec<Token>) -> String in farben-core::parser: renders
  tokens to ANSI unconditionally, bypassing color_enabled(). Used internally by
  the color! and colorb! proc macros to ensure the styled variant is always
  baked in regardless of the build environment.
• FarbenStr in farben: a compile-time string pair holding both a styled
  (&'static str) and plain (&'static str) variant, resolved at the user's
  runtime via FarbenStr::resolve() and Display.
• color_enabled() re-exported from farben: previously only accessible via
  farben_core.
• Doc comments of init_styles() of farben-build.

Changed

• color! and colorb! now emit a FarbenStr instead of a bare &'static str,
  baking both ANSI and plain variants into the binary and deferring the
  NO_COLOR/FORCE_COLOR/TTY decision to the end user's runtime.
• render() now delegates its ANSI rendering path to render_forced().

Breaking

• color! and colorb! no longer return &'static str. Code storing the result
  as &str must call .resolve() explicitly. Usage inside cprintln!, cprint!,
  cwrite!, and all other print/write macros is unaffected as they go through
  Display.

Migrating (compile users)

• If you only use cprintln!, cprint!, etc, then you are safe. No changes needed.
• But when you directly use color! and/or colorb!, then follow the steps:

1. color! and colorb! no longer return &'static str.
2. Change calls that use color!, colorb! as an expression of &'static str to use .resolve()
3. Example:

use farben::prelude::*;

// change this
let previous: &str = color!("[bold red]Hi");

// to be
let new: &str = color!("[bold red]Hi").resolve();

4. Why? See changes above. The color!, colorb! procedural macros now return a special FarbenStr instead of a &str.

Make great things with Farben.

Cheers, RazkarStudio.