> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://postica.gitbook.io/coloref/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://postica.gitbook.io/coloref/getting-started/quick-start.md).

# Quick Start

Create a palette, link a field to it, and see it update. Five minutes, no code.

By the end of this page a light in your scene will take its colour from a palette, and you'll know the one line of code a build needs.

## 1. Create a palette

Open **Window ▸ ColoRef ▸ Palette Manager**. Click the **+** button in the window header and save the new palette somewhere in your project, `Assets/Settings/` for example.

Your first palette becomes the **active palette**. Linked fields read their values from it.

## 2. Add a colour

On the **Colors** tab, click **+ Add Color**. Click the new entry's name and rename it to `Accent`, then click the swatch and pick a colour.

{% hint style="success" %}
Name entries after what they're for, not what they look like. `Accent` still makes sense after a rebrand. `Orange` doesn't.
{% endhint %}

## 3. Link a field

Select an object with a `Light`. Move the mouse over its **Color** field and a small palette button appears at the right end of the row.

<figure><img src="https://2023792421-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FtbwVLbWv2vgHJriX04zj%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-79d54ac2532e9148df543763f4761614d11de54f%2Fpalette-button.png?alt=media" alt="Close-up of the ColoRef palette button beside UI Builder&#x27;s linked Background Color field" width="320"><figcaption><p>The palette button, shown here beside UI Builder's Background Color field. The same icon opens the palette picker in the Inspector.</p></figcaption></figure>

Click it. You get a list of the colours in the palette. Next to `Accent`, click the **link** icon.

The field now has an orange outline. That's how a linked field looks.

## 4. Change the colour

Back in the Palette Manager, change `Accent`. The light changes while you drag in the colour picker. You don't need to enter Play mode.

Link a few more fields to `Accent` (a UI Image, a material, a particle system's start colour) and they will all move together.

## 5. Tell your build which palette to use

The active palette you pick in the Palette Manager is an editor setting. Your build doesn't know about it, so set it once at startup. Put this on any object in your first scene and drag your palette into its field:

```csharp
using Postica.ColoRef;
using UnityEngine;

public class PaletteSetup : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField] ColoRefAsset palette;

    void Awake()
    {
        PaletteManager.Active = palette;
    }
}
```

Without it, linked fields keep whatever value they had when the scene was saved, and nothing reacts to palette changes. [Setting Up at Runtime](/coloref/scripting/runtime-setup.md) has the details.

## Next

* [Linking Fields](/coloref/using-coloref/linking-fields.md): materials, prefabs, and the other actions in that dropdown.
* [Variations](/coloref/using-coloref/variations.md): day and night, light and dark.
* [Switching Themes](/coloref/scripting/switching-themes.md): doing it from code.