diff --git a/kiln-core/src/colors.rs b/kiln-core/src/colors.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99dd28f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/kiln-core/src/colors.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+//! The 16 EGA/VGA named colors, the shared source of truth for both the Rhai color
+//! constants (see [`crate::script`]) and the editor's color picker, so the two never
+//! drift apart.
+
+use color::Rgba8;
+
+/// Builds an opaque [`Rgba8`] from RGB bytes (const-friendly helper for the table).
+const fn rgb(r: u8, g: u8, b: u8) -> Rgba8 {
+    Rgba8 { r, g, b, a: 255 }
+}
+
+/// The 16 EGA/VGA palette colors as `(name, color)` pairs, in palette order.
+///
+/// Used to register the Rhai `Black`/`Blue`/… constants and to populate the color
+/// picker's named-swatch strip. The names match the Rhai constants exactly.
+pub const NAMED_COLORS: [(&str, Rgba8); 16] = [
+    ("Black", rgb(0x00, 0x00, 0x00)),
+    ("Blue", rgb(0x00, 0x00, 0xAA)),
+    ("Green", rgb(0x00, 0xAA, 0x00)),
+    ("Cyan", rgb(0x00, 0xAA, 0xAA)),
+    ("Red", rgb(0xAA, 0x00, 0x00)),
+    ("Magenta", rgb(0xAA, 0x00, 0xAA)),
+    ("Brown", rgb(0xAA, 0x55, 0x00)),
+    ("LightGray", rgb(0xAA, 0xAA, 0xAA)),
+    ("DarkGray", rgb(0x55, 0x55, 0x55)),
+    ("BrightBlue", rgb(0x55, 0x55, 0xFF)),
+    ("BrightGreen", rgb(0x55, 0xFF, 0x55)),
+    ("BrightCyan", rgb(0x55, 0xFF, 0xFF)),
+    ("BrightRed", rgb(0xFF, 0x55, 0x55)),
+    ("BrightMagenta", rgb(0xFF, 0x55, 0xFF)),
+    ("Yellow", rgb(0xFF, 0xFF, 0x55)),
+    ("White", rgb(0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF)),
+];