diff --git a/src/color/creating_reading.js b/src/color/creating_reading.js
index 7690104406..340887294d 100644
--- a/src/color/creating_reading.js
+++ b/src/color/creating_reading.js
@@ -132,6 +132,14 @@ function creatingReading(p5, fn){
    * The version of `color()` with four parameters interprets them as RGBA, HSBA,
    * or HSLA colors, depending on the current `colorMode()`. The last parameter
    * sets the alpha (transparency) value.
+   * In p5.strands shader callbacks, `color()` accepts the same input
+   * formats but returns a `vec4` instead of a `p5.Color` object, with
+   * RGBA components normalized to the 0–1 range. All colors in strands
+   * are RGB-based; `colorMode()` has no effect inside shader callbacks.
+   * Color utility functions such as `red()`, `green()`, `blue()`,
+   * `alpha()`, `hue()`, `saturation()`, `brightness()`, and
+   * `lightness()` also return values in the 0–1 range when used in
+   * strands.
    *
    * @method color
    * @param  {Number} gray number specifying value between white and black.
diff --git a/src/strands/strands_api.js b/src/strands/strands_api.js
index 8675dc69b6..1756b5b628 100644
--- a/src/strands/strands_api.js
+++ b/src/strands/strands_api.js
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ export function initGlobalStrandsAPI(p5, fn, strandsContext) {
   const originalLerp = fn.lerp;
   augmentFn(fn, p5, 'lerp', function (...args) {
     if (strandsContext.active) {
-      return fn.mix(...args);
+      return this.mix(...args);
     } else {
       return originalLerp.apply(this, args);
     }
@@ -312,6 +312,139 @@ export function initGlobalStrandsAPI(p5, fn, strandsContext) {
     return result;
   });
 
+  const originalColor = fn.color;
+  augmentFn(fn, p5, 'color', function (...args) {
+    if (!strandsContext.active) {
+      return originalColor.apply(this, args);
+    }
+    // Reuse p5's parser - handles hex strings, rgb(), CSS named colors, numerics
+    const c = originalColor.apply(this, args);
+    // _getRGBA() returns [r, g, b, a] normalized to 0-1
+    const rgba = c._getRGBA();
+    const { id, dimension } = build.primitiveConstructorNode(
+      strandsContext,
+      { baseType: BaseType.FLOAT, dimension: null },
+      rgba
+    );
+    return createStrandsNode(id, dimension, strandsContext);
+  });
+  const originalLerpColor = fn.lerpColor;
+  augmentFn(fn, p5, 'lerpColor', function (...args) {
+    if (!strandsContext.active) {
+      return originalLerpColor.apply(this, args);
+    }
+    // In strands, colors are vec4s - lerpColor maps directly to GLSL mix()
+    return this.mix(...args);
+  });
+  // Component accessors: extract scalar channels from a vec4 color
+  const originalRed = fn.red;
+  augmentFn(fn, p5, 'red', function (...args) {
+    if (!strandsContext.active) {
+      return originalRed.apply(this, args);
+    }
+    return p5.strandsNode(args[0]).x;
+  });
+
+  const originalGreen = fn.green;
+  augmentFn(fn, p5, 'green', function (...args) {
+    if (!strandsContext.active) {
+      return originalGreen.apply(this, args);
+    }
+    return p5.strandsNode(args[0]).y;
+  });
+
+  const originalBlue = fn.blue;
+  augmentFn(fn, p5, 'blue', function (...args) {
+    if (!strandsContext.active) {
+      return originalBlue.apply(this, args);
+    }
+    return p5.strandsNode(args[0]).z;
+  });
+
+  const originalAlpha = fn.alpha;
+  augmentFn(fn, p5, 'alpha', function (...args) {
+    if (!strandsContext.active) {
+      return originalAlpha.apply(this, args);
+    }
+    return p5.strandsNode(args[0]).w;
+  });
+
+  // RGB to HSB conversion based on:
+  // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_and_HSV#From_RGB
+  // Using mix/step to avoid branching, via the compact form from:
+  // http://lolengine.net/blog/2013/07/27/rgb-to-hsv-in-glsl
+  const _rgb2hsb = (instance, colorNode) => {
+  const r = colorNode.x;
+  const g = colorNode.y;
+  const b = colorNode.z;
+  const K = instance.vec4(0, -1/3, 2/3, -1);
+  const p = instance.mix(
+    instance.vec4(b, g, K.w, K.z),
+    instance.vec4(g, b, K.x, K.y),
+    instance.step(b, g)
+  );
+  const q = instance.mix(
+    instance.vec4(p.x, p.y, p.w, r),
+    instance.vec4(r, p.y, p.z, p.x),
+    instance.step(p.x, r)
+  );
+  const d = q.x.sub(instance.min(q.w, q.y));
+  const e = p5.strandsNode(1e-10);
+  const h = instance.abs(q.z.add(q.w.sub(q.y).div(d.mult(6).add(e))));
+  const s = d.div(q.x.add(e));
+  return instance.vec3(h, s, q.x);
+};
+
+const _rgb2hsl = (instance, colorNode) => {
+  const r = colorNode.x;
+  const g = colorNode.y;
+  const b = colorNode.z;
+  const maxC = instance.max(r, instance.max(g, b));
+  const minC = instance.min(r, instance.min(g, b));
+  const l = maxC.add(minC).div(2);
+  const d = maxC.sub(minC);
+  const e = p5.strandsNode(1e-10);
+  const s = instance.mix(
+    p5.strandsNode(0),
+    d.div(p5.strandsNode(1).sub(instance.abs(l.mult(2).sub(1)))),
+    instance.step(e, d)
+  );
+  const h_rg = instance.mod(g.sub(b).div(d.add(e)), p5.strandsNode(6)).div(6);
+  const h_gb = b.sub(r).div(d.add(e)).add(2).div(6);
+  const h_br = r.sub(g).div(d.add(e)).add(4).div(6);
+  const isR = instance.step(maxC.sub(e), r).mult(instance.step(r.sub(e), maxC));
+  const isG = instance.step(maxC.sub(e), g).mult(instance.step(g.sub(e), maxC));
+  const h = instance.mix(instance.mix(h_br, h_gb, isG), h_rg, isR);
+  return instance.vec3(h, s, l);
+};
+  const originalHue = fn.hue;
+  augmentFn(fn, p5, 'hue', function (...args) {
+    if (!strandsContext.active) return originalHue.apply(this, args);
+    const colorNode = p5.strandsNode(args[0]);
+    return _rgb2hsl(this, this.vec3(colorNode.x, colorNode.y, colorNode.z)).x;
+  });
+
+  const originalSaturation = fn.saturation;
+  augmentFn(fn, p5, 'saturation', function (...args) {
+    if (!strandsContext.active) return originalSaturation.apply(this, args);
+    const colorNode = p5.strandsNode(args[0]);
+    return _rgb2hsl(this, this.vec3(colorNode.x, colorNode.y, colorNode.z)).y;
+  });
+
+  const originalBrightness = fn.brightness;
+  augmentFn(fn, p5, 'brightness', function (...args) {
+    if (!strandsContext.active) return originalBrightness.apply(this, args);
+    const colorNode = p5.strandsNode(args[0]);
+    return _rgb2hsb(this, this.vec3(colorNode.x, colorNode.y, colorNode.z)).z;
+  });
+
+  const originalLightness = fn.lightness;
+  augmentFn(fn, p5, 'lightness', function (...args) {
+    if (!strandsContext.active) return originalLightness.apply(this, args);
+    const colorNode = p5.strandsNode(args[0]);
+    return _rgb2hsl(this, this.vec3(colorNode.x, colorNode.y, colorNode.z)).z;
+  });
+
   augmentFn(fn, p5, 'getTexture', function (...rawArgs) {
     if (strandsContext.active) {
       const { id, dimension } = strandsContext.backend.createGetTextureCall(strandsContext, rawArgs);
diff --git a/test/unit/webgl/p5.Shader.js b/test/unit/webgl/p5.Shader.js
index 786540cafa..470bd9fb51 100644
--- a/test/unit/webgl/p5.Shader.js
+++ b/test/unit/webgl/p5.Shader.js
@@ -631,6 +631,110 @@ test('returns numbers for builtin globals outside hooks and a strandNode when ca
       assert.approximately(middle[0], 128, 10);
       assert.approximately(right[0], 204, 10);
     });
+    test('color() with hex string returns correct vec4 in strands', () => {
+      myp5.createCanvas(50, 50, myp5.WEBGL);
+      const testShader = myp5.baseMaterialShader().modify(() => {
+        myp5.getPixelInputs(inputs => {
+          const c = myp5.color('#ff0000');
+          inputs.color = [c.x, c.y, c.z, 1.0];
+          return inputs;
+        });
+      }, { myp5 });
+
+      myp5.noStroke();
+      myp5.shader(testShader);
+      myp5.plane(myp5.width, myp5.height);
+
+      const pixelColor = myp5.get(25, 25);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[0], 255, 5);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[1], 0, 5);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[2], 0, 5);
+    });
+
+    test('color() with CSS named color returns correct vec4 in strands', () => {
+      myp5.createCanvas(50, 50, myp5.WEBGL);
+      const testShader = myp5.baseMaterialShader().modify(() => {
+        myp5.getPixelInputs(inputs => {
+          const c = myp5.color('blue');
+          inputs.color = [c.x, c.y, c.z, 1.0];
+          return inputs;
+        });
+      }, { myp5 });
+
+      myp5.noStroke();
+      myp5.shader(testShader);
+      myp5.plane(myp5.width, myp5.height);
+
+      const pixelColor = myp5.get(25, 25);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[0], 0, 5);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[1], 0, 5);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[2], 255, 5);
+    });
+
+    test('lerpColor() interpolates between two colors in strands', () => {
+      myp5.createCanvas(50, 50, myp5.WEBGL);
+      const testShader = myp5.baseMaterialShader().modify(() => {
+        myp5.getPixelInputs(inputs => {
+          const c1 = myp5.color('#ff0000');
+          const c2 = myp5.color('#0000ff');
+          const mixed = myp5.lerpColor(c1, c2, 0.5);
+          inputs.color = [mixed.x, mixed.y, mixed.z, 1.0];
+          return inputs;
+        });
+      }, { myp5 });
+
+      myp5.noStroke();
+      myp5.shader(testShader);
+      myp5.plane(myp5.width, myp5.height);
+
+      const pixelColor = myp5.get(25, 25);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[0], 128, 10);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[1], 0, 5);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[2], 128, 10);
+    });
+
+    test('red(), green(), blue(), alpha() extract correct channels in strands', () => {
+      myp5.createCanvas(50, 50, myp5.WEBGL);
+      const testShader = myp5.baseMaterialShader().modify(() => {
+        myp5.getPixelInputs(inputs => {
+          const c = myp5.color('#ff8000');
+          const r = myp5.red(c);
+          const g = myp5.green(c);
+          const b = myp5.blue(c);
+          inputs.color = [r, g, b, 1.0];
+          return inputs;
+        });
+      }, { myp5 });
+
+      myp5.noStroke();
+      myp5.shader(testShader);
+      myp5.plane(myp5.width, myp5.height);
+
+      const pixelColor = myp5.get(25, 25);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[0], 255, 5);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[1], 128, 10);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[2], 0, 5);
+    });
+
+    test('hue() returns normalized hue value in strands', () => {
+      myp5.createCanvas(50, 50, myp5.WEBGL);
+      const testShader = myp5.baseMaterialShader().modify(() => {
+        myp5.getPixelInputs(inputs => {
+          // Pure red has hue 0
+          const c = myp5.color('#ff0000');
+          const h = myp5.hue(c);
+          inputs.color = [h, h, h, 1.0];
+          return inputs;
+        });
+      }, { myp5 });
+
+      myp5.noStroke();
+      myp5.shader(testShader);
+      myp5.plane(myp5.width, myp5.height);
+
+      const pixelColor = myp5.get(25, 25);
+      assert.approximately(pixelColor[0], 0, 5);
+    });
 
     test('handle custom uniform names with automatic values', () => {
       myp5.createCanvas(50, 50, myp5.WEBGL);