diff --git a/build/package.json b/build/package.json
index 45abeacb4..4cc5ac639 100644
--- a/build/package.json
+++ b/build/package.json
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
     "grunt-peg": "~1.1.0",
     "grunt-shell": "~0.3.1",
     "harmony-collections": "~0.3.8",
-    "legal-eagle": "~0.6.0",
+    "legal-eagle": "~0.8.0",
     "minidump": "~0.8",
     "npm": "~1.4.5",
     "rcedit": "~0.3.0",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 990b1e626..10e69ff38 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
     "clear-cut": "0.4.0",
     "coffee-script": "1.8.0",
     "coffeestack": "0.8.0",
+    "color": "^0.7.3",
     "delegato": "^1",
     "emissary": "^1.3.1",
     "event-kit": "^1.0.1",
diff --git a/spec/config-spec.coffee b/spec/config-spec.coffee
index 31e0756fc..c2a6f304f 100644
--- a/spec/config-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/config-spec.coffee
@@ -1060,6 +1060,9 @@ describe "Config", ->
           type: 'integer'
           default: 12
 
+        expect(atom.config.getSchema('foo.baz')).toBeUndefined()
+        expect(atom.config.getSchema('foo.bar.anInt.baz')).toBeUndefined()
+
       it "respects the schema for scoped settings", ->
         schema =
           type: 'string'
@@ -1287,6 +1290,79 @@ describe "Config", ->
           atom.config.set 'foo.bar', ['2', '3', '4']
           expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar')).toEqual  [2, 3, 4]
 
+      describe 'when the value has a "color" type', ->
+        beforeEach ->
+          schema =
+            type: 'color'
+            default: 'white'
+          atom.config.setSchema('foo.bar.aColor', schema)
+
+        it 'returns a Color object', ->
+          color = atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')
+          expect(color.toHexString()).toBe '#ffffff'
+          expect(color.toRGBAString()).toBe 'rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)'
+
+          color.red = 0
+          color.green = 0
+          color.blue = 0
+          color.alpha = 0
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', color)
+
+          color = atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')
+          expect(color.toHexString()).toBe '#000000'
+          expect(color.toRGBAString()).toBe 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)'
+
+          color.red = 300
+          color.green = -200
+          color.blue = -1
+          color.alpha = 'not see through'
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', color)
+
+          color = atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')
+          expect(color.toHexString()).toBe '#ff0000'
+          expect(color.toRGBAString()).toBe 'rgba(255, 0, 0, 1)'
+
+        it 'coerces various types to a color object', ->
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', 'red')
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 255, green: 0, blue: 0, alpha: 1}
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', '#020')
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 0, green: 34, blue: 0, alpha: 1}
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', '#abcdef')
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 171, green: 205, blue: 239, alpha: 1}
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', 'rgb(1,2,3)')
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 1, green: 2, blue: 3, alpha: 1}
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', 'rgba(4,5,6,.7)')
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 4, green: 5, blue: 6, alpha: .7}
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', 'hsl(120,100%,50%)')
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 0, green: 255, blue: 0, alpha: 1}
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', 'hsla(120,100%,50%,0.3)')
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 0, green: 255, blue: 0, alpha: .3}
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', {red: 100, green: 255, blue: 2, alpha: .5})
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 100, green: 255, blue: 2, alpha: .5}
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', {red: 255})
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 255, green: 0, blue: 0, alpha: 1}
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', {red: 1000})
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 255, green: 0, blue: 0, alpha: 1}
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', {red: 'dark'})
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 0, green: 0, blue: 0, alpha: 1}
+
+        it 'reverts back to the default value when undefined is passed to set', ->
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', undefined)
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 255, green: 255, blue: 255, alpha: 1}
+
+        it 'will not set non-colors', ->
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', null)
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 255, green: 255, blue: 255, alpha: 1}
+
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', 'nope')
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 255, green: 255, blue: 255, alpha: 1}
+
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', 30)
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 255, green: 255, blue: 255, alpha: 1}
+
+          atom.config.set('foo.bar.aColor', false)
+          expect(atom.config.get('foo.bar.aColor')).toEqual {red: 255, green: 255, blue: 255, alpha: 1}
+
       describe 'when the `enum` key is used', ->
         beforeEach ->
           schema =
diff --git a/src/color.coffee b/src/color.coffee
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3dffabb48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/color.coffee
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+_ = require 'underscore-plus'
+ParsedColor = require 'color'
+
+# Essential: A simple color class returned from {Config::get} when the value
+# at the key path is of type 'color'.
+module.exports =
+class Color
+  # Essential: Parse a {String} or {Object} into a {Color}.
+  #
+  # * `value` - A {String} such as `'white'`, `#ff00ff`, or
+  #             `'rgba(255, 15, 60, .75)'` or an {Object} with `red`, `green`,
+  #             `blue`, and `alpha` properties.
+  #
+  # Returns a {Color} or `null` if it cannot be parsed.
+  @parse: (value) ->
+    return null if _.isArray(value) or _.isFunction(value)
+    return null unless _.isObject(value) or _.isString(value)
+
+    try
+      parsedColor = new ParsedColor(value)
+    catch error
+      return null
+
+    new Color(parsedColor.red(), parsedColor.green(), parsedColor.blue(), parsedColor.alpha())
+
+  constructor: (red, green, blue, alpha) ->
+    Object.defineProperties this,
+      red:
+        set: (newRed) -> red = parseColor(newRed)
+        get: -> red
+        enumerable: true
+        configurable: false
+      green:
+        set: (newGreen) -> green = parseColor(newGreen)
+        get: -> green
+        enumerable: true
+        configurable: false
+      blue:
+        set: (newBlue) -> blue = parseColor(newBlue)
+        get: -> blue
+        enumerable: true
+        configurable: false
+      alpha:
+        set: (newAlpha) -> alpha = parseAlpha(newAlpha)
+        get: -> alpha
+        enumerable: true
+        configurable: false
+
+    @red = red
+    @green = green
+    @blue = blue
+    @alpha = alpha
+
+  # Esssential: Returns a {String} in the form `'#abcdef'`.
+  toHexString: ->
+    "##{numberToHexString(@red)}#{numberToHexString(@green)}#{numberToHexString(@blue)}"
+
+  # Esssential: Returns a {String} in the form `'rgba(25, 50, 75, .9)'`.
+  toRGBAString: ->
+    "rgba(#{@red}, #{@green}, #{@blue}, #{@alpha})"
+
+  isEqual: (color) ->
+    return true if this is color
+    color = Color.parse(color) unless color instanceof Color
+    return false unless color?
+    color.red is @red and color.blue is @blue and color.green is @green and color.alpha is @alpha
+
+  clone: -> new Color(@red, @green, @blue, @alpha)
+
+parseColor = (color) ->
+  color = parseInt(color)
+  color = 0 if isNaN(color)
+  color = Math.max(color, 0)
+  color = Math.min(color, 255)
+  color
+
+parseAlpha = (alpha) ->
+  alpha = parseFloat(alpha)
+  alpha = 1 if isNaN(alpha)
+  alpha = Math.max(alpha, 0)
+  alpha = Math.min(alpha, 1)
+  alpha
+
+numberToHexString = (number) ->
+  hex = number.toString(16)
+  hex = "0#{hex}" if number < 10
+  hex
diff --git a/src/config.coffee b/src/config.coffee
index 0f6498e14..721c522ad 100644
--- a/src/config.coffee
+++ b/src/config.coffee
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ async = require 'async'
 pathWatcher = require 'pathwatcher'
 Grim = require 'grim'
 
+Color = require './color'
 ScopedPropertyStore = require 'scoped-property-store'
 ScopeDescriptor = require './scope-descriptor'
 
@@ -216,6 +217,21 @@ ScopeDescriptor = require './scope-descriptor'
 #         maximum: 11.5
 # ```
 #
+# #### color
+#
+# Values will be coerced into a {Color} with `red`, `green`, `blue`, and `alpha`
+# properties that all have numeric values. `red`, `green`, `blue` will be in
+# the range 0 to 255 and `value` will be in the range 0 to 1. Values can be any
+# valid CSS color format such as `#abc`, `#abcdef`, `white`,
+# `rgb(50, 100, 150)`, and `rgba(25, 75, 125, .75)`.
+#
+# ```coffee
+# config:
+#   someSetting:
+#     type: 'color'
+#     default: 'white'
+# ```
+#
 # ### Other Supported Keys
 #
 # #### enum
@@ -687,7 +703,7 @@ class Config
     schema = @schema
     for key in keys
       break unless schema?
-      schema = schema.properties[key]
+      schema = schema.properties?[key]
     schema
 
   # Deprecated: Returns a new {Object} containing all of the global settings and
@@ -872,10 +888,16 @@ class Config
       defaultValue = _.valueForKeyPath(@defaultSettings, keyPath)
 
     if value?
-      value = _.deepClone(value)
-      _.defaults(value, defaultValue) if isPlainObject(value) and isPlainObject(defaultValue)
+      if value instanceof Color
+        value = value.clone()
+      else
+        value = _.deepClone(value)
+        _.defaults(value, defaultValue) if isPlainObject(value) and isPlainObject(defaultValue)
     else
-      value = _.deepClone(defaultValue)
+      if defaultValue instanceof Color
+        value = defaultValue.clone()
+      else
+        value = _.deepClone(defaultValue)
 
     value
 
@@ -1103,6 +1125,13 @@ Config.addSchemaEnforcers
       else
         value
 
+  'color':
+    coerce: (keyPath, value, schema) ->
+      color = Color.parse(value)
+      unless color?
+        throw new Error("Validation failed at #{keyPath}, #{JSON.stringify(value)} cannot be coerced into a color")
+      color
+
   '*':
     coerceMinimumAndMaximum: (keyPath, value, schema) ->
       return value unless typeof value is 'number'