diff --git a/shared/Cargo.toml b/shared/Cargo.toml
index ae57b40..baa841b 100644
--- a/shared/Cargo.toml
+++ b/shared/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,5 +7,6 @@ edition = "2021"
 
 [dependencies]
 build-info = "0.0.38"
+log = "0.4.22"
 notmuch = { path = "../notmuch" }
 serde = { version = "1.0.147", features = ["derive"] }
diff --git a/shared/src/lib.rs b/shared/src/lib.rs
index bd0a8de..9ff01d2 100644
--- a/shared/src/lib.rs
+++ b/shared/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
+use std::hash::{DefaultHasher, Hash, Hasher};
+
 use build_info::{BuildInfo, VersionControl};
+use log::info;
 use notmuch::SearchSummary;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 
@@ -49,3 +52,9 @@ pub fn build_version(bi: fn() -> &'static BuildInfo) -> String {
 
     format!("v{}{}", bi.crate_info.version, commit(&bi.version_control)).to_string()
 }
+pub fn compute_color(data: &str) -> String {
+    info!("compute_color({data})");
+    let mut hasher = DefaultHasher::new();
+    data.hash(&mut hasher);
+    format!("#{:06x}", hasher.finish() % (1 << 24))
+}