Overview

The chat module (CS2Kit::Utils::Chat and CS2Kit::Utils::ChatColors) is a thin layer over the engine's TextMsg / HUD_PRINTTALK user message (CS2 silently drops SayText2 from non-player sources after the 2026 update). It gives plugins:

ChatColors — inline constexpr constants for the 15 in-line CS2 chat color escapes, plus ParseNamed and Strip helpers
Chat::Print / PrintAll / PrintFiltered — one-liners for sending colored chat lines to a slot, all players, or a filtered subset

Built on top of CS2Kit::Sdk::MessageSystem::SendChatMessage, which CS2Kit::Initialize wires up automatically — no extra setup needed.

Color Constants

CS2's chat (TextMsg / HUD_PRINTTALK) reads ASCII bytes 0x01-0x10 as in-line color toggles. Embed them anywhere in a message; everything until the next escape (or Default) renders in that color. Byte values mirror the SwiftlyS2 mapping — what CS2 actually renders today.

Constant(s)	Byte	Color
`Default` / `White`	`\x01`	White (default)
`DarkRed`	`\x02`	Dark red
`LightPurple`	`\x03`	Light purple
`Green`	`\x04`	Green
`Olive`	`\x05`	Olive / dark green
`Lime`	`\x06`	Lime / light green
`Red`	`\x07`	Red
`Gray` / `Grey`	`\x08`	Gray
`Yellow` / `LightYellow`	`\x09`	Yellow
`Silver` / `BlueGrey`	`\x0A`	Silver / blue-grey
`LightBlue` / `Blue`	`\x0B`	Light blue
`DarkBlue`	`\x0C`	Dark blue
`Purple` / `Magenta`	`\x0E`	Purple / magenta
`LightRed`	`\x0F`	Light red
`Gold` / `Orange`	`\x10`	Gold / orange

All are inline constexpr std::string_view so they compose cleanly with std::format. Names that share a byte (e.g. Gold / Orange) are aliases — pick whichever reads better at the call site.

Sending Messages

#include <CS2Kit/Utils/Chat.hpp>
#include <CS2Kit/Utils/ChatColors.hpp>
 
using namespace CS2Kit::Utils;
 
// One player:
Chat::Print(slot, "Welcome!");
 
// Everyone connected:
Chat::PrintAll("Server restarting in 5 minutes.");
 
// Subset selected by predicate:
Chat::PrintFiltered("Admin notice.", [](const Players::Player* p) {
    return AdminManager::Instance().IsAdmin(p->GetSteamID());
});

Bots and disconnected slots are skipped automatically. If message doesn't already start with a color escape, Print and the broadcast helpers prepend ChatColors::Default so the line renders cleanly regardless of whatever color was active in the previous chat line.

Composing Colored Text

std::format is the natural fit:

auto line = std::format(
    "{}[ADMIN]{} {}{}{} kicked {} for {}{}",
    ChatColors::Red,    ChatColors::Default,
    ChatColors::LightBlue, adminName, ChatColors::Default,
    targetName,
    ChatColors::Olive, reason);
 
Chat::PrintAll(line);

Renders as [ADMIN] in red, the admin name in light blue, the reason in olive, and everything else in the default color.

For runtime/config-driven colors, look up the escape by name:

std::string_view color = ChatColors::ParseNamed(group.PrefixColor);
auto line = std::format("{}{} {}: {}", color, group.Prefix,
                        ChatColors::Default, message);

ParseNamed is case-insensitive and accepts every name in the table above (e.g. "red", "green", "lightblue", "silver", "orange", "grey"). Aliases resolve to the same byte as their primary ("orange" → Gold, "grey" → Gray, "magenta" → Purple). Unknown names return Default.

Stripping Colors for Logs

The engine renders \x01-\x10 as colors, but writing them to a console or log file leaves garbage. Strip before logging:

auto colored = std::format("{}[ADMIN]{} {}", ChatColors::Red,
                           ChatColors::Default, msg);
Chat::PrintAll(colored);
Log::Info("{}", ChatColors::Strip(colored));

API Reference

<tt>Chat::</tt>

Function	Description
`Print(slot, message)`	Send a colored chat line to one player.
`PrintAll(message)`	Broadcast to every connected human player. Bots/disconnected slots skipped.
`PrintFiltered(message, filter)`	Broadcast only to players where `filter(player)` returns `true`.

All accept std::string_view.

<tt>ChatColors::</tt>

Function	Returns	Description
`ParseNamed(name)`	`std::string_view`	Map a color name (`"red"`, `"green"`, ...) to its escape sequence. Case-insensitive; unknown names return `Default`.
`Strip(text)`	`std::string`	Remove all `0x01`-`0x10` escape bytes for safe console/log output.

Threading

Like the rest of CS2-Kit, the chat helpers are main-thread-only. Call them from your Metamod hooks, scheduled timers, or command handlers — never from a worker thread.

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