diff --git a/light9/live/Effect.ts b/light9/live/Effect.ts
--- a/light9/live/Effect.ts
+++ b/light9/live/Effect.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { Patch, patchContainsPreds, patc
import { SyncedGraph } from "../web/SyncedGraph";
import { shortShow } from "../web/show_specific";
+// todo: Align these names with newtypes.py, which uses HexColor and VTUnion.
type Color = string;
export type ControlValue = number | Color | NamedNode;
diff --git a/light9/live/Light9DeviceControl.ts b/light9/live/Light9DeviceControl.ts
--- a/light9/live/Light9DeviceControl.ts
+++ b/light9/live/Light9DeviceControl.ts
@@ -84,9 +84,10 @@ export class Light9DeviceControl extends