callstack/linaria

Zero-runtime CSS in JS library

Features

• Write CSS in JS, but with zero runtime, CSS is extracted to CSS files during build
• Familiar CSS syntax with Sass like nesting
• Use dynamic prop based styles with the React bindings, uses CSS variables behind the scenes
• Easily find where the style was defined with CSS sourcemaps
• Lint your CSS in JS with stylelint
• Use JavaScript for logic, no CSS preprocessor needed
• Optionally use any CSS preprocessor such as Sass or PostCSS

Why use Linaria

Installation

npm install linaria

or

yarn add linaria

Setup

Linaria currently supports webpack and Rollup to extract the CSS at build time. To configure your bundler, check the following guides:

• webpack
• Rollup

Optionally, add the linaria/babel preset to your Babel configuration at the end of the presets list to avoid errors when importing the components in your server code or tests:

{
  "presets": [
    "@babel/preset-env",
    "@babel/preset-react",
    "linaria/babel"
  ]
}

See Configuration to customize how Linaria processes your files.

Syntax

Linaria can be used with any framework, with additional helpers for React. The basic syntax looks like this:

import { css } from 'linaria';
import { modularScale, hiDPI } from 'polished';
import fonts from './fonts';

// Write your styles in `css` tag
const header = css`
  text-transform: uppercase;
  font-family: ${fonts.heading};
  font-size: ${modularScale(2)};

  ${hiDPI(1.5)} {
    font-size: ${modularScale(2.5)};
  }
`;

// Then use it as a class name
<h1 className={header}>Hello world</h1>;

You can use imported variables and functions for logic inside the CSS code. They will be evaluated at build time.

If you’re using React, you can use the styled helper, which makes it easy to write React components with dynamic styles with a styled-component like syntax:

import { styled } from 'linaria/react';
import { families, sizes } from './fonts';

// Write your styles in `styled` tag
const Title = styled.h1`
  font-family: ${families.serif};
`;

const Container = styled.div`
  font-size: ${sizes.medium}px;
  color: ${props => props.color};
  border: 1px solid red;

  &:hover {
    border-color: blue;
  }

  ${Title} {
    margin-bottom: 24px;
  }
`;

// Then use the resulting component
<Container color="#333">
  <Title>Hello world</Title>
</Container>;

Dynamic styles will be applied using CSS custom properties (aka CSS variables) and don’t require any runtime.

See Basics for a detailed information about the syntax.

Demo

Documentation

• Basics
• API and usage
  • Client APIs
  • Server APIs
• Configuration
• Dynamic styles with css tag
• Theming
• Critical CSS extraction
• Bundlers integration
  • webpack
  • Rollup
• CLI
• Linting
• How it works
• Example

Trade-offs

• No IE11 support when using dynamic styles in components with styled, since it uses CSS custom properties

• Dynamic styles are not supported with css tag. See Dynamic styles with css tag for alternative approaches.

• Modules used in the CSS rules cannot have side-effects. For example:

  import { css } from 'linaria';
  import colors from './colors';
  
  const title = css`
    color: ${colors.text};
  `;
  

  Here, there should be no side-effects in the colors.js file, or any file it imports. We recommend to move helpers and shared configuration to files without any side-effects.

Editor Plugins

VSCode

• Syntax Highlighting - language-babel
• Autocompletion - vscode-styled-components
• Linting - stylelint

Atom

• Syntax Highlighting and Autocompletion - language-babel

Webstorm

• Syntax Highlighting & Autocompletion - webstorm-styled-components

Recommended Libraries

• gatsby-plugin-linaria – Gatsby plugin that sets up Babel and webpack configuration for Linaria.
• polished.js - A lightweight toolset for writing styles in JavaScript.
• craco-linaria - A Craco plugin that allows you to use Linaria without ejecting from a CRA.

Inspiration

• glam
• styled-components
• css-literal-loader

Acknowledgements

This project wouldn’t have been possible without the following libraries or the people behind them.

• babel
• stylis.js

Special thanks to @kentcdodds for his babel plugin and @threepointone for his suggestions and encouragement.

Made with ❤️ at Callstack

Linaria is an open source project and will always remain free to use. If you think it’s cool, please star it 🌟. Callstack is a group of React and React Native geeks, contact us at hello@callstack.com if you need any help with these or just want to say hi!

Contributors

Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):

This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!