Merott/tailwind-colors-as-css-variables.md

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Expose Tailwind colors as CSS custom properties (variables)

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This is a simple Tailwind plugin to expose all of Tailwind's colors, including any custom ones, as custom css properties on the :root element.

There are a couple of main reasons this is helpful:

You can reference all of Tailwind's colors—including any custom ones you define—from handwritten CSS code.
You can define all of your colors within the Tailwind configuration, and access the final values programmatically, which isn't possible if you did it the other way around, referencing custom CSS variables from your Tailwind config.

See the Tailwind Plugins for more info on plugins.

module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        blue: {
          '100': '#ebf6ff',
          '200': '#b7ddff',
          '300': '#85c2ff',
          '400': '#51a5ff',
          '500': '#2487ff',
          '600': '#006aff',
          '700': '#0755d4',
          '800': '#164398',
          '900': '#223867',
        },
      },
    },
  },
  plugins: [
    function({ addBase, theme }) {
      function extractColorVars(colorObj, colorGroup = '') {
        return Object.keys(colorObj).reduce((vars, colorKey) => {
          const value = colorObj[colorKey];

          const newVars =
            typeof value === 'string'
              ? { [`--color${colorGroup}-${colorKey}`]: value }
              : extractColorVars(value, `-${colorKey}`);

          return { ...vars, ...newVars };
        }, {});
      }

      addBase({
        ':root': extractColorVars(theme('colors')),
      });
    },
  ],
};

sudo-vaibhav commented Apr 12, 2021

just to add some clarity to this otherwise amazing snippet, the colors are exposed as var(--color-color_name-intensity)

for example : var(--color-secondary-900)

dharmapurebuddha commented Mar 13, 2022

Oh sweet thank you for sharing this, it was very useful for incorporating colors into a few obscure styles Tailwind doesn't implement. Cheers 🌻

Maybach91 commented Jun 9, 2022

I wanted to use var(--color-green) instead of var(--color-green-DEFAULT) so i changed the script a bit:

function ({ addBase, theme }) {
      function extractColorVars (colorObj, colorGroup = '') {
        return Object.keys(colorObj).reduce((vars, colorKey) => {
          const value = colorObj[colorKey];
          const cssVariable = colorKey === "DEFAULT" ? `--color${colorGroup}` : `--color${colorGroup}-${colorKey}`;

          const newVars =
            typeof value === 'string'
              ? { [cssVariable]: value }
              : extractColorVars(value, `-${colorKey}`);

          return { ...vars, ...newVars };
        }, {});
      }

      addBase({
        ':root': extractColorVars(theme('colors')),
      });
    }

stepanjakl commented Jul 29, 2022

Nice one, thanks for this!

superniftydev commented Dec 31, 2022

Exactly what I was looking for. Cheers!

emigdio821 commented Mar 1, 2023

Is there a way to expose only the custom colors?
These ones:

extend: {
  colors: {
    customblue: '#0274b6',
    custombluehover: '#015483',
  },
},

Thanks!

benwinding commented Apr 15, 2023

Thank you for this!
Side note: an AI-driven search engine led me to this solution here! 😅
Phind -> Source link

jbasoo commented May 18, 2023 •

edited

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I further modified @Maybach91's modification and abstracted a bit for any theme config, not just colors (theoretically, havent tested every type 😬).

Also I switched from addBase to addUtilites as my project isn't using the base styles, only utilities.

  plugins: [
    function({ addUtilities, theme }) {    
      function extractVars (obj, group = '', prefix) {
        return Object.keys(obj).reduce((vars, key) => {
          const value = obj[key];
          const cssVariable = key === "DEFAULT" ? `--${prefix}${group}` : `--${prefix}${group}-${key}`;
          
          const newVars =
          typeof value === 'string'
          ? { [cssVariable]: value }
          : extractVars(value, `-${key}`, prefix);
          
          return { ...vars, ...newVars };
        }, {});
      }
      
      addUtilities({
        ':root': {
          ...extractVars(theme('colors'), '', 'color'),
          ...extractVars(theme('boxShadow'), '', 'box-shadow')
        }
      })
    }
  ],

y-nk commented Jul 10, 2023

anybody did an official plugin for that? i'm thinking should i paste this snippet or npm install

Maybach91 commented Jul 12, 2023 •

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anybody did an official plugin for that? i'm thinking should i paste this snippet or npm install

@y-nk Yup:
https://npms.io/search?q=tailwindcss-colors-css-variables

This looks like the most maintained one

ianhernandez commented Aug 19, 2023

Anyone have a typescript version of this?

y-nk commented Aug 19, 2023 via email

after using this i'd argue against it. bundle size increased drastically since colors cannot be purged.

…

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mathieutu commented Sep 5, 2023 •

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I works like a charm in Tailwind v3.3.3, thanks! 🎉

Here is a TS simplified version:

import { type PluginAPI } from 'tailwindcss/types/config'

export const colorVarsPlugin = ({ addBase, theme }: PluginAPI) => {
  const extractColorVars = (colorObj: Record<string, string>, colorGroup = '') => (
    Object.entries(colorObj)
      .reduce((vars, [colorKey, value]) => {
        const cssVariable = colorKey === 'DEFAULT' ? `--color${colorGroup}` : `--color${colorGroup}-${colorKey}`

        const newVars: Record<string, string> = typeof value === 'string'
          ? { [cssVariable]: value }
          : extractColorVars(value, `-${colorKey}`)

        return { ...vars, ...newVars }
      }, {})
  )

  addBase({
    ':root': extractColorVars(theme('colors')),
  })
}

EDIT: Indeed, it'd be great to find a way to purge the colors..

joshdavenport commented Oct 18, 2023 •

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A note to people stumbling on this gist as I did: This plugin is awesome, really nice idea, but consider adding variables to your CSS manually. Using something like the below, as long as you have access in your CSS to tailwind directives, you can reference colours and create variables from them:

:root {
  --tw-color-white: theme('colors.white');
  --tw-color-black: theme('colors.black');
  --tw-color-gray-100: theme('colors.gray.100');
  --tw-color-gray-200: theme('colors.gray.200');
  --tw-color-gray-300: theme('colors.gray.300');
  --tw-color-gray-400: theme('colors.gray.400');
  --tw-color-gray-500: theme('colors.gray.500');
  --tw-color-gray-600: theme('colors.gray.600');
  --tw-color-gray-700: theme('colors.gray.700');
  --tw-color-gray-800: theme('colors.gray.800');
  --tw-color-gray-900: theme('colors.gray.900');
  --tw-color-gray-950: theme('colors.gray.950');
}

For example, if you're using Next and following the globals.css pattern the docs describe you can add this to globals.css.

Doing it that way you don't need to worry about the bundle size reports others have mentioned (haven't looked at it myself, so no idea how badly it affects the size). Obviously the whole point of the plugin is quickly and easily provide access to all colours, but maybe you don't need that, so consider what you need contextually.

oskarengstrom commented Nov 29, 2023 •

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A note to people stumbling on this gist as I did: This plugin is awesome, really nice idea, but consider adding variables to your CSS manually. Using something like the below, as long as you have access in your CSS to tailwind directives, you can reference colours and create variables from them:

@joshdavenport
This sounds great, but exactly how do you use theme() in globals.css?

simonhamp commented Nov 29, 2023

@oskarengstrom if you're generating your CSS through a bundler, like Vite or Webpack, then the theme() function will be exposed to you.

It won't work in plain CSS

rafaelrcamargo commented Jan 6, 2024

That's great! If anyone wants, here is a version that exports "R, G, B" values so you can use RGBA and play with the alpha in CSS:

import type { PluginAPI } from "tailwindcss/types/config"

export const colorsToVars = ({ addBase, theme }: PluginAPI) => {
  const extractColorVars = (
    colorObj: Record<string, string>,
    colorGroup = ""
  ) =>
    Object.entries(colorObj).reduce((vars, [colorKey, value]) => {
      const cssVariable =
        colorKey === "DEFAULT"
          ? `--tw${colorGroup}`
          : `--tw${colorGroup}-${colorKey}`

      const newVars: Record<string, string> =
        typeof value === "string"
          ? { [cssVariable]: parseColor(value)?.color.join(", ") }
          : extractColorVars(value, `-${colorKey}`)

      return { ...vars, ...newVars }
    }, {})

  addBase({ ":root": extractColorVars(theme("colors")) })
}

/**
 * Color Parser
 * Grabbed this from Tailwind's source code :)
 */

let HEX = /^#([a-f\d]{2})([a-f\d]{2})([a-f\d]{2})([a-f\d]{2})?$/i
let SHORT_HEX = /^#([a-f\d])([a-f\d])([a-f\d])([a-f\d])?$/i
let VALUE = /(?:\d+|\d*\.\d+)%?/
let SEP = /(?:\s*,\s*|\s+)/
let ALPHA_SEP = /\s*[,/]\s*/
let CUSTOM_PROPERTY = /var\(--(?:[^ )]*?)(?:,(?:[^ )]*?|var\(--[^ )]*?\)))?\)/

let RGB = new RegExp(
  `^(rgba?)\\(\\s*(${VALUE.source}|${CUSTOM_PROPERTY.source})(?:${SEP.source}(${VALUE.source}|${CUSTOM_PROPERTY.source}))?(?:${SEP.source}(${VALUE.source}|${CUSTOM_PROPERTY.source}))?(?:${ALPHA_SEP.source}(${VALUE.source}|${CUSTOM_PROPERTY.source}))?\\s*\\)$`
)
let HSL = new RegExp(
  `^(hsla?)\\(\\s*((?:${VALUE.source})(?:deg|rad|grad|turn)?|${CUSTOM_PROPERTY.source})(?:${SEP.source}(${VALUE.source}|${CUSTOM_PROPERTY.source}))?(?:${SEP.source}(${VALUE.source}|${CUSTOM_PROPERTY.source}))?(?:${ALPHA_SEP.source}(${VALUE.source}|${CUSTOM_PROPERTY.source}))?\\s*\\)$`
)

export function parseColor(value: string, { loose = false } = {}) {
  value = value.trim()

  let hex = value
    .replace(SHORT_HEX, (_, r, g, b, a) =>
      ["#", r, r, g, g, b, b, a ? a + a : ""].join("")
    )
    .match(HEX)

  if (hex !== null) {
    return {
      mode: "rgb",
      color: [
        parseInt(hex[1]!, 16),
        parseInt(hex[2]!, 16),
        parseInt(hex[3]!, 16)
      ].map(v => v.toString()),
      alpha: hex[4] ? (parseInt(hex[4], 16) / 255).toString() : undefined
    }
  }

  let match = value.match(RGB) ?? value.match(HSL)
  if (match === null) return null

  let color = [match[2], match[3], match[4]]
    .filter(Boolean)
    .map(v => v!.toString())

  if (color.length === 2 && color[0]!.startsWith("var("))
    return { mode: match[1], color: [color[0]], alpha: color[1] }

  if (!loose && color.length !== 3) return null

  if (color.length < 3 && !color.some(part => /^var\(.*?\)$/.test(part)))
    return null

  return { mode: match[1], color, alpha: match[5]?.toString?.() }
}

The variables will be in "R, G, B" format so you can use them as follows:

  fill: rgba(var(--tw-green-500), 0.8);

GeorgeCht commented Jan 9, 2024

If anyone is still interested for a plugin on this check @tailwind-plugin/expose-colors.

Author

Merott commented Jan 9, 2024

I wish we had reaction emojis in gists!

Just wanted to say I ❤️ all the ways in which this little snippet (that I'm no longer even using myself) has been adapted! 😁

sudo-vaibhav commented Jan 9, 2024

@Merott +1, glad to have been among the first people who contributed to this gist, and see what twisted new creative ways people have extended it. I come back to it every 6 months to see what has become of this gist.

Travis-Enright commented Mar 18, 2024 •

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@Merott Thanks! This helped a lot. I used a bit of a variation on it because I'm using a deeply-nested colors object and didn't prefer the color prefix. This did the trick for me:

function ({ addBase, theme }) {
      function extractColorVars (colorObj, colorGroup = '') {
        return Object.entries(colorObj).reduce((vars, [key, value]) => {
          const varKey = key === 'DEFAULT' ? `${colorGroup}` : `${colorGroup}-${key}`
          if (typeof value === 'string') {
            return { ...vars, [`-${varKey}`]: value }
          } else {
            return { ...vars, ...extractColorVars(value, varKey) }
          }
        }, {});
      }

      addBase({
        ':root': extractColorVars(theme('colors')),
      });
    }

daxdesai commented Mar 19, 2024

Assuming you have already added TailwindCSS to your project and that your CSS file is called global.css.

First, you need to edit global.css to look like this:

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

:root {
  --primary-color: #fff;
  --secondary-color: #000;
}

And then, in order to be able to use them, you need to update tailwind.config.js with the new CSS variables like so:

module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        "primary-color": "var(--primary-color)",
        "secondary-color": "var(--secondary-color)"
      },
    },
  },
};

You can now use these variables as desired:

<div class="bg-primary-color">
  <h1>Hello World</h1>
</div>

wpinfusion commented Jun 10, 2024

For whoever wants to only expose their custom colors, put them all in a separate array:

extend: {
  colors: {
    brand: {
      yellow: '#FFF4C6',
    }
  }
}

And use theme('colors.brand') in the addBase() function.

t-mart commented Aug 4, 2024 •

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:root {
  --tw-color-white: theme('colors.white');
  --tw-color-black: theme('colors.black');
  --tw-color-gray-100: theme('colors.gray.100');
  --tw-color-gray-200: theme('colors.gray.200');
  --tw-color-gray-300: theme('colors.gray.300');
  --tw-color-gray-400: theme('colors.gray.400');
  --tw-color-gray-500: theme('colors.gray.500');
  --tw-color-gray-600: theme('colors.gray.600');
  --tw-color-gray-700: theme('colors.gray.700');
  --tw-color-gray-800: theme('colors.gray.800');
  --tw-color-gray-900: theme('colors.gray.900');
  --tw-color-gray-950: theme('colors.gray.950');
}

This is the right play. Thanks @joshdavenport.

No plugin needed
It's opt-in to colors to "variablize" in the bundle
Intuitive as to what the values will replace to
Keeps the config as the source of truth.

Merott/tailwind-colors-as-css-variables.md

sudo-vaibhav commented Apr 12, 2021

Uh oh!

dharmapurebuddha commented Mar 13, 2022

Uh oh!

Maybach91 commented Jun 9, 2022

Uh oh!

stepanjakl commented Jul 29, 2022

Uh oh!

EdvinTr commented Nov 5, 2022

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superniftydev commented Dec 31, 2022

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emigdio821 commented Mar 1, 2023

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benwinding commented Apr 15, 2023

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y-nk commented Jul 10, 2023

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y-nk commented Aug 19, 2023 via email

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rafaelrcamargo commented Jan 6, 2024

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GeorgeCht commented Jan 9, 2024

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Merott commented Jan 9, 2024

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jbasoo commented May 18, 2023 •

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Maybach91 commented Jul 12, 2023 •

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joshdavenport commented Oct 18, 2023 •

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