PostCSS

PostCSS is a tool for transforming CSS with JS plugins. These plugins can support variables and mixins, transpile future CSS syntax, inline images, and more.

Google, Twitter, Alibaba, and Shopify uses PostCSS. Its plugin, Autoprefixer, is one of the most popular CSS processors.

PostCSS can do the same work as preprocessors like Sass, Less, and Stylus. But PostCSS is modular, 3-30 times faster, and much more powerful.

Twitter account: @postcss. Weibo account: postcss. VK.com page: postcss.

What is PostCSS

PostCSS itself is very small. It includes only a CSS parser, a CSS node tree API, a source map generator, and a node tree stringifier.

All CSS transformations are made by plugins. And these plugins are just small plain JS functions, which receive a CSS node tree, transform it, and return a modified tree.

You can use the cssnext plugin pack and write future CSS code right now:

:root {
    --mainColor: #ffbbaaff;
}
@custom-media    --mobile (width <= 640px);
@custom-selector --heading h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6;

.post-article :--heading {
    color: color( var(--mainColor) blackness(+20%) );
}
@media (--mobile) {
    .post-article :--heading {
        margin-top: 0;
    }
}

Or if you like the Sass syntax, you could combine postcss-nested and postcss-mixins:

@define-mixin social-icon $network $color {
    &.is-$network {
        background: $color;
    }
}

.social-icon {
    @mixin social-icon twitter  #55acee;
    @mixin social-icon facebook #3b5998;

    padding: 10px 5px;
    @media (max-width: 640px) {
        padding: 0;
    }
}

Features

Preprocessors are template languages, where you mix styles with code (like PHP does with HTML). In contrast, in PostCSS you write a custom subset of CSS. All code can only be in JS plugins.

As a result, PostCSS offers three main benefits:

• Performance: PostCSS, written in JS, is 3 times faster than libsass, which is written in C++.
• Future CSS: PostCSS plugins can read and rebuild an entire document, meaning that they can provide new language features. For example, cssnext transpiles the latest W3C drafts to current CSS syntax.
• New abilities: PostCSS plugins can read and change every part of CSS. It makes many new classes of tools possible. Autoprefixer, rtlcss, doiuse or postcss-colorblind are good examples.

Usage

You just need to follow these two steps to use PostCSS:

1. Add PostCSS to your build tool.
2. Select plugins from the list below and add them to your PostCSS process.

There are plugins for Grunt, Gulp, webpack, Broccoli, Brunch and ENB.

gulp.task('css', function () {
    var postcss = require('gulp-postcss');
    return gulp.src('src/**/*.css')
        .pipe( postcss([ require('cssnext')(), require('cssnano')() ]) )
        .pipe( gulp.dest('build/') );
});

For other environments, you can use the CLI tool or the JS API:

var postcss = require('postcss');
postcss([ require('cssnext')(), require('cssnano')() ])
    .process(css, { from: 'src/app.css', to: 'app.css' })
    .then(function (result) {
        fs.writeFileSync('app.css', result.css);
        if ( result.map ) fs.writeFileSync('app.css.map', result.map);
    });

You can also use PostCSS plugins with the Stylus by using poststylus.

Read the PostCSS API for more details about the JS API.

Plugins

Control

There is two way to make PostCSS magic more explicit.

Define a plugins contexts and switch between them in different parts of CSS by postcss-plugin-context:

.css-example.is-test-for-css4-browsers {
    color: gray(255, 50%);
}
@context cssnext {
    .css-example.is-fallback-for-all-browsers {
        color: gray(255, 50%);
    }
}

Or to enable plugins right in CSS by postcss-use:

@use autoprefixer(browsers: ['last 2 versions']);

:fullscreen a {
    display: flex
}

Packs

• atcss contains plugins that transform your CSS according to special annotation comments.
• cssnano contains plugins that optimize CSS size for use in production.
• cssnext contains plugins that allow you to use future CSS features today.

Future CSS Syntax

• postcss-color-function supports functions to transform colors.
• postcss-color-gray supports the gray() function.
• postcss-color-hex-alpha supports #rrggbbaa and #rgba notation.
• postcss-color-hwb transforms hwb() to widely compatible rgb().
• postcss-color-rebeccapurple supports the rebeccapurple color.
• postcss-conic-gradient supports the conic-gradient background.
• postcss-css-variables supports variables for nested rules, selectors, and at-rules
• postcss-custom-media supports custom aliases for media queries.
• postcss-custom-properties supports variables, using syntax from the W3C Custom Properties.
• postcss-custom-selectors adds custom aliases for selectors.
• postcss-font-variant transpiles human-readable font-variant to more widely supported CSS.
• postcss-host makes the Shadow DOM’s :host selector work properly with pseudo-classes.
• postcss-media-minmax adds <= and => statements to media queries.
• postcss-pseudo-class-any-link adds :any-link pseudo-class.
• postcss-selector-not transforms CSS4 :not() to CSS3 :not().
• mq4-hover-shim supports the @media (hover) feature.

See also cssnext plugins pack to add Future CSS syntax by one line of code.

Fallbacks

• postcss-color-rgba-fallback transforms rgba() to hexadecimal.
• postcss-epub adds the -epub- prefix to relevant properties.
• postcss-image-set adds background-image with first image for image-set().
• postcss-opacity adds opacity filter for IE8.
• postcss-pseudoelements Convert :: selectors into : selectors for IE 8 compatibility.
• postcss-vmin generates vm fallback for vmin unit in IE9.
• postcss-will-change inserts 3D hack before will-change property.
• autoprefixer adds vendor prefixes for you, using data from Can I Use.
• cssgrace provides various helpers and transpiles CSS 3 for IE and other old browsers.
• pixrem generates pixel fallbacks for rem units.

Language Extensions

• postcss-bem adds at-rules for BEM and SUIT style classes.
• postcss-conditionals adds @if statements.
• postcss-define-property to define properties shortcut.
• postcss-each adds @each statement.
• postcss-for adds @for loops.
• postcss-map enables configuration maps.
• postcss-mixins enables mixins more powerful than Sass’s, defined within stylesheets or in JS.
• postcss-media-variables adds support for var() and calc() in @media rules
• postcss-modular-scale adds a modular scale ms() function.
• postcss-nested unwraps nested rules.
• postcss-pseudo-class-enter transforms :enter into :hover and :focus.
• postcss-quantity-queries enables quantity queries.
• postcss-simple-extend supports extending of silent classes, like Sass’s @extend.
• postcss-simple-vars supports for Sass-style variables.
• postcss-strip-units strips units off of property values.
• postcss-vertical-rhythm adds a vertical rhythm unit based on font-size and line-height.
• csstyle adds components workflow to your styles.

Colors

• postcss-brand-colors inserts company brand colors in the brand-colors module.
• postcss-color-alpha transforms #hex.a, black(alpha) and white(alpha) to rgba().
• postcss-color-hcl transforms hcl(H, C, L) and HCL(H, C, L, alpha) to #rgb and rgba().
• postcss-color-mix mixes two colors together.
• postcss-color-palette transforms CSS 2 color keywords to a custom palette.
• postcss-color-pantone transforms pantone color to RGB.
• postcss-color-scale adds a color scale cs() function.
• postcss-hexrgba adds shorthand hex rgba(hex, alpha) method.

Grids

• postcss-grid adds a semantic grid system.
• postcss-neat is a semantic and fluid grid framework.
• lost feature-rich calc() grid system by Jeet author.

Optimizations

• postcss-assets allows you to simplify URLs, insert image dimensions, and inline files.
• postcss-at2x handles retina background images via use of at-2x keyword.
• postcss-calc reduces calc() to values (when expressions involve the same units).
• postcss-data-packer moves embedded Base64 data to a separate file.
• postcss-import inlines the stylesheets referred to by @import rules.
• postcss-single-charset ensures that there is one and only one @charset rule at the top of file.
• postcss-sprites generates CSS sprites from stylesheets.
• postcss-url rebases or inlines url()s.
• postcss-zindex rebases positive z-index values.
• css-byebye removes the CSS rules that you don’t want.
• css-mqpacker joins matching CSS media queries into a single statement.
• webpcss adds URLs for WebP images for browsers that support WebP.

See also plugins in modular minifier cssnano.

Shortcuts

• postcss-border adds shorthand declarations for width and color of all borders in border property.
• postcss-clearfix adds fix and fix-legacy properties to the clear declaration.
• postcss-default-unit adds default unit to numeric CSS properties.
• postcss-easings replaces easing names from easings.net with cubic-bezier() functions.
• postcss-focus adds :focus selector to every :hover.
• postcss-fontpath adds font links for different browsers.
• postcss-generate-preset allows quick generation of rules. Useful for creating repetitive utilities.
• postcss-position adds shorthand declarations for position attributes.
• postcss-property-lookup allows referencing property values without a variable.
• postcss-short adds and extends numerous shorthand properties.
• postcss-size adds a size shortcut that sets width and height with one declaration.
• postcss-verthorz adds vertical and horizontal spacing declarations.

Others

• postcss-class-prefix adds a prefix/namespace to class selectors.
• postcss-colorblind transforms colors using filters to simulate colorblindness.
• postcss-fakeid transforms #foo IDs to attribute selectors [id="foo"].
• postcss-flexboxfixer unprefixes -webkit- only flexbox in legacy CSS.
• postcss-gradientfixer unprefixes -webkit- only gradients in legacy CSS.
• postcss-log-warnings logs warnings messages from other plugins in the console.
• postcss-messages displays warning messages from other plugins right in your browser.
• postcss-pxtorem converts pixel units to rem.
• postcss-style-guide generates a style guide automatically.
• rtlcss mirrors styles for right-to-left locales.

Analysis

• postcss-bem-linter lints CSS for conformance to SUIT CSS methodology.
• postcss-cssstats returns an object with CSS statistics.
• css2modernizr creates a Modernizr config file that requires only the tests that your CSS uses.
• doiuse lints CSS for browser support, using data from Can I Use.
• list-selectors lists and categorizes the selectors used in your CSS, for code review.

Fun

• postcss-australian-stylesheets Australian Style Sheets.
• postcss-canadian-stylesheets Canadian Style Sheets.
• postcss-pointer Replaces pointer: cursor with cursor: pointer.
• postcss-spiffing lets you use British English in your CSS.

How to Develop PostCSS Plugin

• Plugin Guidelines
• Plugin Boilerplate
• PostCSS API
• Ask questions

Options

Source Map

PostCSS has great source maps support. It can read and interpret maps from previous transformation steps, autodetect the format that you expect, and output both external and inline maps.

To ensure that you generate an accurate source map, you must indicate the input and output CSS files paths — using the options from and to, respectively.

To generate a new source map with the default options, simply set map: true. This will generate an inline source map that contains the source content. If you don’t want the map inlined, you can use set map.inline: false.

processor
    .process(css, {
        from: 'app.sass.css',
        to:   'app.css',
        map: { inline: false },
    })
    .then(function (result) {
        result.map //=> '{ "version":3,
                   //      "file":"app.css",
                   //      "sources":["app.sass"],
                   //       "mappings":"AAAA,KAAI" }'
    });

If PostCSS finds source maps from a previous transformation, it will automatically update that source map with the same options.

If you want more control over source map generation, you can define the map option as an object with the following parameters:

• inline boolean: indicates that the source map should be embedded in the output CSS as a Base64-encoded comment. By default, it is true. But if all previous maps are external, not inline, PostCSS will not embed the map even if you do not set this option.

  If you have an inline source map, the result.map property will be empty, as the source map will be contained within the text of result.css.

• prev string, object or boolean: source map content from a previous processing step (for example, Sass compilation). PostCSS will try to read the previous source map automatically (based on comments within the source CSS), but you can use this option to identify it manually. If desired, you can omit the previous map with prev: false.

• sourcesContent boolean: indicates that PostCSS should set the origin content (for example, Sass source) of the source map. By default, it’s true. But if all previous maps do not contain sources content, PostCSS will also leave it out even if you do not set this option.

• annotation boolean or string: indicates that PostCSS should add annotation comments to the CSS. By default, PostCSS will always add a comment with a path to the source map. But if the input CSS does not have any annotation comment, PostCSS will omit it, too, even if you do not set this option.

  By default, PostCSS presumes that you want to save the source map as opts.to + '.map' and will use this path in the annotation comment. But you can set another path by providing a string value for annotation.

  If you have set inline: true, annotation cannot be disabled.

Safe Mode

If you provide a safe: true option to the process or parse methods, PostCSS will try to correct any syntax errors that it finds in the CSS.

postcss.parse('a {');                 // will throw "Unclosed block"
postcss.parse('a {', { safe: true }); // will return CSS root for a {}

This is useful for legacy code filled with hacks. Another use-case is interactive tools with live input — for example, the Autoprefixer demo.