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Using CSS variables

Learn how to use CSS variables to customize Joy UI's components.

Theme object

The CssVarsProvider reads the theme input (or the default theme) and create the CSS variables according to the theme structure. It also creates an object that refers to the generated CSS variables under theme.vars so that you can use them from the JavaScript theme object.

The theme.vars is available in all styling APIs that Joy UI offers:

  • styled function
    const Div = styled('div')(({ theme }) => ({
  // The result is 'var(--joy-palette-primary-500)'
  color: theme.vars.palette.primary[500],
}));
  • sx prop
    // The result is 'var(--joy-shadow-sm)'
<Chip sx={(theme) => ({ boxShadow: theme.vars.shadow.sm })} />
  • style overrides (themed components)
    extendTheme({
  components: {
    JoyButton: {
      root: ({ theme }) => ({
        // The result is 'var(--joy-fontFamily-display)'
        fontFamily: theme.vars.fontFamily.display,
      }),
    },
  },
});
  • useTheme hook

Alpha channel colors

Joy UI automatically generates the channel tokens (mainChannel, lightChannel and darkChannel) to be used with an opacity. You will find them in these palettes:

  • primary
  • neutral
  • danger
  • info
  • success
  • warning

You can combine the channel tokens with an opacity value like this:

const Div = styled('div')(({ theme }) => ({
  backgroundColor: `rgba(${theme.vars.palette.primary.mainChannel} / 0.12)`,
}));

Raw value

In some cases, you might want to use the raw value to create a new one. For example, you can create the inset shadow from the theme like this:

const Div = styled('div')(({ theme }) => ({
  // Note that it is using `theme.shadow` not `theme.vars.shadow`
  boxShadow: theme.shadow.sm.replace(/,/g, ', inset'),
}));

sx prop

When using the short-hand syntax inside the sx prop, Joy UI will try to resolve the value from theme.vars.*. You can use the . notation to get the value of an object.

<Chip
  sx={{
    border: '1px solid',

    // For color related properties, lookup from `theme.vars.palette`
    color: 'neutral.800', // 'var(--joy-palette-neutral-800)'
    borderColor: 'neutral.400', // 'var(--joy-palette-neutral-400)'

    // lookup from `theme.vars.shadow`
    shadow: 'sm', // 'var(--joy-shadow-sm)'

    // lookup from `theme.vars.fontSize`
    fontSize: 'sm', // 'var(--joy-fontSize-sm)'
  }}
/>

Custom prefix

By default, the generated CSS variables are prefixed with joy. If you want to change the prefix to something else, provide the cssVarPrefix to the extendTheme:

import { CssVarsProvider, extendTheme } from '@mui/joy/styles';

function App() {
  return (
    <CssVarsProvider theme={extendTheme({ cssVarPrefix: 'company' })}>
      ...
    </CssVarsProvider>
  );
}

The generated CSS variables will be:

- --joy-fontSize-md: 1rem;
+ --company-fontSize-md: 1rem;

Remove the prefix

Specify "" as a value to extendTheme({ cssVarPrefix: '' }).

The generated CSS variables will be:

- --joy-fontSize-md: 1rem;
+ --fontSize-md: 1rem;