@property CSS at-rule

The @property CSS at-rule is used to explicitly define CSS custom properties, allowing for property type checking and constraining, setting default values, and defining whether a custom property can inherit values or not.

Note: The JavaScript registerProperty() method is equivalent to the @property at-rule.

Syntax

css
@property --canBeAnything {
  syntax: "*";
  inherits: true;
}

@property --rotation {
  syntax: "<angle>";
  inherits: false;
  initial-value: 45deg;
}

@property --defaultSize {
  syntax: "<length> | <percentage>";
  inherits: true;
  initial-value: 200px;
}

The custom property name is a <dashed-ident> that starts with -- and is followed by a valid, user-defined identifier. It is case-sensitive.

Descriptors

syntax

A string that describes the allowed value types for the registered custom property.

inherits

A boolean value that controls whether the custom property registration specified by @property inherits by default.

initial-value

A value that sets the starting value for the property.

Description

The @property at-rule is part of the CSS Houdini set of APIs. It allows developers to explicitly define CSS custom properties, allowing for property type checking and constraining, setting default values, and defining whether a custom property can inherit values or not.

The @property rule enables custom property registration directly inside stylesheets without requiring any JavaScript. Valid @property rules produce registered custom properties, producing the same effect as calling registerProperty() with equivalent parameters.

The following conditions must be met for the @property rule to be valid:

If multiple valid @property rules are defined using the same name, the last one in stylesheet order "wins". If custom properties are registered with the same name using @property in CSS and CSS.registerProperty() in JavaScript, the JavaScript registration wins.

Formal syntax

@property = 
@property <custom-property-name> { <declaration-list> }

Examples

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Basic example

In this example, we use the @property at-rule to declare two custom properties, and then use those properties in our style declarations.

HTML

html
<p>Hello world!</p>

CSS

css
@property --myColor {
  syntax: "<color>";
  inherits: true;
  initial-value: rebeccapurple;
}

@property --myWidth {
  syntax: "<length> | <percentage>";
  inherits: true;
  initial-value: 200px;
}

p {
  background-color: var(--myColor);
  width: var(--myWidth);
  color: white;
}

Results

The paragraph should be 200px wide, with a purple background and white text.

Animating a custom property value

In this example, we define a custom property called --progress using @property: this accepts <percentage> values and has an initial value of 25%. We use --progress to define the position value of the color stops in a linear-gradient(), specifying where a green color stops, and black starts. We then animate the value of --progress to 100% over 2.5 seconds, giving the effect of animating a progress bar.

HTML

html
<div class="bar"></div>

CSS

css
@property --progress {
  syntax: "<percentage>";
  inherits: false;
  initial-value: 25%;
}

.bar {
  display: inline-block;
  --progress: 25%;
  width: 100%;
  height: 5px;
  background: linear-gradient(
    to right,
    #00d230 var(--progress),
    black var(--progress)
  );
  animation: progressAnimation 2.5s ease infinite;
}

@keyframes progressAnimation {
  to {
    --progress: 100%;
  }
}

Results

Specifications

See also