container CSS property

The container shorthand CSS property establishes the element as a query container and specifies the name and type of the containment context used in a container query.

Constituent properties

This property is a shorthand for the following CSS properties:

Syntax

css
/* <container-name> */
container: my-layout;

/* <container-name> / <container-type> */
container: my-layout / size;

/* Global Values */
container: inherit;
container: initial;
container: revert;
container: revert-layer;
container: unset;

Values

<container-name>

A case-sensitive name for the containment context. More details on the syntax are covered in the container-name property page.

<container-type>

The type of containment context. More details on the syntax are covered in the container-type property page.

Formal definition

Initial valueas each of the properties of the shorthand:
Applies toall elements
Inheritedno
Percentagesas each of the properties of the shorthand:
Computed valueas each of the properties of the shorthand:
Animation typeas each of the properties of the shorthand:

Formal syntax

container = 
  <'container-name'> [ / <'container-type'> ]?  

<container-name> = 
  none             |
  <custom-ident>+  

<container-type> = 
  normal                                      |
  [ [ size | inline-size ] || scroll-state ]

Examples

undefined

Establishing inline size containment

Given the following HTML example which is a card component with an image, a title, and some text:

html
<div class="post">
  <div class="card">
    <h2>Card title</h2>
    <p>Card content</p>
  </div>
</div>

The explicit way to create a container context is to declare a container-type with an optional container-name:

css
.post {
  container-type: inline-size;
  container-name: sidebar;
}

The container shorthand is intended to make this definable in a single declaration:

css
.post {
  container: sidebar / inline-size;
}

You can then target that container by name using the @container at-rule:

css
@container sidebar (width >= 400px) {
  /* <stylesheet> */
}

Specifications

See also