createVar

Creates a single scoped CSS Variable reference.

accent.css.ts

import { createVar, style } from '@vanilla-extract/css';

export const accentVar = createVar();

CSS

No CSS created

As you can see, no CSS is generated when you create a variable, it is only a reference that can be set later on.

Setting the variable

The variable reference created above can be set using the “vars” key.

accent.css.ts

import { createVar, style } from '@vanilla-extract/css';

export const accentVar = createVar();

export const blue = style({
  vars: {
    [accentVar]: 'blue'
  }
});

export const pink = style({
  vars: {
    [accentVar]: 'pink'
  }
});

CSS

.accent_blue__l3kgsb1 {
  --accentVar__l3kgsb0: blue;
}
.accent_pink__l3kgsb2 {
  --accentVar__l3kgsb0: pink;
}

Keep in mind the value of the variable can be changed in another class or even in a media query. For example, let’s change the value when the user prefers a dark color-scheme:

accent.css.ts

import { createVar, style } from '@vanilla-extract/css';

export const accentVar = createVar();

export const blue = style({
  vars: {
    [accentVar]: 'blue'
  },
  '@media': {
    '(prefers-color-scheme: dark)': {
      vars: {
        [accentVar]: 'lightblue'
      }
    }
  }
});

export const pink = style({
  vars: {
    [accentVar]: 'pink'
  },
  '@media': {
    '(prefers-color-scheme: dark)': {
      vars: {
        [accentVar]: 'lightpink'
      }
    }
  }
});

CSS

.accent_blue__l3kgsb1 {
  --accentVar__l3kgsb0: blue;
}
.accent_pink__l3kgsb2 {
  --accentVar__l3kgsb0: pink;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  .accent_blue__l3kgsb1 {
    --accentVar__l3kgsb0: lightblue;
  }
  .accent_pink__l3kgsb2 {
    --accentVar__l3kgsb0: lightpink;
  }
}

Using the variable

The variable reference can then be passed as the value for any CSS property.

import { createVar, style } from '@vanilla-extract/css';
import { accentVar } from './accent.css.ts';

export const accentText = style({
  color: accentVar
});

CSS

.style_accentText__1p33h4l0 {
  color: var(--accentVar__l3kgsb0);
}

Assigning variables dynamically

CSS variables can also be assigned dynamically using APIs in the @vanilla-extract/dynamic package.

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