A tiny, Sass-powered design-token led utility class generator, with handy helpers, that helps you to power your front-ends with a single source of truth.

• Gorko
  • Getting started
  • Configuration
    • Base size (optional)
    • Size scale (optional)
    • Colors (optional)
    • Gorko config (required)
    • Breakpoints
  • Utility Class Generator
    • Example outputs
  • Generating Utility Classes On Demand
  • Using CSS Custom Properties
    • Using themes
  • Sass functions
    • Get color
      • Example
    • Get utility value
      • Example
    • Get size
      • Example
  • Sass mixins
    • Apply utility
      • Example
    • Media query
      • Example
  • Contributing
  • Pull Request Process
  • Code of Conduct
    • Our Pledge
    • Our Standards
    • Our Responsibilities
    • Scope
    • Enforcement
    • Attribution

First up, install Gorko:

npm install gorko

In your Sass (SCSS in this case), import Gorko like so:

@import '../path/to/your/node_modules/gorko/gorko.scss';

This will generate utility classes based on the default configuration. To configure it for yourself, take this default, and create your own. Once it is created import your config before Gorko, like this:

@import 'config';

This is the default configuration. It is recommended that you use it as your base for your own configuration.

/// BASE SIZE
/// All calculations are based on this. It’s recommended that
/// you keep it at 1rem because that is the root font size. You
/// can set it to whatever you like and whatever unit you like.
///
$gorko-base-size: 1rem;

/// SIZE SCALE
/// This is a Major Third scale that powers all the utilities that
/// it is relevant for (font-size, margin, padding). All items are
/// calcuated off the base size, so change that and cascade across
/// your whole project.
///
$gorko-size-scale: (
  '300': $gorko-base-size * 0.8,
  '400': $gorko-base-size,
  '500': $gorko-base-size * 1.25,
  '600': $gorko-base-size * 1.6,
  '700': $gorko-base-size * 2,
  '900': $gorko-base-size * 3
);

/// COLORS
/// Colors are shared between backgrounds and text by default.
/// You can also use them to power borders, fills or shadows, for example.
///
$gorko-colors: (
  'dark': #1a1a1a,
  'light': #f3f3f3
);

/// CORE CONFIG
/// This powers everything from utility class generation to breakpoints
/// to enabling/disabling pre-built components/utilities.
///
$gorko-config: (
  'bg': (
    'items': $gorko-colors,
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'background'
  ),
  'color': (
    'items': $gorko-colors,
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'color'
  ),
  'box': (
    'items': (
      'block': 'block',
      'flex': 'flex',
      'hide': 'none',
      'show': 'inherit'
    ),
    'output': 'responsive',
    'property': 'display'
  ),
  'font': (
    'items': (
      'base': 'Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif'
    ),
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'font-family'
  ),
  'gap-top': (
    'items': $gorko-size-scale,
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'margin-top'
  ),
  'gap-right': (
    'items': $gorko-size-scale,
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'margin-right'
  ),
  'gap-bottom': (
    'items': $gorko-size-scale,
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'margin-bottom'
  ),
  'gap-left': (
    'items': $gorko-size-scale,
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'margin-left'
  ),
  'pad-top': (
    'items': $gorko-size-scale,
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'padding-top'
  ),
  'pad-right': (
    'items': $gorko-size-scale,
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'padding-right'
  ),
  'pad-bottom': (
    'items': $gorko-size-scale,
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'padding-bottom'
  ),
  'pad-left': (
    'items': $gorko-size-scale,
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'padding-left'
  ),
  'stack': (
    'items': (
      '300': 0,
      '400': 10,
      '500': 20,
      '600': 30,
      '700': 40
    ),
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'z-index'
  ),
  'text': (
    'items': $gorko-size-scale,
    'output': 'responsive',
    'property': 'font-size'
  ),
  'weight': (
    'items': (
      'light': '300',
      'regular': '400',
      'bold': '700'
    ),
    'output': 'standard',
    'property': 'font-weight'
  ),
  'width': (
    'items': (
      'full': '100%',
      'half': percentage(1/2),
      'quarter': percentage(1/4),
      'third': percentage(1/3)
    ),
    'output': 'responsive',
    'property': 'width'
  ),
  'breakpoints': (
    'sm': '(min-width: 36em)',
    'md': '(min-width: 48em)',
    'lg': '(min-width: 62em)'
  )
);

$gorko-base-size

The base size for the size ratio calculations. It is only required for the default configuration.

$gorko-size-scale

This takes the base size and by default, generates a major third size scale. This can be set to whatever scale you like.

If this is not set, the get-size function will use the default configuration.

$gorko-colors

A collection of key/value pairs that by default, generate text and background colour utilities.

If this is not set, the get-color function will use the default configuration.

$gorko-config

🚨 Without this set, Gorko won’t work. 🚨

It contains all of the utility class definitions and breakpoint definitions that the generator and mixins use.

You can add as many or as little utility class definitions as you like—likewise for breakpoint definitions.

The breakpoints map in $gorko-config defines media queries for the utility class generator. By default, the are set as follows:

'breakpoints': (
	'sm': '(min-width: 36em)',
	'md': '(min-width: 48em)',
	'lg': '(min-width: 62em)'
)

You can add as many or as little of these as you like and call them whatever you like. The only requirement is that the value is a valid media query.

The utility class generator loops through $gorko-config looking for items that have a valid utility class structure. The following structure is required to generate a utility class:

'width':('items':('full':'100%','half': '50%'
  ),
  'output': 'standard',
  'property': 'width'
),;

The first key is the name of the utility and that contains a Sass map. Inside that map, you need to have the following:

• items: a map of key/value pairs which link a utility class to a CSS property’s value. If you want to use CSS Custom Properties, this should be the string key, referencing the 'css-vars' $gorko-config group that you want to use
• output: this must be responsive or standard. If you set it to responsive, it will generate the same utility class for every breakpoint that is defined.
• property: the CSS property that this utility controls.

The above structure would output the following utility classes:

.width-full {
  width: 100%;
}

.width-half {
  width: 50%;
}

If we set the output to be responsive, with the default breakpoints defined, the output would be as follows:

.width-full {
  width: 100%;
}

.width-half {
  width: 50%;
}

@media (min-width: 36em) {
  .sm\:width-full {
    width: 100%;
  }

  .sm\:width-half {
    width: 50%;
  }
}

@media (min-width: 48em) {
  .md\:width-full {
    width: 100%;
  }

  .md\:width-half {
    width: 50%;
  }
}

@media (min-width: 62em) {
  .lg\:width-full {
    width: 100%;
  }

  .lg\:width-half {
    width: 50%;
  }
}

The default behaviour of Gorko is to generate utility classes, but in the spirit of being as flexible as possible, you can stop it doing that by setting $generate-utility-classes to false when you pull Gorko into your project, like this:

$generate-utility-classes: false;
@import 'config';
@import '../path/to/your/node_modules/gorko/gorko.scss';

We might want to generate those utility classes later on in the CSS, though, so we use the generate-utility-classes() mixin anywhere after Gorko has been pulled in.

$generate-utility-classes: false;
@import 'config';
@import '../path/to/your/node_modules/gorko/gorko.scss';

// Standard authored CSS
body {
  display: grid;
  place-items: center;
}

// Generate utilities after everything else
@include generate-utility-classes();

See a demo repo

You might want to use CSS Custom Properties instead of static references to tokens. To do so with Gorko, you need to make a couple of adjustments to your $gorko-config.

Firstly, at the top, you need to add a css-vars group which has a key and a value, which should be a map of tokens.

$gorko-config: (
  'css-vars': (
    'color': $gorko-colors,
    'weight': (
      'bold': 700,
      'black': 900
    )
  )
);

In this example, we have defined a 'color' group which uses $gorko-colors, but also a 'weight' group where we have defined key value pairs, just like we do in the utility class generator.

This will now generate a collection of CSS Custom properties like this:

:root {
  --color-dark: #1a1a1a;
  --color-light: #f3f3f3;
  --weight-bold: 700;
  --weight-black: 900;
}

To use CSS Custom Properties in a utility class, we need to first, switch 'items' to be a reference to the 'css-vars' group we want, then set 'css-vars' to be true.

'bg': (
  'items': 'color',
  'css-vars': true,
  'output': 'standard',
  'property': 'background'
)

Now, the background utility classes will look like this:

.bg-dark {
  background: var(--color-dark);
}

.bg-light {
  background: var(--color-light);
}

Note: You can use a combination of CSS Custom Properties and static references to tokens for different utility classes. Gorko is flexible enough to let you do what works for you and your team.

When you enable CSS custom properties, Gorko will generate the :root blocks for you, but sometimes, you might want those :root blocks not to be rendered. This is common if you are generating more than one CSS bundle. To disable the generation of CSS Custom Property blocks, set $generate-css-vars = false;, before you import Gorko, just like generating utility classes on demand.

This feature requires Custom Properties

A handy part of the Custom Property support with Gorko is the ability to generate multiple themes. These themes can power dark mode with @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) or be prefixed with whatever scheme you like.

Let’s say you want a dark mode that both honours the user’s preference, via a media query, and also, can be toggled. The toggle version could use [data-theme="dark"] as its prefix. We’ll generate a default light theme too.

First, we set some values.

$gorko-colors: (
  'dark': #1a1a1a,
  'light': #f3f3f3
);

$light-colors: (
  'text': map-get($gorko-colors, 'dark'),
  'bg': map-get($gorko-colors, 'light')
);

$dark-colors: (
  'text': map-get($gorko-colors, 'light'),
  'bg': map-get($gorko-colors, 'dark')
);

Then, we tweak $gorko-config.

$gorko-config: (
  'css-vars': (
    'themes': (
      'default': (
        'tokens': (
          'color': $light-colors
        )
      ),
      'dark': (
        'prefers-color-scheme': 'dark',
        'tokens': (
          'color': $dark-colors
        )
      ),
      'dark-toggle': (
        'prefix': '[data-theme="dark"]',
        'tokens': (
          'color': $dark-colors
        )
      )
    )
  ),
  /// the rest of your config
);

This then generates the following Custom Properties:

:root {
  --color-text: #1a1a1a;
  --color-bg: #f3f3f3;
}

@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root {
    --color-text: #f3f3f3;
    --color-bg: #1a1a1a;
  }
}

[data-theme='dark'] {
  --color-text: #f3f3f3;
  --color-bg: #1a1a1a;
}

Now, we can style elements like so and regardless of what theme is selected, we won’t have to change our CSS:

.my-element {
  background: var(--color-bg);
  text: var(--color-text);
}

A complete theme map looks like this:

'dark-toggle': ( // Name required
  'prefix': '[data-theme="dark"]', // Optional. Will be :root if not set
  'prefers-color-scheme': 'dark', // Optional. Will generate @media rule if set
  'tokens': ( // Required. Map of key value pairs
    'color': (
      'primary': #1a1a1a,
      'secondary': #f3f3f
    )
  )
)

You can generate as many themes with whatever prefix you can think up!

You could also generate color utility classes using the generator that use these custom properties.

Gorko supports 'namespacing' both the generated class and variable names by allowing you to specify a prefix. This is done using the namespace map within $gorko-config. The default namespace config looks like this:

$gorko-config: (
  'namespace': (
    'prefix': '',             // string
    'classes': true,          // boolean or string
    'css-vars': false         // boolean or string
  )
)

Specifying a value for prefix will append that value to classes (by default) and css variables (opt-in). You are responsible for appending any separating character, such as a dash or underscore. For example, if your namespace is my-app-, you need to add the trailing - character in the 'prefix' section.

Accepts either a boolean value indicating that the prefix should be applied to generated utility classes OR a string, which allows you to override the global prefix

Accepts either a boolean value indicating that the prefix should be applied to css-vars OR a string, which allows you to override the global prefix

Minimal Configuration: This configuration would prepend my- to the beginning of generated utility classes, but would not modify css variable names:

$gorko-config: (
  'namespace': (
    'prefix': 'my-'
  )
)

Everything prefixed: This configuration applies the prefix to both utility classes and css variables:

$gorko-config: (
  'namespace': (
    'prefix': 'my-',
    'css-vars': true
  )
)

Separate prefixes: This configuration gives you the ability to provide different prefixes for utility classes and css variables:

$gorko-config: (
  'namespace': (
    'classes': 'my-class-',
    'css-vars': 'my-var-'
  )
)

There are a couple of handy functions that give you access to configuration settings.

get-color($key: string)

Takes the passed $key and attempts to retrieve a match from $gorko-colors.

Using the default config:

$dark = get-color('dark'); // #1a1a1a

get-utility-value($key: string, $value-key: string)

Returns back the value for a utility class so you can use it directly.

Using the default config:

font-weight: get-utility-value('weight', 'light'); // 300

get-size($ratio-key: string)

Tries to match the passed $ratio-key with the $gorko-size-scale. Returns null if it can’t find a match.

Using the default config:

$my-size: get-size('500'); // 1.25rem

apply-utility($key: string, $value-key: string)

Grab the property and value of one of the $gorko-config utilities that the generator will generate a class for.

Using the default config:

.my-element {
  @include apply-utility('weight', 'bold'); // font-weight: bold;
}

media-query($key: string)

Pass in the key of one of your breakpoints set in $gorko-config['breakpoints'] and this mixin will generate the media query with your configured value.

Using the default config:

.my-element {
  @include media-query('md') {
    background: goldenrod;
  }
}

Output:

@media (min-width: 48em) {
  .my-element {
    background: goldenrod;
  }
}

When contributing to this repository, please first discuss the change you wish to make via issue, email, or any other method with the owners of this repository before making a change.

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