CSS Grid Mastery with Claude Code

Build Complex Layouts Concisely With CSS Grid

CSS Grid is the core of modern layout design. With Claude Code, you can generate accurate CSS for complex grid layouts in a short time.

Basic Grid Layout

> Build a dashboard layout with CSS Grid.
> Use four regions: header, sidebar, main content, footer.

/* Dashboard layout */
.dashboard {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 250px 1fr;
  grid-template-rows: 60px 1fr 40px;
  grid-template-areas:
    "header  header"
    "sidebar main"
    "sidebar footer";
  min-height: 100vh;
}

.header  { grid-area: header; }
.sidebar { grid-area: sidebar; }
.main    { grid-area: main; }
.footer  { grid-area: footer; }

/* Responsive: single column on mobile */
@media (width < 768px) {
  .dashboard {
    grid-template-columns: 1fr;
    grid-template-rows: 60px auto 1fr 40px;
    grid-template-areas:
      "header"
      "sidebar"
      "main"
      "footer";
  }
}

Automatic Layout With auto-fill / auto-fit

/* Card grid: automatically adjusts the column count */
.card-grid {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(280px, 1fr));
  gap: 1.5rem;
}

/* auto-fit: items stretch when there are few of them */
.stretch-grid {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(200px, 1fr));
  gap: 1rem;
}

/* Key difference:
   auto-fill -> keeps empty tracks (item widths are fixed)
   auto-fit  -> collapses empty tracks (items expand) */

Magazine Layout

/* Magazine-style irregular grid */
.magazine {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(4, 1fr);
  grid-auto-rows: 200px;
  gap: 1rem;
}

.magazine .featured {
  grid-column: span 2;
  grid-row: span 2;
}

.magazine .wide {
  grid-column: span 2;
}

.magazine .tall {
  grid-row: span 2;
}

Using Subgrid

/* Align elements inside cards using subgrid */
.card-list {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(250px, 1fr));
  gap: 1.5rem;
}

.card {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-rows: subgrid;
  grid-row: span 3; /* title, body, footer -> 3 rows */
}

.card__title {
  align-self: start;
  font-size: 1.25rem;
  font-weight: bold;
}

.card__body {
  align-self: start;
}

.card__footer {
  align-self: end;
  border-top: 1px solid #eee;
  padding-top: 0.5rem;
}

Advanced Layouts With Named Lines

.page {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns:
    [full-start] minmax(1rem, 1fr)
    [content-start] min(65ch, 100%)
    [content-end] minmax(1rem, 1fr)
    [full-end];
}

.page > * {
  grid-column: content;
}

.page .full-bleed {
  grid-column: full;
}

.page .wide {
  grid-column: full;
  max-width: 90rem;
  margin-inline: auto;
  padding-inline: 1rem;
}

CSS Grid Animation

/* Grid animation transitions */
.animated-grid {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr;
  transition: grid-template-columns 0.3s ease;
}

.animated-grid.collapsed {
  grid-template-columns: 0fr 1fr;
}

.animated-grid .sidebar {
  overflow: hidden;
  min-width: 0;
}

Practical Utility Classes

/* Grid utilities */
.grid-1 { grid-template-columns: 1fr; }
.grid-2 { grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr); }
.grid-3 { grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr); }
.grid-4 { grid-template-columns: repeat(4, 1fr); }

.gap-sm { gap: 0.5rem; }
.gap-md { gap: 1rem; }
.gap-lg { gap: 1.5rem; }
.gap-xl { gap: 2rem; }

.span-2 { grid-column: span 2; }
.span-3 { grid-column: span 3; }
.span-full { grid-column: 1 / -1; }

Summary

Using CSS Grid together with Flexbox lets you handle any layout. With Claude Code, you can accurately implement advanced features like subgrid and named lines. Don’t forget to combine it with media queries for responsive design. For the full spec, see CSS Grid Layout Module Level 2.