---
title: Classes
---

# Classes

Blueprint packages provide React components in JS files and associated styles in
a CSS file. Each package exports a `Classes` constants object in JavaScript that
contains keys of the form `NAMED_CONSTANT` for every CSS class used. This
separation allows us to change CSS classes between versions without breaking
downstream users (although in practice this happens very rarely).

**Avoid referencing hardcoded Blueprint class names in your JS or CSS code.**

```tsx
// Don't do this! Avoid hardcoding Blueprint class names.
<button className="@ns-button @ns-large">Don't do this!</button>
```

The **best practice** is to add your own class to an element and then reference
that class whenever needed.

```tsx
<Button className="my-custom-class" text="customized button" />
```

```scss
.my-custom-class {
    width: 4000px;
}
```

In cases where adding and styling a new class is impractical or undesirable, use
the `Classes` constants or `$ns` Sass/Less variable. The `Classes` constants can
be particularly useful when writing UI tests.

```tsx
// use Classes constants for forward-compatible custom elements.
import { Classes } from "@blueprintjs/core";
<a className={Classes.MENU_ITEM}>custom menu item</a>;
```

```scss
// interpolate the $ns variable to generate forward-compatible class names.
// this approach is *not encouraged* as it increases maintenance cost.
@import "@blueprintjs/core/lib/scss/variables";
.#{$ns}-menu-item {
}
```

## Modifiers

Blueprint components support a range of **modifiers** to adjust their
appearance. Some commonly used modifiers are `intent`, `large`, and `minimal`.
While modifiers are typically implemented as simple CSS classes, it is always
preferrable to use the corresponding prop on a React component.

```tsx
// Prefer props over modifier classes.
<Button intent="primary" variant="minimal">Good stuff</Button>

// Don't do this!
<Button className={classNames(Classes.INTENT_PRIMARY, Classes.MINIMAL)}>Don't do this!</Button>
```

Another important note: Since modifiers typically correspond directly to CSS classes, they will often
cascade to children and _cannot be disabled_ on descendants. If a `<ButtonGroup>`
is marked `variant="outlined"`, then setting `<Button variant="minimal">` on a child
will have _no effect_ since `Classes.OUTLINED` cannot be removed or overriden
by a descendant.

## Namespacing

All Blueprint CSS classes begin with a namespace prefix to isolate our styles
from other frameworks: `.button` is a very common name, but only Blueprint
defines `.@ns-button`.

This CSS namespace is versioned by major version of the library so two major versions of Blueprint
can be used together on a single page.

### Current namespace prefix

Blueprint v6 uses the **`bp6-`** prefix for all CSS classes. For example, Button components have the class `.bp6-button`, Cards have `.bp6-card`, etc. This prefix changes with each major version of Blueprint (e.g., v5 used `bp5-`, v6 uses `bp6-`).

When writing custom styles that target Blueprint components, you should reference the namespace using the `$ns` Sass variable rather than hardcoding the prefix:

```scss
@use "@blueprintjs/core/lib/scss/variables.scss" as bp;

.my-class .#{bp.$ns}-button {
    // Custom styles for Blueprint buttons within .my-class
    background-color: red;
}
```

### Custom namespace

The CSS namespace can be changed _at build time_ to produce a custom Blueprint build.
With this approach, you will import Blueprint's Sass sources from `/lib/scss/` instead of the CSS files from the
`/lib/css/` folders.

You must use [Dart Sass](https://sass-lang.com/dart-sass) and set up a few important bits of build configuration:

1. Sass `loadPaths` must include the `node_modules` folder where `@blueprintjs` packages are installed
2. A custom function implementation for `svg-icon()` must be defined
3. You must copy the [resources/icons folder](https://github.com/palantir/blueprint/tree/develop/resources/icons) from the Blueprint repo into your project (in the future, this may not be required once Blueprint starts publishing these SVG files in a public NPM package).

The **@blueprintjs/node-build-scripts** package provides some utility functions to help with this. Here's a code example
for a custom Sass compiler that can import Blueprint `.scss` sources:

```js
import { sassNodeModulesLoadPaths, sassSvgInlinerFactory } from "@blueprintjs/node-build-scripts";
import * as sass from "sass";

const result = await sass.compileAsync("path/to/input.scss", {
    loadPaths: sassNodeModulesLoadPaths,
    functions: {
        /**
         * Sass function to inline a UI icon svg and change its path color.
         *
         * Usage:
         * svg-icon("16px/icon-name.svg", (path: (fill: $color)) )
         */
        "svg-icon($path, $selectors: null)": sassSvgInlinerFactory("path/to/resources/icons", {
            optimize: true,
            encodingFormat: "uri",
        }),
    },
});
```

In addition to the JS API, you can specify this configuration with Webpack's sass-loader:

```js
// webpack.config.mjs

import { sassNodeModulesLoadPaths, sassSvgInlinerFactory } from "@blueprintjs/node-build-scripts";
import * as sass from "sass";

const functions = {
    /**
     * Sass function to inline a UI icon svg and change its path color.
     *
     * Usage:
     * svg-icon("16px/icon-name.svg", (path: (fill: $color)) )
     */
    "svg-icon($path, $selectors: null)": sassSvgInlinerFactory("path/to/resources/icons", {
        optimize: true,
        encodingFormat: "uri",
    }),
};

export default {
    module: {
        rules: [
            {
                test: /\.scss$/,
                use: {
                    loader: require.resolve("sass-loader"),
                    options: {
                        sassOptions: {
                            loadPaths: sassNodeModulesLoadPaths,
                            functions,
                        },
                    },
                },
            },
        ],
    },
};
```

Once you have this build configuration set up, you can proceed to customize Sass and JS variables:

1. Define the `$ns` Sass variable in your app styles _before_ importing `blueprint.scss`.
2. When bundling your JS JS code, define the `BLUEPRINT_NAMESPACE` variable to the same value; this will update the generated `Classes` constants. The easiest way to do is with webpack's [DefinePlugin](https://webpack.js.org/plugins/define-plugin/).

```js
plugins: [
    new webpack.DefinePlugin({
        BLUEPRINT_NAMESPACE: "my-custom-namespace",
    }),
];
```

## Linting

The [**@blueprintjs/eslint-config**](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@blueprintjs/eslint-config)
NPM package provides advanced configuration for [ESLint](https://eslint.org/). The
[**@blueprintjs/eslint-plugin**](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@blueprintjs/eslint-plugin)
NPM package includes a custom `blueprint-html-components` rule that will warn on usages of
JSX intrinsic elements (`<h1>`) that have a Blueprint alternative (`<H1>`). See
the package's [README](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@blueprintjs/eslint-plugin)
for usage instructions.
