blades^✨

Minimal CSS Framework for Semantic HTML

Blades CSS is a modern drop‑in successor to Pico CSS.

Just switch pico.css to blades.css— and voilà!

Get started  •  Inspired by Pico ✨

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Quick start

There are 4 ways to get started:

A. Install manually

Download CSS archive and link css/blades.css in the <head> of your website.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/blades.css" />

B. Usage from CDN

<link rel="stylesheet" href="
  https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@anyblades/blades@3/css/blades.min.css
"/>

Live example: https://github.com/pallets/website/blob/main/src/pallets/templates/layout.html

Full list of CSS files available on CDN: https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@anyblades/blades@3/css/

layered/blades.layered.min.css is Blades wrapped in @layer blades { }. See Layered modules.

C. Install with NPM

npm install @anyblades/blades

Then, @import the built css/blades.css into your CSS file:

@import "@anyblades/blades";

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Alternatively, import standalone Blades CSS sources only (without underlying Pico CSS base styles):

@import "@anyblades/blades/standalone";

Live example using Tailwind: https://github.com/anyblades/buildawesome-micro-starters/blob/main/tailwind/styles.css

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Or import only the parts you need, e.g. per page or per component. They come wrapped in @layer blades, so your unlayered styles win over them:

@import "@anyblades/blades/variables";
@import "@anyblades/blades/layout/document";
@import "@anyblades/blades/content/typography";
@import "@anyblades/blades/components/card";
@import "@anyblades/blades/components/modal";

• variables and layout/document are the minimum; keep the same order as src/pico/_index.css (variables → layout → content → forms → components → utilities).
• layout doesn't pad body > header/main/footer. Add layout/landmarks for Pico's behaviour.
• Some parts build on others, e.g. components/modal expects components/card, and components/group and components/dropdown expect forms/basics and content/button.
• See Layered modules for the available parts, and for importing them from JavaScript in bundlers and component frameworks (SvelteKit, Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, …).
• The same parts without the layer are under @anyblades/blades/src/…, e.g. @anyblades/blades/src/components/card, to put them in a layer of your own (@import "@anyblades/blades/src/components/card" layer(ui);) or to run your own build. @anyblades/blades/src on its own is the source of the whole blades.css.

D. Official starters

• https://github.com/buildawesome-one/starter
• https://github.com/buildawesome-one/examples
• https://github.com/getgrav/grav-theme-quark2
• https://github.com/getgrav/grav-plugin-devtools

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Starter HTML template

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
    <meta name="color-scheme" content="light dark" />
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/blades.css" />
    <title>Hello world!</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <main class="container">
      <h1>Hello world!</h1>
    </main>
  </body>
</html>

Dynamic templates

Available for Nunjucks, Liquid and Twig ↗

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Dark mode without a flash

With the Pico-based builds, Blades follows the OS setting by default, with no JavaScript and no flash (see Dark scheme). To force a theme, set data-theme="light" or "dark" on <html>. On a nested element it works when the element paints its own background, such as <article>; otherwise add background-color: var(--pico-background-color); color: var(--pico-color);.

If you persist the user's choice, e.g. under the localStorage key theme, set the attribute before the first paint with a small inline script in <head>, e.g. in SvelteKit's src/app.html:

<script>
  try {
    const theme = localStorage.getItem("theme");
    if (theme === "light" || theme === "dark") document.documentElement.dataset.theme = theme;
  } catch {}
</script>

• Setting it later, e.g. in onMount or useEffect, renders the OS theme first and then switches.
• In a Next.js App Router layout, pass the same code as a template literal, <script dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: `try { … } catch {}` }} />, and add suppressHydrationWarning to <html>, because the attribute changes before hydration.

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Compact sizing (opt-in)

Add <html data-compact> for the whole page, or put the attribute on a single element, e.g. <form data-compact> for one form. Without the attribute nothing changes.

• Where it ships:
  • included in blades.css
  • also in blades.layered.css
  • with per-part imports, add @anyblades/blades/compact after the other parts
  • with pico.conditional.css, add @anyblades/blades/src/compact after it
• What changes:
  • smaller control padding and 1.5rem block spacing
  • a 0.5rem radius and a 3px focus ring
  • 500-weight labels and buttons, 600-weight headings
  • a white field background in light mode
  • a 1px card ring instead of the blurred shadow, with no grey card header/footer bands
• Root font size: on <html>, it also keeps the root font size at 100% instead of growing with the viewport. At 1280px wide, controls are then 38px instead of 62px. On a single element they are about 48px, because everything is sized in rem and the root stays as it is.
• Field text size: form controls stay at 16px, because below that iOS Safari zooms in on focus.

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Documentation

Blades CSS is a lightweight, minimal CSS framework for semantic HTML designed as a modern, drop-in successor to Pico CSS.

• Get started
  • Quick start
  • Dark scheme
  • CSS variables
  • Layered modules NEW
  • Conditional styling NEW
  • Standalone version NEW
• Layout
  • Landmarks & section
  • Container
  • Breakout container NEW
  • Grid
  • Text columns NEW
• Content
  • Typography UPD
  • Link
  • Button
  • ‹i›con helper NEW
  • List UPD
  • Table UPD
  • Responsive table NEW
  • Code blocks NEW
• Forms
  • Overview
  • Input
  • Textarea
  • Select
  • Checkboxes
  • Radios
  • Switch
  • Range
  • Float labels NEW
• Components
  • Accordion
  • Card
  • Dropdown
  • Group
  • Loading
  • Modal
  • Navigation
  • Progress
  • Tooltip
  • Timeline NEW
  • Jump to... NEW
  • Utilities NEW
• More
  • Pico CSS NEW _{(underlying fork)}
  • Ninja CSS NEW _{(experimental add-ons)}
  • Dynamic templates NEW
  • Base HTML NEW
  • Links snippet NEW
  • Sitemap XML NEW
  • CSS frameworks 2026–2040

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^{Trusted by}

• 🐍 Flask & Jinja community website
• 🪐 Grav CMS v2 default theme

^{Also used by}

• https://www.followthatcar.com/

^{Featured by}

• https://usehadron.dev/
• @11ty/buildawesome ↗
• buildawesome.one
• https://github.com/dbohdan/classless-css
• https://github.com/uhub/awesome-css
• /gabrielizalo/awesome-css-frameworks
• https://github.com/eggplantpasta/greenroom
• /adamdjbrett/11ty-wisp ↗
• https://knives.ajitpanigrahi.com/
• doany.io
• @box464
• @draupnerdata
• @cantdutchthis
• @daviding
• @infotexture
• @lazarus
• @matthewmorete
• @pauleveritt