How is this different from a flexbox playground?

A playground is for learning — you experiment with every property to see what it does. This generator is for shipping: start from a real layout preset (navbar, card grid, sidebar), adjust the properties your design needs, and copy production-ready code in your preferred format. The output covers CSS classes, Tailwind utilities, and React inline styles so you can paste directly into any project without translating by hand.

Which output format should I pick — CSS, Tailwind, or React?

Use CSS when you write plain stylesheets or work in any framework that accepts a class-based stylesheet. Use Tailwind when your project uses the Tailwind CSS framework — the generator maps each property to the closest Tailwind utility class. Use React (inline style object) when you need dynamic styles computed in JavaScript or are building a component library where attaching an external class is impractical. All three formats represent the same layout, just syntax-matched to your stack.

What does flex-basis do and when should I change it?

flex-basis sets the initial size of a flex item before any remaining space is distributed via flex-grow or flex-shrink. The default "auto" means the item sizes itself using its own width or height. Set it to "0" (often written as the flex shorthand flex: 1 1 0) to make all items start at zero width and then grow proportionally — perfect for equal-width columns. Set it to a fixed value like "200px" for a sidebar that starts at 200 px but can still grow or shrink from there.

Why does my layout look wrong when I add more items?

The two most common causes are flex-wrap and flex-grow. If flex-wrap is "nowrap" (the default), all items stay on one line and shrink to fit — adding more items makes each one narrower. Switch to "wrap" to let items overflow onto a second row. If flex-grow is 0 on all items, they stay at their natural size and leave empty space; set flex-grow to 1 on any item you want to expand and fill that gap. The preset templates already handle these cases, so starting from a preset and editing from there is the fastest path to a working layout.

Can I generate the CSS for individual item overrides?

Yes. Click any numbered item box in the preview to select it, then adjust its flex-grow, flex-shrink, flex-basis, align-self, and order in the Item Properties panel. The generated CSS will include a separate rule for each item whose properties differ from the default (flex: 0 1 auto, align-self: auto, order: 0). Items that use the defaults are omitted from the output to keep the code clean.

Build a navbar in 30 seconds

Select the "Navbar" preset — it configures flex-direction: row, align-items: center, justify-content: space-between, and gap: 16px instantly. Add your logo and menu items, then copy the Tailwind output: "flex flex-row items-center justify-between gap-4" for the container. Done before you could look up the docs.

Design a responsive card grid

Start with the "Card Grid" preset. Switch wrap to "wrap" so cards flow to a new row when the viewport narrows. Set flex-basis on each card to "280px" and flex-grow to 1 — cards fill available width and wrap gracefully on mobile. Copy the CSS and drop it into your stylesheet.

Convert a CSS flex layout to Tailwind

Already have a working CSS flex layout but switching to Tailwind? Enter your container values in the controls and switch the output to Tailwind. The generator shows the exact utility-class string — no need to look up whether align-items: center maps to items-center or center-items.

CSS Flexbox Generator — visual controls for CSS, Tailwind, and React flex layouts

Generate production-ready flexbox CSS from visual controls — pick a layout preset, tweak properties, copy CSS, Tailwind, or React inline styles in one click.

Runs locally
Category Developer & DevOps
Best for Formatting, validating, shrinking, or inspecting code-adjacent text.

Layout Presets

Container Properties

flex-direction

flex-wrap

justify-content

align-items

align-content

row-gap (px)

column-gap (px)

Flex Items (3)

Click an item to edit its properties

Preview

Generated Code

.flex-container {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: row;
  flex-wrap: nowrap;
  justify-content: flex-start;
  align-items: stretch;
}

What this tool does

CSS Flexbox Generator turns visual controls into production-ready code. Choose from 10 real-world layout presets — navbar, card grid, sidebar, centered hero, sticky footer, and more — then fine-tune every container property (flex-direction, flex-wrap, justify-content, align-items, align-content, row-gap, column-gap) and up to 8 individual flex items (flex-grow, flex-shrink, flex-basis, align-self, order). The live preview updates instantly as you adjust controls. Copy the output as plain CSS classes, Tailwind utility classes, or a React/JS style object. 100% client-side — nothing leaves your browser.

Tool details

Input: Text + Numbers + Structured content; The page exposes text boxes, numeric controls, file pickers, or structured inputs depending on the tool.
Output: Live result + Copy + Preview; The result area focuses on usable output, with copy, download, or preview actions when supported.
Privacy: Browser-side processing; The main tool logic does not call an external API, so inputs normally stay in the current tab.
Save / share: Shareable URL state; Key settings are encoded in the URL so another person can reopen the same setup.
Performance budget: Initial JS <= 26 KB; No WASM budget is declared, keeping the tool quick to open on mobile.
Best fit: Developer & DevOps · Developer; Category and role tags drive related tools, internal links, and quick fit checks.

How to use

1. Input

Paste or drop your content into the tool panel.
2. Process

Click the button. All processing is local in your browser.
3. Copy / Download

Copy the result or download to disk in one click.

How CSS Flexbox Generator fits into your work

Use it in the small gaps between coding, reviewing, debugging, and shipping.

Developer jobs

Formatting, validating, shrinking, or inspecting code-adjacent text.
Preparing snippets for documentation, tickets, commits, or handoff.
Checking a small payload quickly without switching tools.

Developer checks

Run irreversible transforms like minify or obfuscate on a copy.
Keep secrets out of pasted snippets unless the tool explicitly stays local.
Use your normal tests or linter before shipping transformed code.

Good next steps

These links move the current task into a more complete workflow.

Real-world use cases

Build a navbar in 30 seconds
Select the "Navbar" preset — it configures flex-direction: row, align-items: center, justify-content: space-between, and gap: 16px instantly. Add your logo and menu items, then copy the Tailwind output: "flex flex-row items-center justify-between gap-4" for the container. Done before you could look up the docs.
Design a responsive card grid
Start with the "Card Grid" preset. Switch wrap to "wrap" so cards flow to a new row when the viewport narrows. Set flex-basis on each card to "280px" and flex-grow to 1 — cards fill available width and wrap gracefully on mobile. Copy the CSS and drop it into your stylesheet.
Convert a CSS flex layout to Tailwind
Already have a working CSS flex layout but switching to Tailwind? Enter your container values in the controls and switch the output to Tailwind. The generator shows the exact utility-class string — no need to look up whether align-items: center maps to items-center or center-items.

Common pitfalls

Setting justify-content: center without realising it only works on the main axis. If flex-direction is row, it centres horizontally — switch to column and the same value centres vertically instead.
Forgetting flex-wrap: wrap when adding many items. Without it, the browser squashes all items onto one line and they may disappear into overflow, making the layout look broken when it is actually just overflowing.
Using align-content instead of align-items for single-row layouts. align-content controls spacing between rows and does nothing when there is only one row — always use align-items for single-line vertical alignment.

Privacy

All layout calculations happen in your browser. Nothing is uploaded to any server. No cookies, no analytics on the tool itself.

FAQ

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CSS Flexbox Generator — visual controls for CSS, Tailwind, and React flex layouts

What this tool does

Tool details

How to use

1. Input

2. Process

3. Copy / Download

How CSS Flexbox Generator fits into your work

Developer jobs

Developer checks

Good next steps

Real-world use cases

Build a navbar in 30 seconds

Design a responsive card grid

Convert a CSS flex layout to Tailwind

Common pitfalls

Privacy

FAQ

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