global-recipes

Apply global CSS styles based on @vanilla-extract/recipes variant classes — style children and siblings by variant.

Why?

Vanilla Extract by default only allows selectors that target the element itself. To style other elements (children, siblings), you must use globalStyle with interpolated class selectors:

// Without global-recipes: verbose and hard to maintain
const button = recipe({
  variants: {
    size: {
      sm: { fontSize: "14px" },
      md: { fontSize: "16px" },
      lg: { fontSize: "18px" },
    },
  },
});

// Each variant needs its own globalStyle call
globalStyle(`${button.classNames.variants.size.sm} svg`, { width: "16px", height: "16px" });
globalStyle(`${button.classNames.variants.size.md} svg`, { width: "20px", height: "20px" });
globalStyle(`${button.classNames.variants.size.lg} svg`, { width: "24px", height: "24px" });
// ...and this grows with every variant combination

While this approach works, .css.ts files quickly become bloated with many globalStyle calls — especially when dealing with multiple variants, states, and targets.

global-recipes solves this by letting you define these globalStyle rules in the same declarative way as recipe, providing better readability and maintainability:

// With global-recipes: declarative and scalable
globalRecipe({
  recipe: button,
  selectorGenerators: { "&": (v) => `${v} svg` },
  compoundVariants: [
    { variants: { size: "sm" }, style: { width: "16px", height: "16px" } },
    { variants: { size: "md" }, style: { width: "20px", height: "20px" } },
    { variants: { size: "lg" }, style: { width: "24px", height: "24px" } },
  ],
});

Installation

npm install global-recipes @vanilla-extract/css @vanilla-extract/recipes

yarn add global-recipes @vanilla-extract/css @vanilla-extract/recipes

pnpm add global-recipes @vanilla-extract/css @vanilla-extract/recipes

bun add global-recipes @vanilla-extract/css @vanilla-extract/recipes

Usage

Basic: Style child elements by variant

// button.css.ts
import { recipe } from "@vanilla-extract/recipes";
import { globalRecipe } from "global-recipes";

const buttonStyle = recipe({
  base: { padding: "8px 16px" },
  variants: {
    size: {
      sm: { fontSize: "14px" },
      md: { fontSize: "16px" },
      lg: { fontSize: "18px" },
    },
  },
  defaultVariants: { size: "md" },
});

// Style SVG icons inside buttons based on size variant
globalRecipe({
  recipe: buttonStyle,
  selectorGenerators: {
    "&": (v) => `${v} svg`,
  },
  base: {
    pointerEvents: "none",
    flexShrink: 0,
  },
  compoundVariants: [
    { variants: { size: "sm" }, style: { width: "16px", height: "16px" } },
    { variants: { size: "md" }, style: { width: "20px", height: "20px" } },
    { variants: { size: "lg" }, style: { width: "24px", height: "24px" } },
  ],
});

Advanced: Multiple selector generators

// checkbox.css.ts
import { recipe } from "@vanilla-extract/recipes";
import { globalRecipe } from "global-recipes";

const checkboxStyle = recipe({
  base: { display: "inline-flex" },
  variants: {
    variant: {
      checkbox: {},
      radio: {},
    },
    size: {
      sm: {},
      md: {},
    },
  },
  defaultVariants: { variant: "checkbox", size: "md" },
});

// Style the visual indicator (div after hidden input) with state-based selectors
globalRecipe({
  recipe: checkboxStyle,
  selectorGenerators: {
    "&": (v) => `${v} input + div`,
    "&:checked": (v) => `${v} input:checked + div`,
    "&:focus": (v) => `${v}:focus-within input + div`,
    "&:disabled": (v) => `${v} input:disabled + div`,
  },
  base: {
    display: "flex",
    alignItems: "center",
    justifyContent: "center",
    border: "2px solid gray",
    selectors: {
      "&:disabled": { opacity: 0.5, cursor: "not-allowed" },
    },
  },
  compoundVariants: [
    {
      variants: { variant: "checkbox" },
      style: {
        borderRadius: "4px",
        selectors: {
          "&:checked": { background: "blue", borderColor: "blue" },
          "&:focus": { boxShadow: "0 0 0 2px rgba(0, 0, 255, 0.3)" },
        },
      },
    },
    {
      variants: { variant: "radio" },
      style: {
        borderRadius: "50%",
        selectors: {
          "&:checked": { background: "green", borderColor: "green" },
        },
      },
    },
    {
      variants: { size: "sm" },
      style: { width: "16px", height: "16px" },
    },
    {
      variants: { size: "md" },
      style: { width: "20px", height: "20px" },
    },
  ],
});

API

globalRecipe(options)

Applies global CSS styles based on recipe variant class combinations.

Options

Option	Type	Required	Description
recipe	RuntimeFn	Yes	The vanilla-extract recipe function
selectorGenerators	Record<string, (v: string) => string>	Yes	Functions that generate CSS selectors. Must include "&" key.
base	StyleRuleWithSelectors	No	Base styles applied to all elements (supports selectors for state-based styles)
compoundVariants	Array<{ variants, style }>	No	Variant-specific styles

Selector Generators

The selectorGenerators object maps keys to functions that generate CSS selectors:

selectorGenerators: {
  // Required: base selector
  '&': (v) => `${v} svg`,

  // Optional: additional state/pseudo selectors
  '&:hover': (v) => `${v}:hover svg`,
  '&:disabled': (v) => `${v}:disabled svg`,
}

The v parameter is the variant class selector (e.g., .button_size_md).

Base Style

The base applies to all elements matching the recipe's base class. It can include a selectors object:

base: {
  pointerEvents: 'none',
  selectors: {
    '&:disabled': { opacity: 0.5 },  // Applied to all disabled states
  },
}

Compound Variants

Each compound variant can include a selectors object for state-specific styles:

{
  variants: { size: 'md' },
  style: {
    width: '20px',
    selectors: {
      '&:hover': { transform: 'scale(1.1)' },  // Only keys from selectorGenerators allowed
    },
  },
}

Type Safety

• Variant names and values are inferred from your recipe — typos are caught at compile time
• Selector keys in style.selectors are constrained to keys defined in selectorGenerators

Edge Cases

Empty compoundVariants

If you only need base styles without variant-specific styles, pass an empty array or omit compoundVariants:

globalRecipe({
  recipe: buttonStyle,
  selectorGenerators: { "&": (v) => `${v} svg` },
  base: { fill: "currentColor" },
  compoundVariants: [], // or just omit this property
});

Multiple variants in one compound

When specifying multiple variants, the generated selector combines all variant classes:

compoundVariants: [
  {
    variants: { size: "sm", variant: "primary" },
    style: {
      /* applies to .size_sm.variant_primary */
    },
  },
];

Undefined variant values

Variant values set to undefined are ignored when building selectors:

compoundVariants: [
  {
    variants: { size: "sm", variant: undefined },
    style: {
      /* applies only to .size_sm */
    },
  },
];

How It Works

1. Reads the recipe's internal classNames.variants map
2. Builds CSS class selectors from variant combinations (e.g., .button_size_md.button_hierarchy_primary)
3. Passes these to your selector generators to create full selectors
4. Calls vanilla-extract's globalStyle for each selector/style pair

License

MIT