@noema/motif

A type-safe styling library for React components built on top of Vanilla Extract. @noema/motif allows you to create styled components with consistent theme-aware props that cleanly separate styling from component logic.

Installation

@vanilla-extract/css and @vanilla-extract/sprinkles will also need to get installed.

npm install @noema/motif @vanilla-extract/css @vanilla-extract/sprinkles

Basic Usage

1. Define your styles (in a .css.ts file)

// styles.css.ts
import { createSprinkles, defineProperties } from '@vanilla-extract/sprinkles';
import { motifStyle } from '@noema/motif';

// Define your style properties
export const styles = motifStyle(
	[
		'width',
		'height',
		'fontSize',
		// Add more CSS properties as needed
	],
	{
		shorthands: {
			// Define shorthands if needed
			size: ['width', 'height'],
		},
	},
);

// Define your sprinkles (theme-based properties)
const colorProperties = defineProperties({
	properties: {
		color: {
			primary: 'blue',
			secondary: 'purple',
			// Add more theme colors
		},
		backgroundColor: {
			primary: 'white',
			secondary: 'lightgray',
			// Add more theme colors
		},
	},
});

export const sprinkles = createSprinkles(colorProperties);

2. Create your components

// components.tsx
import { createMotif, motif } from '@noema/motif';
import { sprinkles, styles } from './styles.css';

// Creae a single component
const BoxComp = motif('div', sprinkles, styles);

// Or multiple components
const elements = ['div', 'button', 'span', 'h1'] as const;

// Create your styled components
export const Styled = createMotif(elements, sprinkles, styles);

// Export individual components for convenience
export const { div: Box, button: Button } = Styled;

3. Use your components

import { Box, Button } from './components';

function MyComponent() {
	return (
		<Box width={200} height={100} color="primary">
			<Button fontSize={16} backgroundColor="secondary">
				Click me
			</Button>
		</Box>
	);
}

API Reference

motifStyle(properties, options)

Creates a style configuration for use with motif or createMotif.

Parameters:

• properties: Array of CSS property names to be controlled via props
• options: Configuration options
  • prefix: Prefix for CSS variable names (default: 'motif')
  • base: Base styles to apply to all components
  • shorthands: Record of shorthand property names mapping to CSS properties

Returns: Style configuration object

createMotif(elements, sprinkles, config)

Creates a collection of styled components.

Parameters:

• elements: Array of HTML element types to create components for
• sprinkles: Vanilla Extract sprinkles function
• config: Style configuration created with motifStyle

Returns: Object with styled components for each element

motif(element, sprinkles, config)

Core function that creates a single styled component.

Parameters:

• element: HTML element type
• sprinkles: Vanilla Extract sprinkles function
• config: Style configuration created with motifStyle

Returns: Styled React component

How It Works

Motif combines two styling approaches to create a powerful and flexible styling system:

Core Concepts

1. motifStyle - Defines which CSS properties can be used as component props

   • Creates CSS variables for each property
   • Generates CSS classes that apply these variables
   • Allows defining shorthand props (like p for all paddings)

2. Runtime Styling Flow

   • When you pass props to a motif component (e.g., width={200}):
     • The value is converted to a CSS variable value
     • The corresponding CSS class is applied to the component
     • The CSS variable is set as an inline style

This hybrid approach enables:

• Type safety through TypeScript
• Performance of atomic CSS
• Flexibility of runtime values via CSS variables
• Theme consistency via Vanilla Extract's design system

Example

// primitives.css.ts
import { createSprinkles, defineProperties } from '@vanilla-extract/sprinkles';
import { motifStyle } from './motif-style.js';

export const styles = motifStyle(
	[
		'width',
		'height',
		'minHeight',
		'minWidth',
		'maxWidth',
		'maxHeight',
		'gridTemplateColumns',
		'gridTemplateRows',
		'gridTemplateAreas',
		'gridColumn',
		'gridRow',
		'gridArea',
		'top',
		'bottom',
		'left',
		'right',
		'zIndex',
		'fontSize',
	],
	{ shorthands: {} },
);

// Structural properties for layout
const structureProperties = defineProperties({
	properties: {
		display: ['none', 'flex', 'block', 'inline', 'grid'],
		flexDirection: ['row', 'column'],
		// ... more properties
	},
});

// Box style with padding shorthands
export const boxStyle = motifStyle(
	['paddingTop', 'paddingBottom', 'paddingLeft', 'paddingRight'],
	{
		shorthands: {
			py: ['paddingTop', 'paddingBottom'],
			px: ['paddingLeft', 'paddingRight'],
			p: ['paddingTop', 'paddingBottom', 'paddingLeft', 'paddingRight'],
		},
	},
);

export const sprinkles = createSprinkles(structureProperties);

// primitives.tsx
import { MotifComponents, createMotif } from './create-motif.js';
import { sprinkles, styles } from './primitives.css.js';

const NODES = [
	'button',
	'div',
	'h1',
	'h2',
	'h3',
	'span',
	'table',
	'thead',
	'tbody',
	'th',
	'tr',
	'td',
] as const;

// Create primitive components
export const Primitive = createMotif(NODES, sprinkles, styles);
export type PrimitiveProps = MotifComponents<typeof Primitive>;

// Export common components
export const { button: Button, div: Box } = Primitive;

Additional Utilities

The library also includes additional utilities:

• createContext - A utility for creating React context with improved type safety and error messages
• composeRender - A utility for composing render props with improved type safety

License

MIT