clampwind

A PostCSS plugin that transforms any two‑argument clamp() call into a fully fluid value, seamlessly integrating with Tailwind CSS utilities. Made for Tailwind v4.

How it works

Instead of the standard three-value clamp(min, preferred, max), you supply just a minimum and maximum:

<div class="text-[clamp(16px,50px)]"></div>

This will generate the following CSS:

.text-\[clamp\(16px\,50px\)\] {
  font-size: clamp(1rem, calc(1rem + 0.0379 * (100vw - 40rem)), 3.125rem);
}

The supplied values are used to generate the expression inside the clamp() function, where the fluid transformation is calculated using Tailwind's smallest and largest breakpoints.

Installation

Install the plugin from npm:

npm install -D clampwind

PostCSS setup

Add the plugin to your postcss.config.js file:

// postcss.config.mjs
import tailwindcss from "@tailwindcss/postcss"
import clampwind from "clampwind"

export default {
  plugins: [
    tailwindcss(),
    clampwind(),
  ]
}

CommonJS usage

If you are using CommonJS-based build tools like Webpack, you will need to use the require syntax and add .default to the import.

// postcss.config.js
module.exports = { 
  plugins: { 
    require("@tailwindcss/postcss"),
    require('clampwind').default
  } 
};

Vite project setup

If you are using Vite, you are probably using Tailwind with @tailwindcss/vite. You need to import the plugin and use it in your postcss.config.js file.

// postcss.config.js
import clampwind from 'clampwind';

export default { 
  plugins: [ 
    clampwind()
  ] 
}; 

Features

Interchangeable px / rem units

Allow clamped values to use either px or rem interchangeably.

<div class="text-[clamp(1rem,50px)]"></div>

Use Tailwind breakpoint modifiers

Use the native Tailwind syntax to clamp values within a specific range by using breakpoint modifiers.

<div class="md:max-lg:text-[clamp(16px,50px)]"></div>

Unitless clamping

If no unit is specified, default to your theme’s --spacing scale.

<div class="text-[clamp(16,50)]"></div>

Use Tailwind size variables

Clamp using Tailwind’s predefined size tokens.

<div class="text-[clamp(var(--text-sm),50px)]"></div>

Use CSS custom properties

Clamp using CSS custom properties.

<div class="text-[clamp(var(--custom-value),50px)]"></div>

Container query support

Clamp values based on container query breakpoints.

<div class="@md:text-[clamp(16px,50px)]"></div>

Decreasing and negative ranges

Support clamped ranges that shrink or go below zero.

<div class="text-[clamp(50px,16px)]"></div>

Error reporting via CSS comments

Output validation errors as CSS comments for easy debugging.

.text-\[clamp\(16%\,50px\)\] {
  font-size: clamp(16%,50px); /* Invalid clamp() values */
}

Usage

To use this plugin you need to use the clamp() function but with only two arguments, the first one is the minimum value and the second one is the maximum value.

Clamp between smallest and largest breakpoint

Write the Tailwind utility you want to make fluid, without any breakpoint modifier, for example:

<div class="text-[clamp(16px,50px)]"></div>

This will use Tailwind default largest and smallest breakpoint.

.text-\[clamp\(16px\,50px\)\] {
  font-size: clamp(1rem, calc(...) , 3.125rem);
}

Clamp between two breakpoints

Simply add regular Tailwind breakpoint modifiers to the utility, for example:

<div class="md:max-lg:text-[clamp(16px,50px)]"></div>

To clamp the CSS property between the two breakpoints you need to use the max- modifier, in this case the CSS property will be clamped between the md and lg breakpoints.

This will generate the following css:

.md\:max-lg\:text-\[clamp\(16px\,50px\)\] {
  @media (width >= 48rem) { /* >= 768px */
    @media (width < 64rem) { /* < 1024px */
      font-size: clamp(1rem, calc(...), 3.125rem);
    }
  }
}

Clamp from one breakpoint

If you want to define a clamp value from a single breakpoint, clampwind will automatically generate the calculation from the defined breakpoint to the smallest or largest breakpoint depending on the direction, for example:

<div class="md:text-[clamp(16px,50px)]"></div>

This will generate the following css:

.md\:text-\[clamp\(16px\,50px\)\] {
    @media (width >= 48rem) {  /* >= 768px */
      font-size: clamp(1rem, calc(...), 3.125rem);
    }
  }

Or if you use the max- modifier:

.max-md\:text-\[clamp\(16px\,50px\)\] {
    @media (width < 48rem) { /* < 768px */
      font-size: clamp(1rem, calc(...), 3.125rem);
    }
  }

Clamp between custom breakpoints

With Tailwind v4 it's really easy to use one-time custom breakpoints, and this plugin will automatically detect them and use them to clamp the CSS property.

<div class="min-[1000px]:max-xl:text-[clamp(16px,50px)]"></div>

This will generate the following css:

.min-\[1000px\]\:max-xl\:text-\[clamp\(16px\,50px\)\] {
  @media (width >= 1000px) { /* >= 1000px */
    @media (width < 64rem) { /* < 1600px */
      font-size: clamp(1rem, calc(...), 3.125rem);
    }
  }
}

Clamp between Tailwind spacing scale values

A quick way to define two clamped values is to use the Tailwind spacing scale values, for example:

<div class="text-[clamp(16,50)]"></div>

The bare values size depends on the theme --spacing size, so if you have have it set to 1px it will generate the following css:

.text-\[clamp\(16\,50\)\] {
  font-size: clamp(1rem, calc(...), 3.125rem);
}

Clamp custom properties values

You can also use custom properties in your clamped values, for example like this:

<div class="text-[clamp(var(--text-sm),50px)]"></div>

or like this:

<div class="text-[clamp(--text-sm,--text-lg)]"></div>

But this won't work when using two custom properties directly in the CSS with @apply, so you need to use the var() function instead.

.h2 {
  @apply text-[clamp(var(--text-sm),var(--text-lg))];
}

Clamp container queries

Clampwind supports container queries, just by using the normal Tailwind container query syntax, for example:

<div class="@md:text-[clamp(16px,50px)]"></div>

This will generate the following css:

.@md\:text-\[clamp\(16px\,50px\)\] {
  @container (width >= 28rem) { /* >= 448px */
    font-size: clamp(1rem, calc(...), 3.125rem);
  }
}

Configuration

Tailwind v4 introduced the new CSS-based configuration and clampwind embraces it.

Add custom breakpoints

To add new breakpoints in Tailwind v4 you normally define them inside the @theme directive.

But Tailwind by default, will not output in your CSS any custom properties that are not referenced in your CSS, for this reason you should use the @theme static directive instead of @theme to create custom breakpoints.

@theme static {
  --breakpoint-4xl: 1600px;
}

Use custom properties

You can use any custom properties in your clamped values, for example:

<div class="text-[clamp(--custom-value,50px)]"></div>

You just need to make sure that the custom property is defined in your :root selector.

:root {
  --custom-value: 16px;
}

Pixel to rem conversion

If you are using pixel values in your clamped values, clampwind will automatically convert them to rem. For the conversion it scans your generated css and if you have set pixel values for the root font-size or for your --text-base custom property in your :root selector, it will use that value to convert the pixel values to rem values. If you haven't set a font-size in your :root selector, it will use the default value of 16px.

:root {
  font-size: 18px; /* 18px = 1.125rem */
}

or like this:

:root {
  --text-base: 18px; /* 18px = 1.125rem */
}

License and Credits

This project is licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.

Copyright © 2025 Daniele De Pietri.