About CSS Beautifier

Beautify and format CSS code. Part of the DevTools Surf developer suite. Browse more tools in the CSS collection.

Use Cases

• Frontend devs cleaning up minified CSS from production sites for editing
• Designers reviewing CSS output from design-to-code tools
• Legacy codebase maintainers reformatting old CSS for modern standards
• Code reviewers reading beautified CSS to spot redundant rules

Tips

• Set consistent property ordering like alphabetical or grouped
• Expand shorthand properties to see all individual values
• Use beautified CSS to audit for duplicate or conflicting rules

Fun Facts

• The first CSS specification (CSS1) was published by the W3C on December 17, 1996, with only 53 properties.
• CSS now has over 500 distinct properties, with new ones being added through the CSS Working Group's modular specification process.
• The CSS Zen Garden, launched in 2003 by Dave Shea, demonstrated CSS's power by styling one HTML page in hundreds of ways.

FAQ

What's the difference between Beautifier and Formatter?

The Beautifier is more opinionated — it reorders shorthand properties and normalizes quote styles. The Formatter only adjusts indentation and line breaks. Use the Beautifier for one-time cleanup, the Formatter for git-safe re-indenting.

Will it merge duplicate selectors?

No — beautification preserves the source order and grouping. Use a CSS optimizer (csso, cssnano) if you want structural rewrites.

Does it handle modern CSS?

Yes — nested selectors (CSS Nesting), container queries, @layer, and :has() all beautify correctly.

Can I configure the output style?

Toggle between 2-space, 4-space, or tab indentation. More detailed style preferences (comma placement, blank-line rules) aren't exposed — that's Prettier's territory.