Free CSS Generator — Gradient, Box Shadow, Border Radius, and More

Writing CSS by hand for visual properties — gradients, shadows, border radius, animations — is a guess-and-check cycle. You write a box-shadow value, refresh the browser, adjust the numbers, refresh again. After ten iterations, you have something that looks decent but took far longer than it should have.

CSS generators flip this workflow. Instead of writing code and previewing the result, you design visually and get the code. Drag sliders, pick colors, see the result in real-time, and copy the CSS when it looks right. It’s the natural way to design visual properties.

AllTools has a complete suite of CSS generators — gradients, box shadows, border radius, animations, glassmorphism, and neumorphism. All run in your browser with live preview. Generate the CSS, copy it, paste it into your project.

Why CSS Generators Save Time

The difference between writing CSS visual properties by hand and using a generator is the difference between composing music by writing notes on paper and composing by playing a keyboard. Both produce music, but the keyboard gives you instant feedback.

The manual workflow (slow)

1. Look at a design mockup
2. Estimate the CSS values (box-shadow: 0 4px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.1))
3. Save the file, switch to the browser, refresh
4. Evaluate — not quite right, shadow is too harsh
5. Go back to the code, adjust values
6. Save, switch, refresh
7. Repeat 5-10 times until it matches the design

The generator workflow (fast)

1. Open the generator
2. Drag sliders and pick colors while watching the live preview
3. When it looks right, copy the CSS
4. Paste into your project — done in one iteration

For properties like background: linear-gradient(135deg, #667eea 0%, #764ba2 100%), getting the angle, color stops, and positions right by hand is tedious. With a visual generator, you drag the angle, click to set colors, and see the gradient update instantly.

When generators matter most

• Complex gradients — Multi-stop gradients with specific angles and color transitions
• Layered shadows — Box shadows with multiple layers for depth effects
• Custom border radius — Asymmetric corners for organic shapes
• Keyframe animations — Timing functions and property transitions
• Glass and soft UI effects — Glassmorphism and neumorphism require precise combinations of multiple CSS properties

CSS Gradient Generator

The CSS Gradient Generator creates linear, radial, and conic gradients with a visual editor.

Linear gradients

The most common gradient type. Colors transition in a straight line at a configurable angle.

What you can control:

• Direction/angle — 0° (bottom to top), 90° (left to right), 45° (diagonal), or any custom angle
• Color stops — Add 2 or more colors with specific positions along the gradient
• Stop positions — Control where each color starts and ends (0% to 100%)

Example output:

background: linear-gradient(135deg, #667eea 0%, #764ba2 100%);

Radial gradients

Colors radiate outward from a center point. Used for spotlight effects, circular color transitions, and background effects.

What you can control:

• Shape — Circle or ellipse
• Size — closest-side, farthest-corner, or explicit dimensions
• Position — Center, top-left, or any custom position
• Color stops — Same as linear gradients

Conic gradients

Colors rotate around a center point like a color wheel. Used for pie-chart effects, loading spinners, and decorative backgrounds.

All gradient types output standard CSS that works in every modern browser. The generator shows the exact CSS to copy, including any necessary vendor prefixes.

Box Shadow Generator

The Box Shadow Generator creates depth, elevation, and glow effects with full visual control.

Single shadows

Configure offset (X and Y), blur radius, spread radius, color, and opacity. See the shadow update in real-time as you adjust each parameter.

What each parameter does:

• X offset — Horizontal shadow displacement (positive = right, negative = left)
• Y offset — Vertical shadow displacement (positive = down, negative = up)
• Blur radius — How soft the shadow edge is (0 = sharp, higher = softer)
• Spread radius — How much the shadow expands or contracts beyond the element
• Color and opacity — Shadow color with adjustable transparency

Multiple shadow layers

The real power of box-shadow is layering multiple shadows. Material Design-style elevation, for example, uses two shadows — a key shadow (directional) and an ambient shadow (uniform). The generator lets you add multiple layers and adjust each independently.

Example multi-layer output:

box-shadow: 0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.12), 0 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.24);

Inset shadows

Toggle the inset flag to create inner shadows — useful for pressed button states, input field depth, and carved-in text effects.

Border Radius Generator

The Border Radius Generator goes beyond simple rounded corners. Each of the four corners can be set independently, and each corner supports separate horizontal and vertical radii for elliptical curves.

Simple rounded corners

Equal radius on all four corners. The most common use case — rounded buttons, cards, and containers.

border-radius: 12px;

Asymmetric corners

Different radii per corner create distinctive shapes. A card with rounded top corners and sharp bottom corners. A pill shape (large radius on left/right, none on top/bottom). Organic blob shapes using very different values per corner.

border-radius: 20px 20px 0 0;  /* rounded top, sharp bottom */

Elliptical corners

Each corner can have different horizontal and vertical radii, creating elliptical curves instead of circular ones. This is how you create organic, blob-like shapes that feel less geometric.

border-radius: 30% 70% 70% 30% / 30% 30% 70% 70%;

The generator shows the shape updating live as you adjust each corner’s values, making it easy to experiment with organic shapes that would be nearly impossible to code by feel alone.

Glassmorphism Generator

The Glassmorphism Generator creates the frosted glass effect popular in modern UI design. Made famous by Apple’s iOS and macOS interfaces, glassmorphism combines translucency, blur, and subtle borders to create glass-like panels.

The effect components

Glassmorphism is a combination of several CSS properties working together:

• Background — Semi-transparent color (rgba with low opacity)
• Backdrop filter — backdrop-filter: blur() to blur content behind the element
• Border — Subtle semi-transparent border for the glass edge
• Border radius — Rounded corners complete the glass panel look

Example output:

background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.15);
backdrop-filter: blur(12px);
-webkit-backdrop-filter: blur(12px);
border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2);
border-radius: 16px;

When to use glassmorphism

• Navigation bars over hero images
• Modal dialogs over page content
• Card components where you want background context to show through
• Overlay panels in dashboards

The generator shows the effect over a background image so you can see exactly how much blur and transparency works for your design.

Neumorphism Generator

The Neumorphism Generator creates the “soft UI” effect — elements that appear extruded from or pressed into a flat surface using carefully positioned shadows.

How neumorphism works

Instead of a traditional drop shadow (dark shadow below), neumorphism uses two shadows:

• A light shadow above-left (simulating a light source from the top-left)
• A dark shadow below-right

The element and background use the same color, and the shadows create the illusion of depth. The result looks like the element is physically raised from or pressed into the surface.

Raised (extruded) output:

background: #e0e0e0;
box-shadow: 8px 8px 16px #bebebe, -8px -8px 16px #ffffff;

Pressed (inset) output:

background: #e0e0e0;
box-shadow: inset 8px 8px 16px #bebebe, inset -8px -8px 16px #ffffff;

Generator controls

• Background color — Must match the container background for the illusion to work
• Shadow intensity — How pronounced the raised/pressed effect is
• Shadow distance — How far the shadows offset
• Blur radius — Softness of the shadows
• Shape — Flat, concave, convex, or pressed

CSS Animation Generator

The CSS Animation Generator creates keyframe animations with a visual timeline editor.

What you can animate

• Transform — translate (move), rotate, scale, skew
• Opacity — Fade in/out
• Color — Background color, text color, border color transitions
• Dimensions — Width, height changes

Timing functions

The generator includes visual timing function curves:

• Linear — Constant speed
• Ease — Slow start, fast middle, slow end (default)
• Ease-in — Starts slow, accelerates
• Ease-out — Starts fast, decelerates
• Ease-in-out — Slow start and end, fast middle
• Custom cubic-bezier — Draw your own timing curve

Output format

@keyframes slideIn {
  from { transform: translateX(-100%); opacity: 0; }
  to { transform: translateX(0); opacity: 1; }
}

.element {
  animation: slideIn 0.5s ease-out forwards;
}

Tips for CSS Custom Properties

When using generated CSS in a real project, convert hardcoded values to CSS custom properties (variables) for maintainability:

:root {
  --shadow-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
  --shadow-elevation-low: 0 1px 3px var(--shadow-color);
  --shadow-elevation-medium: 0 4px 6px var(--shadow-color);
  --shadow-elevation-high: 0 10px 20px var(--shadow-color);
  --radius-sm: 4px;
  --radius-md: 8px;
  --radius-lg: 16px;
  --gradient-primary: linear-gradient(135deg, #667eea, #764ba2);
}

This way, changing a shadow color or radius value updates every element that uses it. The generator gives you the values; custom properties give you the system.

The Color Picker helps you select and convert colors for your custom properties, while the Contrast Checker ensures your color combinations meet WCAG accessibility standards.

FAQ

Does the generated CSS work with Tailwind CSS?

Yes and no. Tailwind uses utility classes rather than raw CSS, but you can use generated CSS values in Tailwind’s theme configuration or in arbitrary value syntax. For example, a generated gradient can be applied with bg-[linear-gradient(135deg,#667eea,#764ba2)] in Tailwind v3+. For complex shadows and animations, extending the Tailwind theme in tailwind.config.js with the generated values is cleaner.

What about browser support?

Linear gradients, box-shadow, and border-radius have universal support in all modern browsers. backdrop-filter (used in glassmorphism) is supported in Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox 103+. CSS animations and keyframes have full support. The generators output vendor-prefixed properties (like -webkit-backdrop-filter) where needed for broader compatibility.

Can I use these generators for production code?

Absolutely. The generated CSS is standard, production-ready code. Copy-paste it directly into your stylesheet, component, or CSS module. There’s no dependency, no runtime library, and no build step required. It’s just CSS.

How do I combine multiple generated effects?

Generate each effect separately, then combine the CSS properties on the same element. For example, apply a gradient background, a box shadow for elevation, and border-radius for rounded corners — all on the same class. The generators produce independent CSS properties that compose naturally.

Are there layout generators too?

Yes. The CSS Flexbox Generator and CSS Grid Generator create layout code visually. Configure flex direction, alignment, gap, and wrapping for Flexbox, or define rows, columns, and areas for Grid. Both show a live preview of the layout as you adjust settings.

Start Generating CSS

Pick a generator and start designing visually:

• CSS Gradient Generator — Linear, radial, and conic gradients
• Box Shadow Generator — Single and multi-layer shadows
• Border Radius Generator — Symmetric and asymmetric corners
• Glassmorphism Generator — Frosted glass effect
• Neumorphism Generator — Soft UI shadows
• CSS Animation Generator — Keyframe animations with timing functions

No account, no upload. Design visually, copy the CSS, paste into your project. Explore the full CSS tools category for all generators including Flexbox, Grid, and the Color Picker.