There is now a CSS Nesting Module in the CSS specification. The module is currently a Working Draft and CSS nesting is supported in all major browsers.
The syntax looks like this:
table.colortable {
& td {
text-align:center;
&.c { text-transform:uppercase }
&:first-child, &:first-child + td { border:1px solid black }
}
& th {
text-align:center;
background:black;
color:white;
}
}
.foo {
color: red;
@nest & > .bar {
color: blue;
}
}
.foo {
color: red;
@nest .parent & {
color: blue;
}
}
LogRocket
blog.logrocket.com › home › native css nesting: what you need to know
Native CSS nesting: What you need to know - LogRocket Blog
June 4, 2024 - CSS nesting is the ability to define the style rules of one element inside another. So rather than writing the same selector over and over again to style specific child elements or pseudo-selectors, you can just nest them under a single selector.
MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Web › CSS › Guides › Nesting
CSS nesting - MDN Web Docs - Mozilla
The CSS nesting module defines a syntax for nesting selectors, providing the ability to nest one style rule inside another, with the selector of the child rule relative to the selector of the parent rule.
Is it safe to use native css nesting
Global support is around 70%, give or take. I certainly wouldn't use it with such a low amount amount of support. More on reddit.com
137
253
February 8, 2024css selectors - Nesting CSS classes - Stack Overflow
You can use grouping selectors and/or multiple classes on a single element, or you can use a template language and process it with software to write your CSS. See also my article on CSS inheritance. ... If you cannot wait until native CSS nesting goes official, you can use Container Queries ... More on stackoverflow.com
Try out CSS Nesting today
I love how many devs react to this with "eww, this isn't sass (or alternative)" while completely dismissing why it is and has to be that way. For me this now means that I can ditch CSS preprocessors in even more projects (I've been doing this for some years now, since my projects heavily use Web components). I hope that some tool like Rollup for JS, but for css finds it's way into my hands (if you know something, tell me) that does not add any non-standard syntax, but just bundles some css for me. More on reddit.com
47
55
February 8, 2023CSS Nesting Is Coming Soon! 🤯 How To Nest Selector Styles TODAY!! (2021)
CSS nesting is love, CSS nesting is life. More on reddit.com
5
2
May 1, 2021Videos
20:50
Getting started with CSS Nesting - YouTube
Why I stopped using CSS Nesting... - YouTube
00:58
The big gotcha with native CSS nesting - YouTube
04:03
Introduction To CSS Nesting - The Native CSS Feature You Need To Know!
CSS Nesting in 5 minutes - YouTube
SitePoint
sitepoint.com › blog › css › an introduction to native css nesting
An Introduction to Native CSS Nesting — SitePoint
November 7, 2024 - Native CSS nesting, a feature previously only available with a CSS preprocessor such as Sass, is now available in standard browser CSS. This feature allows for nesting of child selectors inside their parent, simplifying syntax and saving typing time.
Pivale
pivale.co › home › resources › blog
Native CSS nesting is here. Is it time to ditch SCSS? | Pivale
August 13, 2025 - Could 2024 be the year that we finally ditch the requirement for SCSS in our frontend workflows? CSS nesting is how we frontend developers describe the ability to nest CSS selectors inside of other ones.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/webdev › is it safe to use native css nesting
r/webdev on Reddit: Is it safe to use native css nesting
February 8, 2024 -
I’ve been keeping an eye on native css nesting for a while now and I was wondering if you would consider it a safe feature to use yet.
Here is the support on can I use
https://caniuse.com/css-nesting
I’m talking about the clean version that doesn’t use the & prefix.
Clean css nesting without sass please tell me the future is here.
Top answer 1 of 5
289
Global support is around 70%, give or take. I certainly wouldn't use it with such a low amount amount of support.
2 of 5
125
Use postcss to transpile that into unnested CSS for now, and you can always yank the plugin once you have stats showing most of your site users can support that.
W3Schools
w3schools.com › cssref › sel_nesting.php
CSS Nesting (&) Selector
Before nesting, you had to declare each selector explicitly, separately from one another, like this: .box { border: 2px solid green; background-color: beige; font-family: monospace; font-size: 20px; } .box > a { color: green; } .box > a:hover { color: white; background-color: salmon; } Try it Yourself » · After nesting, selectors are continued and the related style rules is grouped within the parent rule:
Can I Use
caniuse.com › css-nesting
CSS Nesting | Can I use... Support tables for HTML5, CSS3, etc
CSS nesting provides the ability to nest one style rule inside another, with the selector of the child rule relative to the selector of the parent rule.
Top answer 1 of 8
94
There is now a CSS Nesting Module in the CSS specification. The module is currently a Working Draft and CSS nesting is supported in all major browsers.
The syntax looks like this:
table.colortable {
& td {
text-align:center;
&.c { text-transform:uppercase }
&:first-child, &:first-child + td { border:1px solid black }
}
& th {
text-align:center;
background:black;
color:white;
}
}
.foo {
color: red;
@nest & > .bar {
color: blue;
}
}
.foo {
color: red;
@nest .parent & {
color: blue;
}
}
2 of 8
78
Not possible with vanilla CSS. However you can use something like:
- Sass
Sass makes CSS fun again. Sass is an extension of CSS3, adding nested rules, variables, mixins, selector inheritance, and more. It’s translated to well-formatted, standard CSS using the command line tool or a web-framework plugin.
Or
- Less
Rather than constructing long selector names to specify inheritance, in Less you can simply nest selectors inside other selectors. This makes inheritance clear and style sheets shorter.
Example:
#header {
color: red;
a {
font-weight: bold;
text-decoration: none;
}
}
MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Web › CSS › Reference › Selectors › Nesting_selector
& nesting selector - CSS | MDN - MDN Web Docs
The CSS & nesting selector explicitly states the relationship between parent and child rules when using CSS nesting. It makes the nested child rule selectors relative to the parent element. Without the & nesting selector, the child rule selector selects child elements.
MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Web › CSS › Guides › Nesting › Using
Using CSS nesting - MDN Web Docs
November 7, 2025 - In the following CSS, we are creating the styles for .card and .card h2. Then, in the h2 style block, we nest the .featured class with the & nesting selector appended which creates a style for .card :is(.featured h2), which is equivalent to :is(.card h2):is(.featured h2).
MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Web › CSS › CSS_nesting
CSS nesting - MDN Web Docs
November 3, 2025 - The CSS nesting module defines a syntax for nesting selectors, providing the ability to nest one style rule inside another, with the selector of the child rule relative to the selector of the parent rule.
Chrome Developers
developer.chrome.com › docs › css-ui › css-nesting
CSS Nesting | Chrome for Developers
March 8, 2023 - One of our favorite CSS preprocessor features is now built into the language: nesting style rules. ... Before nesting, every selector needed to be explicitly declared, separately from one another.
Piccalilli
piccalil.li › blog › css-nesting-use-with-caution
CSS nesting: use with caution - Piccalilli
January 30, 2025 - Native CSS also has a nesting selector — & — which you would think works in near-enough the same was as Sass, but that’s not strictly true.
DEV Community
dev.to › ekeijl › native-css-nesting-now-supported-by-all-major-browsers-3925
Native CSS nesting now supported by all major browsers! - DEV Community
August 30, 2023 - Nesting - There are only small differences between native CSS nesting and LESS/SASS. CSS is a little more strict, because you need to prepend every nsted selector with & and you need to define regular styling before the nested styling.
Ishadeed
ishadeed.com › article › css-nesting
CSS Nesting
November 19, 2023 - One of the benefits of CSS native nesting is using combinators. Let’s take a few examples. In the following example, I want to select every element with the class .nav__item that is preceded by another element with the same class. For that purpose, I used the adjacent sibling selector.
12daysofweb
12daysofweb.dev › 2023 › css-nesting
CSS Nesting | 12 Days of Web
December 20, 2023 - With CSS Nesting native in browsers, ... about. ... CSS Nesting is a new syntax for CSS that lets you nest selectors inside of other selectors, where every nested selector is relative to their parent....
W3C
w3.org › TR › css-nesting-1
CSS Nesting Module Level 1
January 22, 2026 - It introduces selectors that extend the [SELECTORS-4] module. It extends and modifies some IDL and algorithms defined in the [CSSOM-1] module. This specification does not define any new properties or values. This section is non-normative. Imagine you have some CSS that you’d like to write ...
DEV Community
dev.to › mechcloud_academy › css-nesting-and-its-potential-to-replace-css-preprocessors-like-scss-and-sass-1l74
CSS Nesting and Its Potential to Replace CSS Preprocessors Like SCSS and SASS - DEV Community
June 19, 2025 - CSS nesting is a native CSS feature that allows you to nest selectors within one another, creating a hierarchical structure that mirrors the HTML document. This eliminates the need to repeat parent selectors, making stylesheets more concise ...
Webinista
webinista.com › updates › native-css-nesting
Native CSS Nesting: A Primer
November 13, 2023 - Yes. CSS Nesting is available in every major browser. To be on the safe side, continue to use the nesting selector (&) with type selectors. ... experiment with CSS Nesting. If Sass or Less is part of your workflow, prepare your .less and .scss ...
Savvy
savvy.co.il › blog › css & design › native css nesting: a complete guide with examples
Native CSS Nesting: A Complete Guide with Examples | Savvy
February 23, 2026 - Deeply nested rules produce long, highly specific selectors that are harder to override and can slow down selector matching. Nest for clarity - pseudo-classes, modifier classes, and media queries - but avoid mirroring your entire HTML tree.