Grid

A 2D layout primitive: rows AND columns. Pattern is MUI Grid v2 from the outside (<Grid container spacing={4}> + <Grid xs={12} md={6}>), but the engine is real CSS Grid under the hood — not flexbox.

import { Grid, Box, Typography } from '@dashforge/tw';

<Grid container spacing={6}>
  <Grid xs={12} md={6} lg={4}>
    <Box variant="outlined" rounded="xl" p={6}>
      <Typography variant="h3">Card 1</Typography>
    </Box>
  </Grid>
  <Grid xs={12} md={6} lg={4}>
    <Box variant="outlined" rounded="xl" p={6}>
      <Typography variant="h3">Card 2</Typography>
    </Box>
  </Grid>
  <Grid xs={12} md={12} lg={4}>
    <Box variant="outlined" rounded="xl" p={6}>
      <Typography variant="h3">Card 3 — full row on md, third column on lg</Typography>
    </Box>
  </Grid>
</Grid>

Quick Start

{/* Three equal columns, 4-unit gap */}
<Grid container spacing={4}>
  <Grid xs={4}><Box variant="outlined" p={4}>1</Box></Grid>
  <Grid xs={4}><Box variant="outlined" p={4}>2</Box></Grid>
  <Grid xs={4}><Box variant="outlined" p={4}>3</Box></Grid>
</Grid>

{/* Responsive: 1 col mobile, 2 col tablet, 4 col desktop */}
<Grid container spacing={3}>
  {items.map(i =>
    <Grid key={i.id} xs={12} sm={6} lg={3}>
      <Box variant="outlined" p={4}>{i.label}</Box>
    </Grid>
  )}
</Grid>

<Grid container> defaults to 12 columns, MUI convention. Override with cols={6}/cols={4}/etc. for denser dashboards.

The two roles — container vs item

<Grid> has two personalities, selected by the container prop:

TypeScript enforces the separation: <Grid container xs={6}> is a type error. <Grid xs={6} spacing={4}> is a type error. IntelliSense filters suggestions per role so you never see props that don't apply. This is the discriminated-union win over MUI.

Why CSS Grid instead of flexbox

MUI Grid v2 implements layout in flexbox (display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap) for historical IE11 reasons. We use real CSS Grid because:

• Native gap — no negative-margin tricks
• grid-template-columns: repeat(12, 1fr) + col-span-N maps directly to Tailwind utilities
• Vertical alignment is natural — CSS Grid aligns items per row by default
• Auto-flow for dense packing — grid-auto-flow: dense packs short items into gaps automatically

The external API is identical to MUI v2. Only the internals differ.

Examples

Three equal columns

<Grid container spacing={4}>
  <Grid xs={4}>One</Grid>
  <Grid xs={4}>Two</Grid>
  <Grid xs={4}>Three</Grid>
</Grid>

Responsive — 1 → 2 → 4 columns

import { Grid, Box, Typography } from '@dashforge/tw';

<Grid container spacing={3}>
  {Array.from({ length: 6 }).map((_, i) => (
    <Grid key={i} xs={12} sm={6} md={4}>
      <Box variant="outlined" p={4} rounded="md">
        <Typography variant="body2" align="center">
          Item {i + 1}
        </Typography>
      </Box>
    </Grid>
  ))}
</Grid>

<Grid container spacing={3}>
  <Grid xs={12} sm={6} lg={3}>A</Grid>
  <Grid xs={12} sm={6} lg={3}>B</Grid>
  <Grid xs={12} sm={6} lg={3}>C</Grid>
  <Grid xs={12} sm={6} lg={3}>D</Grid>
</Grid>

Breakpoint cascade is mobile-first (Tailwind convention): xs sets the base, sm/md/lg/xl override at the corresponding min-width.

Asymmetric — sidebar + main

import { Grid, Box, Typography } from '@dashforge/tw';

<Grid container spacing={2}>
  <Grid xs={12}>
    <Box variant="solid" color="primary" p={3} rounded="md">
      <Typography variant="body2" align="center">xs=12 (full row)</Typography>
    </Box>
  </Grid>
  <Grid xs={8}>
    <Box variant="outlined" p={3} rounded="md">
      <Typography variant="body2" align="center">xs=8 (main)</Typography>
    </Box>
  </Grid>
  <Grid xs={4}>
    <Box variant="outlined" p={3} rounded="md">
      <Typography variant="body2" align="center">xs=4 (side)</Typography>
    </Box>
  </Grid>
  {[1, 2, 3, 4].map((n) => (
    <Grid key={n} xs={3}>
      <Box variant="outlined" p={3} rounded="md">
        <Typography variant="body2" align="center">3</Typography>
      </Box>
    </Grid>
  ))}
</Grid>

<Grid container spacing={6}>
  <Grid xs={12} md={3}>
    {/* Sidebar — full width mobile, 3/12 on md+ */}
    <NavSidebar />
  </Grid>
  <Grid xs={12} md={9}>
    {/* Main — full width mobile, 9/12 on md+ */}
    <PageContent />
  </Grid>
</Grid>

Special spans — 'auto' and 'full'

<Grid container>
  <Grid xs="auto">Content-sized</Grid>
  <Grid xs={6}>Half</Grid>
  <Grid xs="full">Spans every column, regardless of cols count</Grid>
</Grid>

'auto' lets the cell size to its content. 'full' spans every column — useful for full-width banners inside a multi-column grid.

Custom column count

{/* 6-col dashboard */}
<Grid container cols={6} spacing={4}>
  <Grid xs={3}>Wide tile</Grid>
  <Grid xs={3}>Wide tile</Grid>
  <Grid xs={2}>Narrow tile</Grid>
  <Grid xs={2}>Narrow tile</Grid>
  <Grid xs={2}>Narrow tile</Grid>
</Grid>

{/* 4-col grid */}
<Grid container cols={4} spacing={3}>
  <Grid xs={1}>A</Grid>
  <Grid xs={1}>B</Grid>
  <Grid xs={1}>C</Grid>
  <Grid xs={1}>D</Grid>
</Grid>

Accepted cols values: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 6 · 12 (the divisors of 12, plus full-width).

Asymmetric gap with spacingX / spacingY

<Grid container cols={3} spacingX={8} spacingY={2}>
  <Grid xs={1}>tight rows, wide columns</Grid>
  <Grid xs={1}>...</Grid>
  <Grid xs={1}>...</Grid>
  <Grid xs={1}>...</Grid>
</Grid>

spacingX and spacingY override the uniform spacing per axis. Useful when text rows feel cramped vertically but columns should breathe.

autoFlow — dense packing

<Grid container cols={6} spacing={3} autoFlow="dense">
  <Grid xs={1}>1</Grid>
  <Grid xs={3}>2 — wide</Grid>
  <Grid xs={1}>3</Grid>
  <Grid xs={1}>4</Grid>
  <Grid xs={4}>5 — wider</Grid>
  <Grid xs={2}>6</Grid>
</Grid>

With autoFlow="dense", CSS Grid back-fills gaps by reordering items — no holes in tile layouts. Use "col" for column-major flow, "row-dense" / "col-dense" to combine direction with dense packing.

Stack vs Grid — which to use

The rule: 1 axis → Stack, 2 axes → Grid. Asymmetric flex with one fixed + one fill stays in Stack — it doesn't need column math.

Polymorphic — as and asChild

{/* Container as <section> */}
<Grid container as="section" spacing={4}>
  <Grid xs={6}>One</Grid>
  <Grid xs={6}>Two</Grid>
</Grid>

{/* Item asChild — Grid styles paint onto the child */}
<Grid xs={12} md={6} asChild>
  <article>
    <Box variant="outlined" p={6}>...</Box>
  </article>
</Grid>

Container asChild is technically allowed but rarely useful — display: grid only applies to direct children, so the slotted element has to already be a viable container parent. Use sparingly.

API

Container props (container={true})

Item props (no container)

Shared props

Type exports

import type { ColSpan, GridSpacingStep, GridContainerProps, GridItemProps } from '@dashforge/tw';

• ColSpan = 1..12 | 'auto' | 'full'
• GridSpacingStep = 0 | '0.5' | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 24 (mirror of Box/Stack spacing)

Variant catalogue

import { gridVariants } from '@dashforge/tw';
// gridVariants({ container: true, cols: 12, spacing: 4 }) → className

Notes

• CSS Grid engine: display: grid + grid-template-columns: repeat(N, 1fr) + col-span-N. Not flexbox. Faster mental model, native gap, no negative-margin tricks.
• Default cols = 12 on containers (MUI v2 convention). Override with cols={6} etc. for denser dashboards. We restrict to divisors of 12 so the math stays clean.
• Default xs = 'full' on items. A forgotten breakpoint prop produces a full-width cell — visually obvious rather than mysteriously squashed.
• Discriminated union TypeScript: <Grid container xs={6}> is a compile error. So is <Grid xs={6} spacing={4}>. The IntelliSense narrows by role.
• Role-specific props don't leak to DOM: cols, spacing, xs, etc. are stripped before spreading native attributes. No React unknown-attribute warnings.
• Bundle CSS impact: ~3 KB gz fully exercised (the 70-entry responsive col-span matrix). Tailwind purge drops what your app doesn't use.

When NOT to use

• For 1D layouts — flex row/column with uniform gap is what Stack exists for. Grid pulls in 2D mental overhead you don't need.
• For surfaces — Grid is layout-only. Wrap items in <Box variant="outlined"> to give them card chrome.
• For asymmetric flex (sidebar fixed-width + content fill) — use <Stack direction="row"> with explicit child widths. Grid's column math gets in the way.