CssTools for Visual Studio

CssTools adds rich IntelliSense support for CSS Custom Properties (CSS variables) and CSS class names directly inside Visual Studio 2022/2026 — in .css, .razor, .html, and .cs files.

Features

🎯 Hover Tooltips for CSS Variables

Hover over any --my-variable reference and instantly see all definitions across your entire solution:

• Grouped by project name
• Shows value and file location
• Every entry is a clickable link → jumps directly to the definition

🎨 Hover Tooltips for CSS Class Names

Hover over a CSS class name in class="..." attributes (HTML, Razor) or in .css files:

• Lists all matching CSS definitions across the solution
• Grouped by project, with file and line number as clickable links
• Works inside Razor expressions like @(condition ? "class-a" : "class-b")

💡 CSS Variable IntelliSense (Autocomplete)

Type -- anywhere in a .css, .razor, .html, or .cs file to get a full IntelliSense list of all known CSS variables:

• Shows all scanned variables sorted alphabetically
• Each entry displays the first known value as a suffix
• Selecting an item inserts the full var(--name) expression — ready to use
• Description tooltip shows all definitions grouped by project (same style as hover tooltips)
• Replaces the default CSS completer while -- is active, then restores it automatically

⚡ Always Up-to-Date

• Startup scan indexes all .css files in your solution automatically
• File system watcher keeps the index live — changes outside the editor are picked up instantly

⚙️ Flexible Configuration (.csstools.json)

Place a .csstools.json next to your .sln to control which files are scanned:

{
  "exclude": [ "**/themes/**", "**/PlaywrightTests/**" ],
  "include": [ "**/themes/light.css" ]
}

include always wins over exclude. Config changes are picked up without restarting Visual Studio.

📋 Show CSS Variables Command

Tools → Show CSS Variables dumps all known variables with their values and locations to the Output window — useful for auditing your design tokens.

Supported File Types

Requirements

• Visual Studio 2022 17.14 or newer (including Visual Studio 2026)
• .NET Framework 4.5 or newer