CSS Grid Container

A CSS Grid Container is a parent element with display: grid or inline-grid that organizes its direct children (grid items) into rows and columns. It allows you to create flexible, responsive layouts and control spacing, alignment, and placement of items easily.

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What is a CSS Grid Container?

A Grid Container is the element where you apply display: grid or display: inline-grid.

This container controls how grid items (its direct children) are placed, sized, and aligned.

Example:

<div class="grid-container">
  <div class="item">1</div>
  <div class="item">2</div>
  <div class="item">3</div>
</div>

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 100px 100px 100px;
  grid-template-rows: auto auto;
  gap: 10px;
}

Grid Container Properties

display

Defines the container as a grid.

grid: Creates a block-level grid.
inline-grid: Creates an inline-level grid.

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">1</div>
  <div class="item">2</div>
  <div class="item">3</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;   /* or inline-grid */
  grid-template-columns: 100px 100px 100px;
  gap: 10px;
}
.item {
  background: lightblue;
  padding: 20px;
  text-align: center;
}

grid-template-rows & grid-template-columns

These define the number and size of rows and columns in the grid.

Values :

px, %, fr, auto, minmax(min, max), repeat(count, value)

Example :

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">1</div>
  <div class="item">2</div>
  <div class="item">3</div>
  <div class="item">4</div>
  <div class="item">5</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 200px 1fr 2fr;  /* 3 columns */
  grid-template-rows: 100px auto;        /* 2 rows */
  gap: 10px;
}
.item {
  background: peachpuff;
  padding: 20px;
}

grid-template-areas

Lets you create named areas for better readability.

Values :

Custom area names inside quotes ("header main")
. → empty cell

Example:

<div class="container">
  <div class="header">Header</div>
  <div class="sidebar">Sidebar</div>
  <div class="main">Main Content</div>
  <div class="footer">Footer</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-areas:
    "header header"
    "sidebar main"
    "footer footer";
  grid-template-columns: 200px 1fr;
  grid-template-rows: 80px auto 60px;
  gap: 10px;
}
.header  { grid-area: header; background: lightgreen; }
.sidebar { grid-area: sidebar; background: lightcoral; }
.main    { grid-area: main; background: lightyellow; }
.footer  { grid-area: footer; background: lightblue; }

grid-template

Shorthand for defining rows, columns, and areas together.

Values :

Combines grid-template-rows, grid-template-columns, and grid-template-areas.

Example:

<div class="container">
  <div class="header">Header</div>
  <div class="sidebar">Sidebar</div>
  <div class="main">Main</div>
  <div class="footer">Footer</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template:
    "header header" 80px
    "sidebar main" auto
    "footer footer" 60px
    / 200px 1fr;
}

grid-auto-rows & grid-auto-columns

When you don’t explicitly define enough rows/columns, CSS creates them automatically.

These properties set the default size of such implicit tracks.

Values :

px, %, fr, auto, minmax()

Example:

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">1</div>
  <div class="item">2</div>
  <div class="item">3</div>
  <div class="item">4</div>
  <div class="item">5</div>
  <div class="item">6</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 200px;
  grid-auto-rows: 150px;   /* every new row will be 150px */
  gap: 10px;
}
.item {
  background: lavender;
  text-align: center;
}

grid-auto-flow

Controls how items are placed automatically when there’s no specific positioning.

Values :

row, column, row dense, column dense

Example :

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">A</div>
  <div class="item">B</div>
  <div class="item">C</div>
  <div class="item">D</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 100px);
  grid-auto-flow: column dense;
  gap: 10px;
}
.item {
  background: lightpink;
  padding: 20px;
}

gap, row-gap, column-gap

Defines spacing between grid items.

Values :

Any CSS length → 10px, 2em, %

Example:

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">1</div>
  <div class="item">2</div>
  <div class="item">3</div>
  <div class="item">4</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 100px);
  row-gap: 20px;
  column-gap: 40px;
}
.item {
  background: lightsteelblue;
  padding: 15px;
}

justify-items

Aligns items horizontally within their grid cells.

Values :

start, end, center, stretch

Example:

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">Box 1</div>
  <div class="item">Box 2</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 150px);
  justify-items: center;
}
.item {
  background: lightseagreen;
  padding: 20px;
}

align-items

Aligns items vertically within their grid cells.

Values :

start, end, center, stretch

Example:

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">Top</div>
  <div class="item">Bottom</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-rows: 150px 150px;
  align-items: end;
}
.item {
  background: lightgoldenrodyellow;
  padding: 10px;
}

place-items

Shorthand for align-items + justify-items.

Values :

One value → applies to both (e.g., center)
Two values → first = vertical, second = horizontal (start end)

Example:

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">Centered</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 200px;
  grid-template-rows: 200px;
  place-items: center; /* both horizontally & vertically */
}
.item {
  background: lightsalmon;
  padding: 20px;
}

justify-content

Aligns the whole grid horizontally inside the container.

Values :

start, end, center, stretch,
space-between, space-around, space-evenly

Example:

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">1</div>
  <div class="item">2</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 100px 100px;
  justify-content: space-between;
  width: 400px; /* to show effect */
}
.item {
  background: lightcyan;
  padding: 20px;
}

align-content

Aligns the whole grid vertically inside the container.

Values :

start, end, center, stretch,
space-between, space-around, space-evenly

Example:

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">1</div>
  <div class="item">2</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-rows: 100px 100px;
  height: 400px; /* extra height */
  align-content: center;
}
.item {
  background: lightgreen;
  padding: 20px;
}

place-content

Shorthand for align-content + justify-content.

Values :

One value → applies to both (center)
Two values → first = vertical, second = horizontal (center space-between)

Example:

<div class="container">
  <div class="item">A</div>
  <div class="item">B</div>
</div>

.container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 100px 100px;
  grid-template-rows: 100px 100px;
  height: 400px;
  width: 400px;
  place-content: center space-between;
}
.item {
  background: plum;
  padding: 20px;
}

CSS Grid Container Flowchart

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Grid Container Properties Table

Property	Description
`align-content`	Vertically aligns grid inside container
`align-items`	Aligns items along column axis
`display`	Makes element `grid` or `inline-grid`
`column-gap`	Space between columns
`row-gap`	Space between rows
`gap`	Shorthand for row-gap + column-gap
`grid`	Shorthand for full grid definition
`grid-auto-columns`	Default column size
`grid-auto-rows`	Default row size
`grid-auto-flow`	How auto-placed items are inserted
`grid-template`	Shorthand for template rows/columns/areas
`grid-template-areas`	Defines named areas layout
`grid-template-columns`	Column sizes & count
`grid-template-rows`	Row sizes
`justify-content`	Horizontally aligns grid
`place-content`	Shorthand for align + justify