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Thinking in Boss

Boss CSS is not just “props or className”. It’s a pipeline that turns usage into output. Once you internalize that, the rest of the system makes sense.

1) Authoring is flexible​

You can mix:

  • JSX props with $$
  • Static className tokens in templates
  • Prepared components for reusable styles

This lets teams adopt Boss incrementally and meet different code styles where they are.

2) Output follows usage​

Boss only emits what you actually use:

  • Types reflect your real tokens and prepared components.
  • Runtime handlers only appear when required.
  • CSS output stays small and scoped.

See Polymorphic CSS‑in‑JS.

3) Strategies are trade‑offs, not forks​

Inline‑first, classname‑first, runtime‑only, and classname‑only are all views of the same pipeline. Choose the strategy that matches your needs without rewriting your authoring style.

4) Props are a language​

Boss props encode:

  • Selectors (hover, child, at)
  • Tokens (color="brand")
  • Values (arrays, functions, objects)

The pipeline then decides how to serialize them based on strategy.

5) Composition is built‑in​

Use:

  • $$.style to compute output on any element
  • $$.cx and $$.merge for composition
  • cv/scv/sv for variants

You don’t need extra tooling to build a system of reusable styles.