Question

A component for fixing an element's width to the current breakpoint.

Quick reference

Class	Breakpoint	Properties
container	None	width: 100%;
	sm (640px)	max-width: 640px;
	md (768px)	max-width: 768px;
	lg (1024px)	max-width: 1024px;
	xl (1280px)	max-width: 1280px;
	2xl (1536px)	max-width: 1536px;

Basic usage

Using the container

The container class sets the max-width of an element to match the min-width of the current breakpoint. This is useful if you’d prefer to design for a fixed set of screen sizes instead of trying to accommodate a fully fluid viewport.

Note that unlike containers you might have used in other frameworks, Tailwind’s container does not center itself automatically and does not have any built-in horizontal padding.

To center a container, use the mx-auto utility:

<div class="container mx-auto">
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

To add horizontal padding, use the px-* utilities:

<div class="container mx-auto px-4">
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

If you’d like to center your containers by default or include default horizontal padding, see the customization options below.

---

Applying conditionally

Responsive variants

The container class also includes responsive variants like md:container by default that allow you to make something behave like a container at only a certain breakpoint and up:

<!-- Full-width fluid until the `md` breakpoint, then lock to container -->
<div class="md:container md:mx-auto">
  <!-- ... -->
</div>

---

Customizing

Centering by default

To center containers by default, set the center option to true in the theme.container section of your config file:

tailwind.config.js

/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    container: {
      center: true,
    },
  },
}

Adding horizontal padding

To add horizontal padding by default, specify the amount of padding you’d like using the padding option in the theme.container section of your config file:

tailwind.config.js

/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    container: {
      padding: '2rem',
    },
  },
}

If you want to specify a different padding amount for each breakpoint, use an object to provide a default value and any breakpoint-specific overrides:

tailwind.config.js

/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    container: {
      padding: {
        DEFAULT: '1rem',
        sm: '2rem',
        lg: '4rem',
        xl: '5rem',
        '2xl': '6rem',
      },
    },
  },
};