Introduction to Conic Gradients in CSS

We can already do linear gradients and radial gradients with CSS quite easily, and now there’s a 3rd type of gradient that will be defined in the spec. Conic gradients are similar to radial gradients, except that the color stops are on the outer edge of the circle that gets created.

For example, here’s a radial gradient and a conic gradient that have the same color stops:

.gradient {
  width: 200px;
  height: 200px;
  border-radius: 50%;
}
.radial {
  background: radial-gradient(#FAE042, #4AAE9B);
}
.conic {
  background: conic-gradient(#FAE042, #4AAE9B);
}

And here’s the markup:

<div class="gradient radial"></div>
<div class="gradient conic"></div>

More Examples / Syntax

Conic gradients can have multiple color stops:

.conic {
  background: conic-gradient(cyan, magenta, yellow, black);
}

Each color can specify it’s stop position using units such as degrees, turns or percentages:

.conic {
  background: conic-gradient(red 180deg, #4AAE9B);
}
.conic-2 {
  background: conic-gradient(red 180deg 90%, #4AAE9B);
}

Hard stops

The color stops can jump to the next color immediately by eliminating the transition between two stops:

.conic-4 {
  background: conic-gradient(cyan 25%, magenta 0 50%, yellow 0 75%, black 0);
}

from and at Keywords

You can specify the starting angle using the from keyword:

.conic {
  background: conic-gradient(from 45deg, cyan, magenta, yellow);
}

Furthermore, you can use the at keyword to specify the center of the transition:

.conic {
  background: conic-gradient(from 45deg at 65% 35%, cyan, magenta, yellow);
}

Smooth Transitions

For smooth transitions, have the last color stop be the same as the first one:

.conic {
  background: conic-gradient(cyan, magenta, yellow, cyan);
}

Repeating Conic Gradients

There’s also a repeating-conic-gradient function that can be used to create some interesting patterns with conic gradients:

.conic-repeating {
  background: repeating-conic-gradient(red 10%, #4AAE9B 20%);
}

Polyfill

As of 2020, only 85% of devices worldwide support the conic-gradient property. Thankfully though, there’s a polyfill by @LeaVerou that we can use to start using conic gradients now.

To use the polyfill simply add the scripts for Prefix-free and the conic gradient polyfill itself before the closing body tag in your pages:

<script src="/assets/polyfills/prefixfree.min.js"></script>
<script src="/assets/polyfills/conic-gradient.js"></script>