`:host` CSS pseudo-class

The :host CSS pseudo-class selects the shadow host of the shadow DOM containing the CSS it is used inside — in other words, this allows you to select a custom element from inside its shadow DOM.

Try it

/* This CSS is being applied inside the shadow DOM. */

:host {
  background-color: aqua;
}

<h1 id="shadow-dom-host"></h1>

const shadowDom = init();

// add a <span> element in the shadow DOM
const span = document.createElement("span");
span.textContent = "Inside shadow DOM";
shadowDom.appendChild(span);

// attach shadow DOM to the #shadow-dom-host element
function init() {
  const host = document.getElementById("shadow-dom-host");
  const shadowDom = host.attachShadow({ mode: "open" });

  const cssTab = document.querySelector("#css-output");
  const shadowStyle = document.createElement("style");
  shadowStyle.textContent = cssTab.textContent;
  shadowDom.appendChild(shadowStyle);

  cssTab.addEventListener("change", () => {
    shadowStyle.textContent = cssTab.textContent;
  });
  return shadowDom;
}

/* Selects a shadow root host */
:host {
  font-weight: bold;
}

Syntax

:host {
  /* ... */
}

Examples

Styling the shadow host

The following snippets are taken from our host-selectors example (see it live also).

In this example we have a basic custom element — <context-span> — that you can wrap around text:

<h1>
  Host selectors <a href="#"><context-span>example</context-span></a>
</h1>

Inside the element's constructor, we create style and span elements, fill the span with the content of the custom element, and fill the style element with some CSS rules:

const style = document.createElement("style");
const span = document.createElement("span");
span.textContent = this.textContent;

const shadowRoot = this.attachShadow({ mode: "open" });
shadowRoot.appendChild(style);
shadowRoot.appendChild(span);

style.textContent =
  "span:hover { text-decoration: underline; }" +
  ":host-context(h1) { font-style: italic; }" +
  ':host-context(h1)::after { content: " - no links in headers!" }' +
  ":host-context(article, aside) { color: gray; }" +
  ":host(.footer) { color : red; }" +
  ":host { background: rgb(0 0 0 / 10%); padding: 2px 5px; }";

The :host { background: rgb(0 0 0 / 10%); padding: 2px 5px; } rule styles all instances of the <context-span> element (the shadow host in this instance) in the document.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Web components
• :host
• :host-context()
• ::slotted()
• :state()
• CSS scoping module