--- title: Can’t touch the DOM? Reach for :has() to style any element description: When working with third-party component libraries like MUI, Ant Design, or AG Grid, developers often can't safely edit the DOM to add custom styles. The CSS... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/can-t-touch-the-dom-reach-for-has-to-style-any-element-7yalpjtnd twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Can’t touch the DOM? Reach for :has() to style any element | daily.dev og:description: When working with third-party component libraries like MUI, Ant Design, or AG Grid, developers often can't safely edit the DOM to add custom styles. The CSS... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/can-t-touch-the-dom-reach-for-has-to-style-any-element-7yalpjtnd og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/7YalpjtNd.png og:image:alt: Can’t touch the DOM? Reach for :has() to style any element og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Can’t touch the DOM? Reach for :has() to style any element **[thoughbot](https://daily.dev/sources/thoughbot)** · 5 min read · 9 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary When working with third-party component libraries like MUI, Ant Design, or AG Grid, developers often can't safely edit the DOM to add custom styles. The CSS :has() pseudo-class solves this by allowing selection of parent and preceding sibling elements based on their descendants' state, something previously impossible in CSS. Practical examples include styling a label red when a sibling input has an error class, detecting table rows before a specific element, adding hover states that account for nested interactive elements, and theming an entire page based on the presence of one component. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How can I style a parent element in CSS based on the state of its child? Use the :has() pseudo-class, which lets a selector match a parent or ancestor based on whether it contains a matching descendant. For example, .input:has(.error) label turns a label red when a sibling input carries an error class. This solves cases where CSS previously could not select upward or backward through the DOM. _Developers styling third-party UI components track CSS selector techniques like this on daily.dev._ ### How do I style a table row based on the row that comes after it in CSS? Use :has() with the next-sibling combinator, for example tr:has(+ .parent) applies a border-bottom to the row immediately before an element with the parent class. This effectively flips the usual next-sibling selector direction, something CSS could not previously do without :has(). _Anyone wrangling table styling in component libraries can keep tabs on CSS tricks like this via daily.dev._ ### Can I change the entire page's styling based on whether one specific component is present? Yes, using body:has(.special-component) as a selector applies conditional styles to any element on the page whenever an element with that class exists anywhere in the body. Combined with CSS custom properties, this lets a library's theme variables be overridden without touching its internal settings. _daily.dev helps developers theming apps around dynamic components stay current on CSS capabilities like this._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The different ways to use CSS :has\(\), with examples](https://daily.dev/posts/the-different-ways-to-use-css-has-with-examples-olvwfjtu1) · LogRocket · 10 upvotes · 0 comments - [The CSS :has\(\) selector](https://daily.dev/posts/the-css-has-selector-csw5i3bag) · Flavio Copes · 20 upvotes · 1 comments - [Practical CSS: Combining :has, :not, :only-child and :placeholder-shown pseudo-classes](https://daily.dev/posts/practical-css-combining-has-not-only-child-and-placeholder-shown-pseudo-classes-5gvvbff0w) · RUBYLAND · 7 upvotes · 0 comments - [An Over-The-Top Spoiler Design with the Details Element – Frontend Masters Blog](https://daily.dev/posts/an-over-the-top-spoiler-design-with-the-details-element-frontend-masters-blog-0uqzmubnn) · Frontend Masters · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#css](https://daily.dev/tags/css), [#frontend](https://daily.dev/tags/frontend), [#dom](https://daily.dev/tags/dom) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/can-t-touch-the-dom-reach-for-has-to-style-any-element-7yalpjtnd) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Can’t touch the DOM? 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