Flexbox

Tailwind CSS flex-col Class

The flex-col utility class generates the following CSS when applied to an element.

CSS Output

CSS
.flex-col {
  flex-direction: column;
}

Variants

Use these variant prefixes to apply flex-col conditionally:

responsive:flex-col

Use It

HTML
<div class="flex flex-col gap-4">
  <div>Top</div>
  <div>Middle</div>
  <div>Bottom</div>
</div>

Understanding flex-col

The Tailwind CSS flex-col utility applies flex-direction: column; to an element when added to its class attribute. It sets the flex container's main axis to vertical, laying out children from top to bottom. This is essential for vertical stacking layouts within a flex container.

This utility is part of Tailwind's Flexbox module, designed for building flexible one-dimensional layouts with powerful alignment and distribution controls. In Tailwind's utility-first workflow, you add flex-col directly to your HTML elements rather than writing custom CSS. This approach accelerates development and keeps styles co-located with your markup, making it easy to see exactly how each element is styled at a glance.

Common responsive variants include sm:flex-col, md:flex-col, lg:flex-col, and xl:flex-col, allowing different behavior at each breakpoint. State variants like hover:flex-col and focus:flex-col enable interactive styling without any JavaScript. You can also combine multiple variants for fine-grained control over when the utility applies.

This class works well alongside `flex-row`, `flex-col-reverse`, `flex-row-reverse`, `flex` to build complete, production-ready interfaces. Tailwind's tree-shaking ensures only utilities you actually use appear in your final CSS bundle, keeping file sizes minimal. Browser support for the underlying CSS is excellent across Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.

Related Classes

flex-row

flex-direction: row;

flex-col-reverse

flex-direction: column-reverse;

flex-row-reverse

flex-direction: row-reverse;

flex

display: flex;

items-start

align-items: flex-start;

Explore More Tailwind Classes

Browse our complete reference of 321 Tailwind CSS utility classes with CSS output, variants, and examples.

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