CSS Box Shadow Generator
Layer multiple shadows with a live preview and copy the exact box-shadow CSS — soft, hard, inset, or glow.
Also known as: Box shadow maker, CSS shadow generator, Drop shadow CSS tool
How it works
- 1Start from a preset (Soft, Medium, Hard, Layered, Inset, or Glow) or the default single shadow.
- 2Adjust offset, blur, spread, color, and opacity for the shadow using the sliders.
- 3Click "Add another shadow" to layer up to 5 shadows for a richer, more realistic effect.
- 4Copy the generated box-shadow CSS and paste it into your stylesheet.
Why use CSS Box Shadow Generator
Real multi-layer shadows
Stack up to 5 independent shadows, matching how professional design systems actually build depth.
Full control per shadow
Offset, blur, spread, color, opacity, and inset — every CSS box-shadow parameter, per layer.
6 curated presets
Soft, Medium, Hard, Layered, Inset, and Glow give you a real starting point for common shadow styles.
Live, accurate preview
See the exact shadow rendering in real time as you adjust any slider.
Correctly-formatted CSS output
Comma-separated layers in spec order, with opacity baked into rgba() — paste-ready, no cleanup needed.
Nothing leaves your browser
Every shadow is rendered and computed locally — nothing about your design is ever transmitted.
Who uses CSS Box Shadow Generator
Designing a card or panel shadow
Build a soft, layered shadow that gives cards realistic depth without looking flat or harsh.
Creating a neumorphic (soft-UI) effect
Combine an inset shadow with careful color choices for a pressed, soft-UI look.
Adding a glow effect to a button or focus state
Use a colored, wide-spread shadow to create a glow around interactive elements.
Matching a shadow to an existing design system
Fine-tune offset and blur to match a shadow style from Material Design, Tailwind, or a custom system.
Prototyping UI depth quickly
Iterate on shadow depth and softness live instead of guessing values and refreshing the browser.
About CSS Box Shadow Generator
A single flat box-shadow rarely looks as polished as the subtle, layered shadows used in real design systems — most professional UI shadows are actually 2 or 3 shadows stacked together, each with different blur and opacity, to fake how light realistically falls and softens. This tool supports stacking up to 5 shadows on one element, with independent controls for each layer.
Every shadow gets its own offset-x, offset-y, blur radius, spread, color, opacity, and an inset toggle for recessed/pressed effects instead of a raised drop shadow. The live preview box updates instantly as you drag any slider, so you can see exactly how blur and spread interact before committing to the CSS.
Six presets — Soft, Medium, Hard, Layered, Inset, and Glow — cover the shadow styles used constantly across real interfaces: a subtle card shadow, a harder offset shadow, a neumorphic inset, or a colored glow effect for buttons and focus states. Start from a preset and adjust from there instead of tuning six sliders from a flat default.
The generated CSS is a single box-shadow declaration with each layer properly comma-separated in the exact order defined by the CSS spec (offset-x, offset-y, blur, spread, color) — colors are output as rgba() so opacity is baked directly into the value with no separate opacity property needed. Everything renders locally; nothing about your design is ever transmitted.
CSS Box Shadow Generator vs. other options
How Open Tools Library compares to desktop software and other online tools.
| Feature | Open Tools Library | Desktop software | Other online tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, unlimited | Varies | Often paywalls multi-layer shadows |
| Multiple shadow layers | Up to 5, free | Varies | Often single-shadow only |
| Inset shadow support | Included | Varies | Not always supported |
| Account required | No | No | Sometimes required |
| Data privacy | Never leaves your device | Local | Often server-rendered |
Pro tips
- Real-world shadows are rarely a single flat shadow — layer 2–3 shadows with increasing blur and decreasing opacity for a natural look.
- Keep spread values small or negative for subtle shadows; large positive spread values can look artificial.
- For an inset (pressed) effect, pair a light-colored inset shadow with a darker one for a convincing recessed look.
- Lower opacity (10–25%) on larger blur values usually reads as more natural than a fully opaque shadow.
Technical specs
- Shadows per element
- 1 to 5, stacked
- Controls per shadow
- Offset X/Y, blur, spread, color, opacity, inset
- Presets
- 6 curated shadow styles
- Output
- Single box-shadow CSS declaration
- Processing location
- 100% local, in your browser
Privacy & security
A shadow is just numbers and a color — there's no reason designing one should ever require a server round-trip.
Every shadow is rendered and computed entirely in your browser using plain CSS.
Nothing you design — offsets, blur, colors, layers — is transmitted or logged anywhere.
No account, no email, no login — just shadow values in, CSS out.
The same local-only guarantee applies whether you're prototyping or finalizing production CSS.
Frequently asked questions
Can I stack more shadows than the 5-shadow limit?
The interface caps at 5 to stay manageable, but you can manually append more comma-separated shadow values to the copied CSS — box-shadow supports any number of layers.
Why is the color output as rgba() instead of hex with a separate opacity?
box-shadow doesn't have a separate opacity property — opacity has to be encoded in the color itself, which is why the output uses rgba() with the alpha channel baked in.
Is this free for commercial projects?
Yes — the generated CSS is plain, standard CSS with no license restrictions.
Does box-shadow need vendor prefixes?
No — box-shadow has been supported unprefixed in all modern browsers for years.
Troubleshooting
My shadow isn't visible at all
Check that opacity isn't set to 0% and that blur/spread aren't both zero with an offset of 0,0 — with no offset and no blur, the shadow sits exactly behind the element and is invisible.
The inset shadow doesn't look right
Inset shadows render inside the element's border box — make sure the element has enough padding or size for the inset effect to be visible, especially with larger blur values.
Removing a shadow layer is disabled
At least one shadow layer must remain — remove is disabled when only one shadow is left; adjust its values instead or set opacity near 0 to effectively hide it.
Related searches
Landed here looking for something worded a little differently? CSS Box Shadow Generator covers all of these too:
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