{"slug": "blades-css", "name": "Blades CSS", "category": "dev-libs", "category_name": "Libraries and frameworks", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 1, "score": 1.999, "rising": 3.0, "first": "2026-10-21", "latest": "2026-10-30", "why": "Blades CSS is the go-to successor btw. Fully compatible with Pico", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Blades CSS is the go-to successor btw. Fully compatible with Pico", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/anyblades/blades", "official_url": "https://github.com/anyblades/blades", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Blades CSS", "Blades", "blades"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 804791186, "item_id": 50299449, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50299449", "by": "sphars", "date": "2026-10-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Some recent alternatives/successors/forks that are in the same vein as Pico", "excerpt": "Some recent alternatives/successors/forks that are in the same vein as Pico - Nimble: https://leftium.github.io/nimble.css/demo/pico.html - Sumi.css: https://vladocar.github.io/Sumi.css/docs.html - Blades: https://github.com/anyblades/blades - Oat: https://oat.ink/", "context": "", "use_case": "Pico CSS alternative", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained"}, {"id": 804791088, "item_id": 50299443, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50299443", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-10-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Already plain modern CSS instead of Sass, has Popover API", "excerpt": "We do: https://github.com/anyblades/blades Already plain modern CSS instead of Sass, has Popover API, and CSS layers for individual components, OKLCH colors are on the way. Drop-in compatible with Pico CSS (via underlying fork)", "context": "", "use_case": "CSS framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained"}, {"id": 804785568, "item_id": 50299098, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50299098", "by": "Retr0id", "date": "2026-10-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "seems to be a continuation in the same spirit", "excerpt": "https://github.com/anyblades/blades seems to be a continuation in the same spirit", "context": "", "use_case": "Pico CSS successor", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained"}, {"id": 802934944, "item_id": 50183434, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50183434", "by": "culi", "date": "2026-10-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Blades CSS is the go-to successor btw. Fully compatible with Pico", "excerpt": "Blades CSS is the go-to successor btw. Fully compatible with Pico https://blades.dev/", "context": "", "use_case": "Lightweight CSS framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Sumi.css \u2013 CSS Framework"}, {"id": 799222688, "item_id": 49951418, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49951418", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-10-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "new home for Pico CSS", "excerpt": "https://github.com/anyblades/blades \u2014 new home for Pico CSS https://github.com/anyblades/pico \u2014 underlying fork", "context": "", "use_case": "successor to Pico CSS", "switched_from": "Pico CSS", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained (final release v2.1.1)"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 802963648, "item_id": 50185228, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50185228", "by": "xd1936", "date": "2026-10-21", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "This site seems very slopped together.", "excerpt": "This site seems very slopped together. Several of their new components are just classes, defeating the original purpose and contradicting the vision of Pico. Why are the first one or two letters in headings wrapped in <em>, like the _Bl_ in \"Blades\"? Why are they calling their Pico fork \"anyblades/pico\", when the original Pico author's post says \"The Pico CSS name and logo are not covered by the MIT license. Please g", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Sumi.css \u2013 CSS Framework"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["pico css alternative", "css framework", "pico css successor", "lightweight css framework", "successor to pico css", "css framework for web apps"], "compared": [{"slug": "pico-css", "name": "Pico CSS", "co": 12, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 804971008, "item_id": 50310688, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50310688", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-10-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "we also set up a dedicated page outlining key details and fixes made in underlying Pico fork", "excerpt": "For Blades CSS, we also set up a dedicated page outlining key details and fixes made in underlying Pico fork: https://blades.dev/css/pico/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained"}, {"id": 804789569, "item_id": 50299348, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50299348", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-10-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Thanks for sharing! Same spirit, same underlying code. We\u2019re actively maintaining Blades CSS on GitHub and Discord, and would love Community feedback there. We also set up a dedicated page outlining key details: https://blades.dev/css/pico/", "context": "", "use_case": "Maintained Pico CSS continuation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained"}, {"id": 803752576, "item_id": 50234536, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50234536", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-10-25", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "The main project is Blades at https://github.com/anyblades/blades.", "excerpt": "Appreciate the honest feedback, so here are direct answers and fixes: Utility classes: Offloaded to a separate \"anyblades/ninja\" repo. Core Blades stays true to original Pico (which btw used some classes like .overflow-auto). Fork naming: The main project is Blades at https://github.com/anyblades/blades. The \"anyblades/pico\" repo was just an early bugfix fork created months before Pico announced deprecation. CSS Fram", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Sumi.css \u2013 CSS Framework"}, {"id": 774503024, "item_id": 48406439, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48406439", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-06-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brand new home for Blades CSS, a fully compatible and actively maintained successor to Pico CSS", "excerpt": "Brand new home for Blades CSS, a fully compatible and actively maintained successor to Pico CSS: https://blades.ninja/ Key dependencies: \"@11ty/eleventy\": \"^4.0.0-0\", \"@11ty/eleventy-fetch\": \"^5.1.2\", \"markdown-it-deflist\": \"^3.0.1\", \"@anyblades/eleventy-blades-base\": \"^1.0.0\" sub-dependencies: \"@11ty/eleventy-navigation\": \"^1.0.5\", \"@11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss\": \"^3.0.0\", \"@anyblades/blades\": \"^2.3.1\", \"@anyblades/ele", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 770599345, "item_id": 48162459, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48162459", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-05-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "we\u2019ve taken over maintenance of a fork, and just released our Pico successor candidate", "excerpt": "We also moved away from Tailwind \u2014 Pico CSS. It feels like a breath of fresh, modern CSS air. We actually loved it so much that we\u2019ve taken over maintenance of a fork, and just released our Pico successor candidate: https://blades.ninja/", "context": "team maintaining the fork", "use_case": "CSS framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Moving away from Tailwind, and learning to structure my CSS"}, {"id": 764600864, "item_id": 47787554, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47787554", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-04-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Now including all features from Blades CSS, shipped as pico.blades.css", "excerpt": "Docs & demos: https://blades.ninja/css/pico/ --- Now including all features from Blades CSS, shipped as pico.blades.css \u2014 a drop-in compatible replacement for pico.css. Also, it includes various fixes for original @picocss/pico issues: #731: Allow to selectively unreduce motion like [aria-busy=\"true\"] does #670: Slow website picocss.com | box-shadow performance issues & PR#718 #721: Possible duplicate of text-align p", "context": "", "use_case": "CSS framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pico.css v2.2.0-beta released [community fork]"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50298964", "title": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50180039", "title": "Show HN: Sumi.css \u2013 CSS Framework", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49950772", "title": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained (final release v2.1.1)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48912175", "title": "How I use HTMX with Go", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48406438", "title": "item 48406438", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48158400", "title": "Moving away from Tailwind, and learning to structure my CSS", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 3, "warn": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 804791186, "item_id": 50299449, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50299449", "by": "sphars", "date": "2026-10-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Some recent alternatives/successors/forks that are in the same vein as Pico", "excerpt": "Some recent alternatives/successors/forks that are in the same vein as Pico - Nimble: https://leftium.github.io/nimble.css/demo/pico.html - Sumi.css: https://vladocar.github.io/Sumi.css/docs.html - Blades: https://github.com/anyblades/blades - Oat: https://oat.ink/", "context": "", "use_case": "Pico CSS alternative", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained"}, {"id": 804791088, "item_id": 50299443, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50299443", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-10-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Already plain modern CSS instead of Sass, has Popover API", "excerpt": "We do: https://github.com/anyblades/blades Already plain modern CSS instead of Sass, has Popover API, and CSS layers for individual components, OKLCH colors are on the way. Drop-in compatible with Pico CSS (via underlying fork)", "context": "", "use_case": "CSS framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained"}, {"id": 804785568, "item_id": 50299098, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50299098", "by": "Retr0id", "date": "2026-10-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "seems to be a continuation in the same spirit", "excerpt": "https://github.com/anyblades/blades seems to be a continuation in the same spirit", "context": "", "use_case": "Pico CSS successor", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained"}, {"id": 802963648, "item_id": 50185228, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50185228", "by": "xd1936", "date": "2026-10-21", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "This site seems very slopped together.", "excerpt": "This site seems very slopped together. Several of their new components are just classes, defeating the original purpose and contradicting the vision of Pico. Why are the first one or two letters in headings wrapped in <em>, like the _Bl_ in \"Blades\"? Why are they calling their Pico fork \"anyblades/pico\", when the original Pico author's post says \"The Pico CSS name and logo are not covered by the MIT license. Please g", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Sumi.css \u2013 CSS Framework"}, {"id": 802934944, "item_id": 50183434, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50183434", "by": "culi", "date": "2026-10-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Blades CSS is the go-to successor btw. Fully compatible with Pico", "excerpt": "Blades CSS is the go-to successor btw. Fully compatible with Pico https://blades.dev/", "context": "", "use_case": "Lightweight CSS framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Sumi.css \u2013 CSS Framework"}, {"id": 799222688, "item_id": 49951418, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49951418", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-10-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "new home for Pico CSS", "excerpt": "https://github.com/anyblades/blades \u2014 new home for Pico CSS https://github.com/anyblades/pico \u2014 underlying fork", "context": "", "use_case": "successor to Pico CSS", "switched_from": "Pico CSS", "story": "Pico CSS is no longer maintained (final release v2.1.1)"}, {"id": 783738448, "item_id": 48983653, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48983653", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-07-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you might want to try Blades CSS also", "excerpt": "you might want to try Blades CSS also, a fully compatible and actively maintained successor to Pico CSS (which was last updated >1 ago) https://blades.ninja/ https://github.com/anyblades/blades", "context": "", "use_case": "CSS framework for web apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "How I use HTMX with Go"}, {"id": 761300560, "item_id": 47581285, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47581285", "by": "anydigital", "date": "2026-03-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Use Blades `<i>`-helper to wrap emojis, favicons", "excerpt": "Use Blades `<i>`-helper to wrap emojis, favicons, or simply drop Font Awesome icons inside links. It automatically handles sizing and alignment while preventing underline on icons. How: `a:has(>i){ display: inline-flex }` and `a>i{ float: left }` Code: https://github.com/anydigital/blades/blob/main/src/link-icon.css Demo: https://codepen.io/editor/anydigital/pen/019d2b94-5616-75dc-a23e-e111869d5237 Docs: https://blad", "context": "", "use_case": "CSS link icon styling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Icons inside underlined links without text <span>ning"}]}