layout-inspector

DevTools-style layout inspector for React. Hover any element in your app to see its tag, selector, dimensions, font, WCAG contrast ratio, ARIA role, accessible name, and a11y state — without ever leaving the page.

• 4-layer box-model overlay (margin / border / padding / content), just like Chrome DevTools
• Floating info bubble that auto-positions and stays glued during scroll & resize
• WCAG contrast check between text and the nearest non-transparent background
• A11y snapshot: implicit/explicit role, accessible name, focusable, disabled, expanded, pressed, checked, selected
• Hotkey toggle, click-to-select, escape-to-exit
• Controlled or uncontrolled
• Zero dependencies, ~6 kB gzipped, React 18 & 19

---

Install

npm install layout-inspector

Quick start

import { LayoutInspector } from 'layout-inspector';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <>
      <YourApp />
      <LayoutInspector defaultActive behavior={{ hotkey: 'cmd+shift+c' }} />
    </>
  );
}

Press cmd+shift+c (or ctrl+shift+c on Windows/Linux) to toggle. Hover to inspect, click to select, escape to exit.

Controlled mode

const [active, setActive] = useState(false);

<button onClick={() => setActive((v) => !v)}>Inspect</button>
<LayoutInspector
  active={active}
  on={{ activeChange: setActive, select: (el, info) => console.log(info) }}
/>

API

<LayoutInspector /> props

Prop	Type	Default	Description
active	boolean	—	Controlled active state.
defaultActive	boolean	false	Uncontrolled initial active state.
on	LayoutInspectorEvents	—	activeChange, select, hover callbacks.
behavior	LayoutInspectorBehavior	—	Hotkey, ignore selector, exit-on-select, etc.
highlight	LayoutInspectorHighlight	{}	Box-model / outline rendering and overlay colors.
bubble	LayoutInspectorBubble	{}	Info-bubble visibility, fields, custom renderer.
zIndex	number	2147483647	z-index for the overlay portal.
className	string	''	Extra class on the default bubble.
style	CSSProperties	{}	Inline styles merged into the default bubble.

Events (on)

on: {
  activeChange?: (active: boolean) => void;
  select?: (element: Element, info: ElementInfo) => void;
  hover?: (element: Element | null, info: ElementInfo | null) => void;
}

Behavior

behavior: {
  hotkey?: string;            // e.g. 'cmd+shift+c'
  ignoreSelector?: string;    // CSS selector to skip
  exitOnSelect?: boolean;     // default true
  exitOnEscape?: boolean;     // default true
}

To exclude part of your UI from inspection (e.g. a debug toolbar), either use behavior.ignoreSelector or add the data-layout-inspector-ignore attribute on the element.

Highlight

highlight: {
  boxModel?: boolean;          // default true — renders 4-layer DevTools box model
  outline?: boolean;           // default !boxModel — single outline
  colors?: {
    margin?: string; border?: string; padding?: string;
    content?: string; outline?: string;
  };
}

Bubble

bubble: {
  enabled?: boolean;           // default true
  fields?: {
    tag?: boolean; selector?: boolean; dimensions?: boolean;
    font?: boolean; colors?: boolean; spacing?: boolean;
    role?: boolean; accessibleName?: boolean; a11yState?: boolean;
  };
  render?: (info: ElementInfo) => ReactNode;  // escape hatch
}

ElementInfo

The snapshot passed to on.hover, on.select, and bubble.render:

interface ElementInfo {
  element: Element;
  tag: string; // 'button'
  selector: string; // 'button.btn.primary[data-testid="x"]'
  rect: DOMRect;
  font: {
    family: string;
    rendered: string;
    size: string;
    weight: string;
    lineHeight: string;
  };
  color: string; // computed text color
  backgroundColor: string; // walks ancestors for first opaque bg
  contrastRatio: number | null; // WCAG ratio
  padding: BoxEdges;
  margin: BoxEdges;
  border: BoxEdges;
  a11y: A11yInfo; // role, accessibleName, ariaLabel, etc.
}

Recipes

Custom bubble

<LayoutInspector
  bubble={{
    render: (info) => (
      <div style={{ background: 'black', color: 'white', padding: 8 }}>
        {info.tag} — {Math.round(info.rect.width)}×{Math.round(info.rect.height)}
      </div>
    ),
  }}
/>

Outline only (no box-model layers)

<LayoutInspector defaultActive highlight={{ boxModel: false }} />

Disable contrast check & ignore your dev toolbar

<LayoutInspector
  defaultActive
  behavior={{ ignoreSelector: '#dev-toolbar, #dev-toolbar *' }}
  bubble={{ fields: { colors: false } }}
/>

Development

npm install
npm test           # vitest run
npm run lint       # eslint
npm run format     # prettier --write
npm run typecheck  # tsc --noEmit
npm run build      # vite build + .d.ts emit

A pre-commit hook (husky + lint-staged) runs format, lint, typecheck, and tests on every commit.

License

MIT © Sakti Kumar Chourasia