Breaking changes in v5, part one: styles and themes

This is a reference guide to the breaking changes introduced in Material UI v5, and how to migrating from v4. This part covers changes to styling and theming.

Material UI v5 migration

1. Getting started
2. Breaking changes part one: style and theme 👈 you are here
3. Breaking changes part two: components
4. Migrating from JSS
5. Troubleshooting

Breaking changes, part one

Material UI v5 introduces a number of breaking changes from v4. Many of these changes can be resolved automatically using the codemods described in the main migration guide.

The following document lists all breaking changes related to styles and themes in v5 and how to address them.

After you're finished here, please move on to Breaking changes in v5 part two: components to continue the migration process.

Migrate theme styleOverrides to Emotion

Although your style overrides defined in the theme may partially work, there is an important difference regarding how the nested elements are styled.

The $ syntax (local rule reference) used with JSS will not work with Emotion. You need to replace those selectors with a valid class selector.

Replace state class names

 const theme = createTheme({
   components: {
     MuiOutlinedInput: {
       styleOverrides: {
         root: {
-          '&$focused': {
+          '&.Mui-focused': {
             borderWidth: 1,
           }
         }
       }
     }
   }
 });

Replace nested classes selectors with global class names

 const theme = createTheme({
   components: {
     MuiOutlinedInput: {
       styleOverrides: {
         root: {
-          '& $notchedOutline': {
+          '& .MuiOutlinedInput-notchedOutline': {
             borderWidth: 1,
           }
         }
       }
     }
   }
 });

+import { outlinedInputClasses } from '@mui/material/OutlinedInput';

 const theme = createTheme({
   components: {
     MuiOutlinedInput: {
       styleOverrides: {
         root: {
-          '& $notchedOutline': {
+          [`& .${outlinedInputClasses.notchedOutline}`]: {
             borderWidth: 1,
           }
         }
       }
     }
   }
 });

Take a look at the complete list of global state classnames available.

ref

Refactor non-ref-forwarding class components

Support for non-ref-forwarding class components in the component prop or as immediate children has been dropped.

If you were using unstable_createStrictModeTheme or didn't see any warnings related to findDOMNode in React.StrictMode then you don't need to take any further action.

Otherwise check out the Caveat with refs section in the Composition guide to find out how to migrate. This change affects almost all components where you're using the component prop or passing children to components that require children to be elements (for example <MenuList><CustomMenuItem /></MenuList>).

Fix ref type specificity

For some components, you may get a type error when passing ref. To avoid the error, you should use a specific element type. For example, Card expects the type of ref to be HTMLDivElement, and ListItem expects its ref type to be HTMLLIElement.

Here is an example:

 import * as React from 'react';
 import Card from '@mui/material/Card';
 import ListItem from '@mui/material/ListItem';

 export default function SpecificRefType() {
-  const cardRef = React.useRef<HTMLElement>(null);
+  const cardRef = React.useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);

-  const listItemRef = React.useRef<HTMLElement>(null);
+  const listItemRef = React.useRef<HTMLLIElement>(null);
   return (
     <div>
       <Card ref={cardRef}></Card>
       <ListItem ref={listItemRef}></ListItem>
     </div>
   );
 }

Here are the specific element types that each component expects:

@mui/material

• Accordion - HTMLDivElement
• Alert - HTMLDivElement
• Avatar - HTMLDivElement
• ButtonGroup - HTMLDivElement
• Card - HTMLDivElement
• Dialog - HTMLDivElement
• ImageList - HTMLUListElement
• List - HTMLUListElement
• Tab - HTMLDivElement
• Tabs - HTMLDivElement
• ToggleButton - HTMLButtonElement

@mui/lab

• Timeline - HTMLUListElement

Style library

✅ Adjust CSS injection order

The style library used by default in v5 is Emotion.

If you were using JSS for the style overrides of Material UI components—for example, those created by makeStyles—you will need to take care of the CSS injection order. JSS <style>' elements need to be injected in the <head> after Emotion <style>' elements.

To do so, you need to have the StyledEngineProvider with the injectFirst option at the top of your component tree, as shown here:

import * as React from 'react';
import { StyledEngineProvider } from '@mui/material/styles';

export default function GlobalCssPriority() {
  return (
    {/* Inject Emotion before JSS */}
    <StyledEngineProvider injectFirst>
      {/* Your component tree. Now you can override Material UI's styles. */}
    </StyledEngineProvider>
  );
}

✅ Add prepend to createCache

If you have a custom cache and are using Emotion to style your app, it will override the cache provided by Material UI.

To correct the injection order, add the prepend option to createCache, as shown below:

 import * as React from 'react';
 import { CacheProvider } from '@emotion/react';
 import createCache from '@emotion/cache';

 const cache = createCache({
   key: 'css',
+  prepend: true,
 });

 export default function PlainCssPriority() {
   return (
     <CacheProvider value={cache}>
       {/* Your component tree. Now you can override Material UI's styles. */}
     </CacheProvider>
   );
 }

Theme structure

✅ Add adaptV4Theme helper

The structure of the theme has changed in v5. You need to update its shape. For a smoother transition, the adaptV4Theme helper allows you to iteratively upgrade some of the theme changes to the new theme structure.

-import { createMuiTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { createTheme, adaptV4Theme } from '@mui/material/styles';

-const theme = createMuiTheme({
+const theme = createTheme(adaptV4Theme({
   // v4 theme
-});
+}));

The following changes are supported by the adapter:

Remove gutters

The "gutters" abstraction hasn't proven to be used frequently enough to be valuable.

-theme.mixins.gutters(),
+paddingLeft: theme.spacing(2),
+paddingRight: theme.spacing(2),
+[theme.breakpoints.up('sm')]: {
+  paddingLeft: theme.spacing(3),
+  paddingRight: theme.spacing(3),
+},

✅ Remove px suffix

theme.spacing now returns single values with px units by default. This change improves the integration with styled-components & Emotion.

Before:

theme.spacing(2) => 16

After:

theme.spacing(2) => '16px'

✅ Rename theme.palette.type

The theme.palette.type key was renamed to theme.palette.mode, to better follow the "dark mode" terminology that is usually used for describing this feature.

 import { createTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';
-const theme = createTheme({ palette: { type: 'dark' } }),
+const theme = createTheme({ palette: { mode: 'dark' } }),

Change default theme.palette.info colors

The default theme.palette.info colors were changed to pass the AA accessibility standard contrast ratio in both light and dark modes.

  info = {
-  main: cyan[500],
+  main: lightBlue[700], // lightBlue[400] in "dark" mode

-  light: cyan[300],
+  light: lightBlue[500], // lightBlue[300] in "dark" mode

-  dark: cyan[700],
+  dark: lightBlue[900], // lightBlue[700] in "dark" mode
  }

Change default theme.palette.success colors

The default theme.palette.success colors were changed to pass the AA accessibility standard contrast ratio in both light and dark modes.

  success = {
-  main: green[500],
+  main: green[800], // green[400] in "dark" mode

-  light: green[300],
+  light: green[500], // green[300] in "dark" mode

-  dark: green[700],
+  dark: green[900], // green[700] in "dark" mode
  }

Change default theme.palette.warning colors

The default theme.palette.warning colors were changed to pass the AA accessibility standard contrast ratio in both light and dark modes.

  warning = {
-  main: orange[500],
+  main: '#ED6C02', // orange[400] in "dark" mode

-  light: orange[300],
+  light: orange[500], // orange[300] in "dark" mode

-  dark: orange[700],
+  dark: orange[900], // orange[700] in "dark" mode
  }

Restore theme.palette.text.hint key (if needed)

The theme.palette.text.hint key was unused in Material UI components, and has been removed. If you depend on it, you can add it back:

  import { createTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

-const theme = createTheme(),
+const theme = createTheme({
+  palette: { text: { hint: 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.38)' } },
+});

Restructure component definitions

The component definitions in the theme were restructured under the components key to make them easier to find.

1. props

 import { createTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

 const theme = createTheme({
-  props: {
-    MuiButton: {
-      disableRipple: true,
-    },
-  },
+  components: {
+    MuiButton: {
+      defaultProps: {
+        disableRipple: true,
+      },
+    },
+  },
 });

2. overrides

 import { createTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

 const theme = createTheme({
-  overrides: {
-    MuiButton: {
-      root: { padding: 0 },
-    },
-  },
+  components: {
+    MuiButton: {
+      styleOverrides: {
+        root: { padding: 0 },
+      },
+    },
+  },
 });

@mui/styles

Update ThemeProvider import

If you are using the utilities from @mui/styles together with the @mui/material, you should replace the use of ThemeProvider from @mui/styles with the one exported from @mui/material/styles.

This way, the theme provided in the context will be available in both the styling utilities exported from @mui/styles, like makeStyles, withStyles, etc., along with the Material UI components.

-import { ThemeProvider } from '@mui/styles';
+import { ThemeProvider } from '@mui/material/styles';

Make sure to add a ThemeProvider at the root of your application, as the defaultTheme is no longer available in the utilities coming from @mui/styles.

✅ Add module augmentation for DefaultTheme (TypeScript)

The @mui/styles package is no longer part of @mui/material/styles.

If you are using @mui/styles together with @mui/material you need to add a module augmentation for the DefaultTheme.

// in the file where you are creating the theme (invoking the function `createTheme()`)
import { Theme } from '@mui/material/styles';

declare module '@mui/styles' {
  interface DefaultTheme extends Theme {}
}

@mui/material/colors

✅ Change color imports

Nested imports of more than one level are private. For example, you can no longer import red from @mui/material/colors/red.

-import red from '@mui/material/colors/red';
+import { red } from '@mui/material/colors';

@mui/material/styles

✅ Rename fade to alpha

fade was renamed to alpha to better describe its functionality.

The previous name caused confusion when the input color already had an alpha value. The helper overrides the alpha value of the color.

-import { fade } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { alpha } from '@mui/material/styles';

  const classes = makeStyles(theme => ({
-  backgroundColor: fade(theme.palette.primary.main, theme.palette.action.selectedOpacity),
+  backgroundColor: alpha(theme.palette.primary.main, theme.palette.action.selectedOpacity),
  }));

✅ Update createStyles import

The createStyles function from @mui/material/styles was moved to the one exported from @mui/styles. It is necessary for removing the dependency on @mui/styles in the Material UI npm package.

-import { createStyles } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { createStyles } from '@mui/styles';

✅ Update createGenerateClassName import

The createGenerateClassName function is no longer exported from @mui/material/styles. You should import it directly from @mui/styles.

-import { createGenerateClassName } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { createGenerateClassName } from '@mui/styles';

To generate custom class names without using @mui/styles, check out ClassName Generator for more details.

✅ Rename createMuiTheme

The function createMuiTheme was renamed to createTheme to make it more intuitive to use with ThemeProvider.

-import { createMuiTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { createTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';

-const theme = createMuiTheme({
+const theme = createTheme({

✅ Update MuiThemeProvider import

The MuiThemeProvider component is no longer exported from @mui/material/styles. Use ThemeProvider instead.

-import { MuiThemeProvider } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { ThemeProvider } from '@mui/material/styles';

✅ Update jssPreset import

The jssPreset object is no longer exported from @mui/material/styles. You should import it directly from @mui/styles.

-import { jssPreset } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { jssPreset } from '@mui/styles';

✅ Update makeStyles import

The makeStyles JSS utility is no longer exported from @mui/material/styles. You can use @mui/styles/makeStyles instead.

Make sure to add a ThemeProvider at the root of your application, as the defaultTheme is no longer available.

If you are using this utility together with @mui/material, it's recommended that you use the ThemeProvider component from @mui/material/styles instead.

-import { makeStyles } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { makeStyles } from '@mui/styles';
+import { createTheme, ThemeProvider } from '@mui/material/styles';

+const theme = createTheme();
  const useStyles = makeStyles((theme) => ({
    background: theme.palette.primary.main,
  }));
  function Component() {
    const classes = useStyles();
    return <div className={classes.root} />
  }

  // In the root of your app
  function App(props) {
-  return <Component />;
+  return <ThemeProvider theme={theme}><Component {...props} /></ThemeProvider>;
  }

✅ Update ServerStyleSheets import

The ServerStyleSheets component is no longer exported from @mui/material/styles. You should import it directly from @mui/styles.

-import { ServerStyleSheets } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { ServerStyleSheets } from '@mui/styles';

styled

The styled JSS utility is no longer exported from @mui/material/styles. You can use the one exported from @mui/styles instead.

Make sure to add a ThemeProvider at the root of your application, as the defaultTheme is no longer available.

If you are using this utility together with @mui/material, it's recommended you use the ThemeProvider component from @mui/material/styles instead.

-import { styled } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { styled } from '@mui/styles';
+import { createTheme, ThemeProvider } from '@mui/material/styles';

+const theme = createTheme();
  const MyComponent = styled('div')(({ theme }) => ({ background: theme.palette.primary.main }));

  function App(props) {
-  return <MyComponent />;
+  return <ThemeProvider theme={theme}><MyComponent {...props} /></ThemeProvider>;
  }

✅ Update StylesProvider import

The StylesProvider component is no longer exported from @mui/material/styles. You should import it directly from @mui/styles.

-import { StylesProvider } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { StylesProvider } from '@mui/styles';

✅ Update useThemeVariants import

The useThemeVariants hook is no longer exported from @mui/material/styles. You should import it directly from @mui/styles.

-import { useThemeVariants } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { useThemeVariants } from '@mui/styles';

✅ Update withStyles import

The withStyles JSS utility is no longer exported from @mui/material/styles. You can use @mui/styles/withStyles instead.

Make sure to add a ThemeProvider at the root of your application, as the defaultTheme is no longer available.

If you are using this utility together with @mui/material, you should use the ThemeProvider component from @mui/material/styles instead.

-import { withStyles } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { withStyles } from '@mui/styles';
+import { createTheme, ThemeProvider } from '@mui/material/styles';

+const defaultTheme = createTheme();
  const MyComponent = withStyles((props) => {
    const { classes, className, ...other } = props;
    return <div className={clsx(className, classes.root)} {...other} />
  })(({ theme }) => ({ root: { background: theme.palette.primary.main }}));

  function App() {
-  return <MyComponent />;
+  return <ThemeProvider theme={defaultTheme}><MyComponent /></ThemeProvider>;
  }

✅ Replace innerRef with ref

Replace the innerRef prop with the ref prop. Refs are now automatically forwarded to the inner component.

  import * as React from 'react';
  import { withStyles } from '@mui/styles';

  const MyComponent = withStyles({
    root: {
      backgroundColor: 'red',
    },
  })(({ classes }) => <div className={classes.root} />);

  function MyOtherComponent(props) {
    const ref = React.useRef();
-  return <MyComponent innerRef={ref} />;
+  return <MyComponent ref={ref} />;
  }

Update withTheme import

The withTheme HOC utility has been removed from the @mui/material/styles package. You can use @mui/styles/withTheme instead.

Make sure to add a ThemeProvider at the root of your application, as the defaultTheme is no longer available.

If you are using this utility together with @mui/material, it's recommended you use the ThemeProvider component from @mui/material/styles instead.

-import { withTheme } from '@mui/material/styles';
+import { withTheme } from '@mui/styles';
+import { createTheme, ThemeProvider } from '@mui/material/styles';

+const theme = createTheme();
  const MyComponent = withTheme(({ theme }) => <div>{theme.direction}</div>);

  function App(props) {
-  return <MyComponent />;
+  return <ThemeProvider theme={theme}><MyComponent {...props} /></ThemeProvider>;
  }

✅ Remove withWidth

This HOC was removed. If you need this feature, you can try the alternative that uses the useMediaQuery hook.

@mui/icons-material

Reduce GitHub icon size

The GitHub icon was reduced in size from 24px to 22px wide to match the size of the other icons.

@material-ui/pickers

We have a dedicated page for migrating @material-ui/pickers to v5.

System

✅ Rename gap props

The following system functions and properties were renamed because they are considered deprecated CSS:

• gridGap becomes gap
• gridRowGap becomes rowGap
• gridColumnGap becomes columnGap

✅ Add spacing units to gap props

Use a spacing unit in gap, rowGap, and columnGap. If you were using a number previously, you need to mention the px to bypass the new transformation with theme.spacing.

  <Box
-  gap={2}
+  gap="2px"
  >

Replace css prop with sx to avoid collision with styled-components and Emotion's css prop.

-<Box css={{ color: 'primary.main' }} />
+<Box sx={{ color: 'primary.main' }} />