Angular - Configuring styles and preprocessor options

When working with Angular and Storybook in an Nx workspace, you may need to configure styles and CSS preprocessors to ensure your components render correctly in Storybook.

Global styles

Adding global styles to Storybook

You can add global styles to your Storybook by creating a preview.ts file in your .storybook directory:

.storybook/preview.ts

import type { Preview } from '@storybook/angular';

// Import global styles
import '../src/styles.scss'; // Your global styles
import '@angular/material/prebuilt-themes/indigo-pink.css'; // Material theme

const preview: Preview = {
  parameters: {
    actions: { argTypesRegex: '^on[A-Z].*' },
    controls: {
      matchers: {
        color: /(background|color)$/i,
        date: /Date$/,
      },
    },
  },
};

export default preview;

Using Angular Material styles

If you're using Angular Material, you can include the theme in your Storybook:

.storybook/preview.ts

import '@angular/material/prebuilt-themes/indigo-pink.css';
// or your custom theme
import '../src/styles/material-theme.scss';

SCSS/SASS configuration

Configuring SCSS in Storybook

If your Angular project uses SCSS, you can configure Storybook to handle SCSS files properly:

.storybook/main.ts

import type { StorybookConfig } from '@storybook/angular';

const config: StorybookConfig = {
  stories: ['../src/**/*.stories.@(js|jsx|ts|tsx|mdx)'],
  addons: [
    '@storybook/addon-essentials',
    '@storybook/addon-interactions',
  ],
  framework: {
    name: '@storybook/angular',
    options: {},
  },
  core: {
    builder: '@storybook/builder-webpack5',
  },
  typescript: {
    check: false,
    checkOptions: {},
    reactDocgen: 'react-docgen-typescript',
    reactDocgenTypescriptOptions: {
      shouldExtractLiteralValuesFromEnum: true,
      propFilter: (prop) => (prop.parent ? !/node_modules/.test(prop.parent.fileName) : true),
    },
  },
};

export default config;

Including SCSS variables and mixins

To use SCSS variables and mixins in your stories, you may need to configure additional include paths:

.storybook/main.ts

import type { StorybookConfig } from '@storybook/angular';

const config: StorybookConfig = {
  // ... other config
  webpackFinal: async (config) => {
    // Add SCSS support with include paths
    const scssRule = config.module?.rules?.find((rule: any) =>
      rule.test?.toString().includes('scss')
    );

    if (scssRule && scssRule.use) {
      const sassLoaderOptions = scssRule.use.find((use: any) =>
        use.loader?.includes('sass-loader')
      );

      if (sassLoaderOptions) {
        sassLoaderOptions.options = {
          ...sassLoaderOptions.options,
          sassOptions: {
            includePaths: ['src/styles', 'src/assets/styles'],
          },
        };
      }
    }

    return config;
  },
};

export default config;

Tailwind CSS configuration

Setting up Tailwind CSS with Storybook

If your Angular project uses Tailwind CSS, configure it in your Storybook:

1. Install Tailwind CSS for Storybook:

npm install -D @storybook/addon-postcss

1. Add the addon to your Storybook configuration:

.storybook/main.ts

import type { StorybookConfig } from '@storybook/angular';

const config: StorybookConfig = {
  // ... other config
  addons: [
    '@storybook/addon-essentials',
    {
      name: '@storybook/addon-postcss',
      options: {
        postcssLoaderOptions: {
          implementation: require('postcss'),
        },
      },
    },
  ],
};

export default config;

1. Import Tailwind in your preview file:

.storybook/preview.ts

import '../src/styles.css'; // This should include Tailwind CSS imports

Component-specific styles

Using Angular component styles in stories

Component styles defined in Angular components should work automatically in Storybook. However, if you need to override styles for stories, you can do so in individual story files:

button.stories.ts

import type { Meta, StoryObj } from '@storybook/angular';
import { ButtonComponent } from './button.component';

const meta: Meta<ButtonComponent> = {
  title: 'Components/Button',
  component: ButtonComponent,
  parameters: {
    // Add custom styles for this story
    docs: {
      description: {
        component: 'A customizable button component.',
      },
    },
  },
  decorators: [
    (story) => ({
      template: `
        <div style="padding: 20px; background: #f5f5f5;">
          <story></story>
        </div>
      `,
    }),
  ],
};

export default meta;
type Story = StoryObj<ButtonComponent>;

export const Default: Story = {
  args: {
    label: 'Button',
  },
};

export const CustomStyling: Story = {
  args: {
    label: 'Custom Button',
  },
  decorators: [
    (story) => ({
      template: `
        <div style="padding: 40px; background: linear-gradient(45deg, #ff6b6b, #4ecdc4);">
          <story></story>
        </div>
      `,
    }),
  ],
};

Troubleshooting style issues

Common issues and solutions

1. Styles not loading: Ensure your global styles are imported in .storybook/preview.ts

2. SCSS variables not available: Configure include paths in the webpack configuration

3. Angular Material styles missing: Import the Material theme CSS file in your preview

4. Component styles not applying: Check that component stylesheets are properly referenced in the component decorator

5. CSS modules not working: Ensure your webpack configuration supports CSS modules if your project uses them

Debug style loading

You can debug style loading by checking the browser's developer tools to see if stylesheets are being loaded correctly and if there are any 404 errors for missing style files.