We all love a good gradient. But what if you could make that gradient move — giving your buttons and links a smooth, animated vibe that catches the eye?

In this post, I’ll walk you through how to create a smooth animated gradient border around an element using Tailwind CSS v4. No plugins, no fuss — just a sprinkle of custom CSS and the power of utility-first styling.

Let’s dive in! 🚀

🏳️‍🌈 Gradient Generator Tool & Gradient Gallery

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🧱 Step 1: Set Up the Gradient Border

Before jumping into animation, let’s get the basic gradient border working.

Here’s how it works:

• Use a wrapper with a gradient background.
• Add padding to create space between the outer border and the inner content.
• Inside, use a solid background (like white) to contrast the border.

<a href="#" class="block rounded-full bg-gradient-to-r from-green-400 via-blue-500 to-purple-500 p-1">
  <span class="block rounded-full bg-white px-10 py-4 text-lg font-medium">
    Click Me 🚀
  </span>
</a>

💡 Quick Tip: The outer p-1 creates a visible border thickness. Want a thinner border? Try p-0.5 or p-px.

🌈 Step 2: Make the Gradient Move

Now comes the fun part — adding motion to the gradient.

We’ll do this with a custom animation using regular CSS, while keeping Tailwind for everything else.

@keyframes moveGradient {
  0%, 100% {
    background-position: 0% 50%;
  }
  50% {
    background-position: 100% 50%;
  }
}

.animate-gradient {
  background-size: 400% 400%;
  background-position: 0% 50%;
  animation: moveGradient 6s ease infinite;
}

🎯 Now Update the HTML:

<a href="#" class="block animate-gradient rounded-full bg-gradient-to-r from-green-400 via-blue-500 to-purple-500 p-1">
  <span class="block rounded-full bg-white px-10 py-4 text-lg font-medium">
    Click Me 🚀
  </span>
</a>

🧠 What’s Happening Behind the Scenes?

• .animate-gradient: Adds the custom animation using CSS.
• background-size: 400%: Enlarges the background, so the gradient has room to move around without repeating awkwardly.
• bg-gradient-to-r from-green-400 via-blue-500 to-purple-500: Defines the animated gradient colors.

🎨 Step 3: Try These Cool Variations

• Color Play: Try from-pink-400 via-yellow-400 to-red-500
• Speed Control: Use animation: moveGradient 3s ease-in-out infinite;
• Easing Tweaks: Experiment with ease-in or linear
• Background Size: Use background-size: 200% for tighter movement

🔗 Try it here on TemplateSee