What is auto? It is used for many things such as flex and width ect…
The value of said property is adjusted automatically according to the content or the context of the element.
For example, a block-level element with height: auto will grow taller as it contains more text. For another example, a block element with margin: 0 auto will have the left and right margins increased until it becomes centered along the y-axis of the viewport.
It really depends on the property you give the value to, different properties behave differently depending on the content and context.
Link: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4471850/what-is-the-meaning-of-auto-value-in-a-css-property