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Rishi Verma
Rishi Verma

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Quick start with Tailwind CSS

#css #tailwindcss

1. Configuring Tailwind CSS without using PostCSS plugin

Make a folder with any name and open the folder path in the terminal (You can use VS Code built-in terminal).
  • Create package.json file 📦 
npm init -y //default options
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  • Install tailwind CSS using npm 
npm i tailwindcss
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  • Install Autoprefixer 
npm i autoprefixer //For different browsers support
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  • Create a folder 📁 name public, inside public folder create a file 📄 named index.html and create another folder 📁 named src , inside src folder create a file 📄 named tailwind.css.
Your file structure should look like this 
├── tailwindcss
│   ├── public
│   │   ├── index.html
│   ├── src
│   │   ├── tailwind.css
.
.
.
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  • Open src/tailwind.css 📄 and copy-paste below code 📋 
@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
/* Write Custom CSS */
@tailwind utilities;
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  • Create a build scrip which compiles the src/tailwind.css 📄 and make actual compiled css inside the public folder 📁, open package.json 📦 file and copy-paste below code. 
"scripts": {"build": "tailwindcss build ./src/tailwind.css -o ./public/tailwind.css"}
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  • Run build script 
npm run build
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This will generate compiled css inside the public folder 📁, and link this css in your index.html 📄(Note: Don't modify compiled css)

Customize tailwind CSS Config

  • First create tailwind config file with the following command 
npx tailwindcss init
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It will generate tailwind.config.js 📄

  • In talwind.config.js 📄 you can define your own custom property.

  • after changing talwind.config.js 📄 again you need to run build script

npm run build
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Compress size of tailwind.css(Production ready)

  • Install NODE_ENV 
npm install win-node-env
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  • In package.json 📦 file add the following script which reduces the compiled CSS (It will remove unused classes) 
"prod": "NODE_ENV=production npx tailwindcss build ./src/tailwind.css -o ./public/tailwind.css“
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  • Open tailwind.config.js 📄 file add the following line in PURG. 
purge:['./public/**/*.html']
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  • Now you can make production ready 💪 CSS by running the following command 
npm run prod
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2. Configuring Tailwind CSS with as PostCSS plugin

  • Create package.json 📦 file 
npm init -y //default options
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  • Install tailwind CSS using npm 
npm i tailwindcss
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  • Install Autoprefixer 
npm i autoprefixer //For different browsers support
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  • Install PostCSS-CLI Plugin 
npm i postcss-cli
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  • Create Configuration files for Tailwind CSS and PostCSS using following command 
npx tailwindcss init -p
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This will generate two files tailwind.config.js and postcss.config.js
  • Create a folder name public , inside public folder 📁 create a file named index.html 📄 and create another folder named src , inside src folder 📁 create a file named tailwind.css 📄.
Your file structure should look like this 
├── tailwindcss
│   ├── public
│   │   ├── index.html
│   ├── src
│   │   ├── tailwind.css
.
.
.
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  • Open src/tailwind.css 📄 and copy-paste below code 
@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
/* Write Custom CSS */
@tailwind utilities;
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  • Create a build scrip which compiles the src/tailwind.css 📄 and make actual compiled css inside the public folder 📁, open package.json 📦 file and copy-paste below code. 
"scripts": {"build": "postcss build ./src/tailwind.css -o ./public/tailwind.css"}
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  • Run build script 
npm run build
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This will generate compiled css inside the public folder 📁, and link this css in your index.html(Note: Don't modify compiled css)

Customize tailwind CSS Config

  • First create tailwind config file with the following command 
npx tailwindcss init
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It will generate tailwind.config.js 📄

  • In talwind.config.js 📄 you can define your own custom property.

  • after changing talwind.config.js 📄again you need to run the build script

npm run build
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Compress size of tailwind.css(Production ready)

  • Install NODE_ENV 
npm install win-node-env
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  • In package.json 📦 file add the following script which reduces the compiled css (It will remove unused classes) 
"prod": "NODE_ENV=production npx tailwindcss build ./src/tailwind.css -o ./public/tailwind.css“
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  • Open tailwind.config.js 📄 file add the following line in purg. 
purge:['./public/**/*.html']
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  • Now you can make production ready 💪 CSS by running the following command 
npm run prod
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Top comments (1)

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melroy89 profile image
Melroy van den Berg •

Thanks! I just want to mention that Tailwind v4 is now using @tailwindcss/cli