Using Tailwind with Vue.js - A Step-by-Step Guide

In this article, we will walk through the process of setting up Tailwind CSS in a Vue CLI 3 project. Tailwind CSS is a powerful and customizable CSS framework that allows you to build modern and responsive web applications.

Install Tailwind

The first step is to install Tailwind CSS using either npm or yarn. Run the following command in your project directory:


npm install tailwindcss --save-dev


yarn add tailwindcss --dev

Create a configuration file

Once Tailwind CSS is installed, you need to create a configuration file. Use the following command to generate a tailwind.js file in the root of your project:

./node_modules/.bin/tailwind init tailwind.js

The tailwind.js file will contain the basic Tailwind CSS configuration, which includes a set of useful presets for styling your project.

Configure PostCSS

To make sure Tailwind CSS is applied, you need to configure PostCSS. Open your postcss.config.js file and add the following code:

module.exports = {
  plugins: [
    require('tailwindcss')('tailwind.js'),
    require('autoprefixer')(),
  ],
};

If you don’t have a postcss.config.js file, create one in the root of your project. Make sure to remove any PostCSS configuration present in your package.json file if you are using Vue CLI to manage the configuration.

Create a CSS file

Next, create a CSS file named tailwind.css in the src/assets/css directory. Add the following code to the file:

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

This will import the base, components, and utilities styles from Tailwind CSS into your project.

Import the file in your Vue app

To use Tailwind CSS in your Vue app, import the tailwind.css file in your main.js file, which is typically located in the src directory. Add the following code at the top of main.js:

import '@/assets/css/tailwind.css';

The @ symbol here represents the src directory in your project.

Testing it works fine

To verify if Tailwind CSS is working correctly, you can use Tailwind-specific classes in your Vue templates. For example, add the following HTML code to one of your template files:

<div class="bg-purple text-white sm:bg-green md:bg-blue md:text-yellow lg:bg-red xl:bg-orange ...">
  Test
</div>

This will create a colored box on your page, using the Tailwind CSS utility classes.

That’s it! You have successfully set up Tailwind CSS in your Vue CLI 3 project. Enjoy building stunning user interfaces with Tailwind CSS!

Install Tailwind#

Create a configuration file#

Configure PostCSS#

Create a CSS file#

Import the file in your Vue app#

Testing it works fine#