Tailwind CLI - Installation
Tailwind CSS works by scanning all of your HTML files, JavaScript components, and any other templates for class names, generating the corresponding styles and then writing them to a static CSS file.
It's fast, flexible, and reliable — with zero-runtime.
Installing Tailwind CLI
The simplest and fastest way to get up and running with Tailwind CSS from scratch is with the Tailwind CLI tool. The CLI is also available as a standalone executable if you want to use it without installing Node.js.
Install Tailwind CSS
Install tailwindcss and @tailwindcss/cli via npm.
npm install tailwindcss @tailwindcss/cliImport Tailwind in your CSS
Add the @import "tailwindcss"; import to your main CSS file.
Start the Tailwind CLI build process
Run the CLI tool to scan your source files for classes and build your CSS.
npx @tailwindcss/cli -i ./src/input.css -o ./src/output.css --watchStart using Tailwind in your HTML
Add your compiled CSS file to the <head> and start using Tailwind’s utility classes to style your content.
<!doctype html><html><head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <link href="./output.css" rel="stylesheet"></head><body> <h1 class="text-3xl font-bold underline"> Hello world! </h1></body></html>