# @nativescript/tailwind
> **Warning**: :warning: For **Tailwind CSS v3**, `@nativescript/core@8.2.0` is required for colors to work properly. You may see wrong colors on older core versions, because Tailwind CSS v3 uses the RGB/A color notation, which has been implemented for 8.2.0. **Tailwind CSS v4** uses Lightning CSS which handles this automatically.
Makes using [Tailwind CSS](https://tailwindcss.com/) in NativeScript a whole lot easier!
```html
```
## Usage
> **Note:** This guide assumes you are using `@nativescript/webpack@5.x` or higher. If you have not upgraded yet, please read the docs below for usage with older `@nativescript/webpack` versions (applicable to Tailwind CSS v3).
### Tailwind CSS v4
If you need to use Tailwind CSS v4, follow these steps. Tailwind CSS v4 [support](https://github.com/NativeScript/tailwind/pull/194) simplifies the setup significantly over v3.
**Install dependencies:**
```cli
npm install --save @nativescript/tailwind tailwindcss
```
**Import Tailwind:** Add the following to your `app.css` or `app.scss`:
```css
@import 'tailwindcss';
```
#### Upgrading from Tailwind CSS 3
**Update dependencies:**
```cli
npm install --save tailwindcss@latest
```
Open your `app.css` or `app.scss` and replace any existing Tailwind imports with:
```css
@import 'tailwindcss';
```
### Tailwind CSS v3
If you need to use Tailwind CSS v3, follow these steps:
**Install dependencies:**
```cli
npm install --save @nativescript/tailwind tailwindcss
```
**Generate `tailwind.config.js`:**
```cli
npx tailwindcss init
```
**Configure `tailwind.config.js`:** When the [NativeScript CLI](https://github.com/NativeScript/nativescript-cli) creates a new project, it may put code into a `src` folder instead of the `app` referenced below. Adjust `content`, `darkMode`, `corePlugins` plus any other settings you need. Here are the values we recommend. **If you're struggling to get Tailwind working for the first time, check the `content` setting.**
```js
// tailwind.config.js
const plugin = require('tailwindcss/plugin');
/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
// check this setting first for initial setup issues
content: [
'./app/**/*.{css,xml,html,vue,svelte,ts,tsx}'
],
// use the .ns-dark class to control dark mode (applied by NativeScript) - since 'media' (default) is not supported.
darkMode: ['class', '.ns-dark'],
theme: {
extend: {},
},
plugins: [
/**
* A simple inline plugin that adds the ios: and android: variants
*
* Example usage:
*
*
*
*/
plugin(function ({ addVariant }) {
addVariant('android', '.ns-android &');
addVariant('ios', '.ns-ios &');
}),
],
corePlugins: {
preflight: false // disables browser-specific resets
}
}
```
**Include Tailwind directives:** Change your `app.css` or `app.scss` to include the tailwind directives:
```css
@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;
```
Start using tailwind in your app.
### Using a custom PostCSS config
Manual PostCSS configuration is typically **not required** for **Tailwind CSS v4**. `@nativescript/tailwind` handles the necessary setup automatically.
However, if you need to add *other* PostCSS plugins alongside Tailwind v4, create a `postcss.config.js` (or other supported formats, see https://github.com/webpack-contrib/postcss-loader#config-files) and include `@nativescript/tailwind`:
```js
// postcss.config.js (Example for v4 with other plugins)
module.exports = {
plugins: [
"@nativescript/tailwind", // Handles Tailwind v4 setup
// Add other PostCSS plugins here
"@csstools/postcss-is-pseudo-class"
],
};
```
For **Tailwind CSS v3**, if you need to customize the postcss configuration (e.g., use a custom `tailwind.config.custom.js`), you can create a `postcss.config.js` file.
```js
// postcss.config.js (Example for v3 customization)
module.exports = {
plugins: [
["tailwindcss", { config: "./tailwind.config.custom.js" }],
"@nativescript/tailwind",
// Add other PostCSS plugins here
"@csstools/postcss-is-pseudo-class"
],
};
```
> **Note (Tailwind CSS v3):** If you want to apply customizations to `tailwindcss` or `@nativescript/tailwind` in v3 using a custom PostCSS config, you will need to disable autoloading:
>
> ```cli
> ns config set tailwind.autoload false
> ```
## Usage with older @nativescript/webpack versions
This usage is considered legacy and will not be supported - however we are documenting it here in case your project is still using older `@nativescript/webpack`. **This applies to Tailwind CSS v3 setups.**
See instructions
```cli
npm install --save-dev @nativescript/tailwind tailwindcss postcss postcss-loader
```
Create `postcss.config.js` with the following:
```js
module.exports = {
plugins: [
require('tailwindcss'),
require('nativescript-tailwind')
]
}
```
Generate a `tailwind.config.js` with
```cli
npx tailwindcss init
```
Adjust `content`, `darkMode`, `corePlugins` plus any other settings you need, here are the values we recommend:
```js
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
content: [
'./app/**/*.{css,xml,html,vue,svelte,ts,tsx}'
],
// use .dark to toggle dark mode - since 'media' (default) does not work in NativeScript
darkMode: 'class',
theme: {
extend: {},
},
plugins: [],
corePlugins: {
preflight: false // disables browser-specific resets
}
}
```
Change your `app.css` or `app.scss` to include the tailwind utilities
```css
@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;
```
Update `webpack.config.js` to use PostCSS
Find the section of the config that defines the rules/loaders for different file types.
To quickly find this block - search for `rules: [`.
For every css/scss block, append the `postcss-loader` to the list of loaders, for example:
```diff
{
test: /[\/|\\]app\.css$/,
use: [
'nativescript-dev-webpack/style-hot-loader',
{
loader: "nativescript-dev-webpack/css2json-loader",
options: { useForImports: true }
},
+ 'postcss-loader',
],
}
```
**Make sure you append `postcss-loader` to all css/scss rules in the config.**