Vue.js and TailwindCSS – Quick Start with Vite.js

If you are looking to quickly start a web development project with Vue.js and TailwindCSS, Vite.js is a great option. Vite.js is a build tool that provides a lightning-fast development server with hot module replacement (HMR) out of the box. It uses modern build tools like Rollup and esbuild to deliver an extremely fast development experience.

Getting Started

First, make sure you have Node.js installed on your machine. You can download and install it from https://nodejs.org.

Once you have Node.js installed, you can create a new project with Vite.js using the following command:

npx create-vite my-vue-tailwind-project

This will create a new project with the default template, which includes Vue.js and TypeScript. Next, navigate to the project directory and install the dependencies:

cd my-vue-tailwind-project
npm install

Now that you have the project set up, you can add TailwindCSS to it. Install TailwindCSS and its dependencies using npm:

npm install tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer

Next, generate a TailwindCSS configuration file using the following command:

npx tailwindcss init

This will create a file named `tailwind.config.js` in the root of your project. You can customize the configuration in this file to suit your project’s needs.

After setting up TailwindCSS, you need to create a CSS file to include TailwindCSS and its utilities. Create a new file named `styles.css` in the `src` directory of your project, and include the following:

@import 'tailwindcss/base';
@import 'tailwindcss/components';
@import 'tailwindcss/utilities';

Finally, include the `styles.css` file in your main JavaScript file. Open `main.js` in the `src` directory, and add the following line at the top:

import './styles.css';

Running the Project

With everything set up, you can now start the development server using the following command:

npm run dev

This will start the Vite.js development server and open your project in the browser. Any changes you make to your Vue components, CSS, or JavaScript will be instantly reflected in the browser without needing to refresh the page, thanks to the HMR feature of Vite.js.

Conclusion

With Vite.js, Vue.js, and TailwindCSS, you have a powerful and modern web development setup that allows you to quickly build and iterate on your projects. The speed and developer experience provided by Vite.js, combined with the component-based architecture of Vue.js and the utility-first approach of TailwindCSS, make for a potent combination that will help you build great web applications in no time.