Setting up Tailwind CSS with React JS using Vite JS in 2023: A Step-by-Step Guide

In this tutorial, we will be setting up Tailwind CSS with React JS using Vite JS. Vite JS is a next-generation frontend tooling that is fast, lightweight, and supports modern web development features such as ES module imports and hot module replacement. By combining Vite JS with Tailwind CSS, we can create a highly efficient and responsive web application.

Step 1: Create a new React JS project with Vite JS

First, you need to have Node.js and npm installed on your machine. If you haven’t already installed them, you can download and install them from the Node.js website.

To create a new React JS project with Vite JS, run the following command in your terminal:

npm init vite@latest my-react-app -- --template react

This will create a new directory called my-react-app with a React JS project template using Vite JS.

Navigate to the newly created project directory by running:

cd my-react-app

Step 2: Install Tailwind CSS

Next, we need to install Tailwind CSS and its dependencies. Run the following command in the terminal:

npm install tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer

Once the installation is complete, we need to create a Tailwind CSS configuration file. Run the following command to create a default Tailwind CSS configuration file:

npx tailwindcss init -p

This will create a tailwind.config.js file in the root directory of your project.

Step 3: Configure Tailwind CSS with Vite JS

To configure Tailwind CSS with Vite JS, we need to update the postcss.config.js file with Tailwind CSS and autoprefixer plugins. Open the postcss.config.js file and update it as follows:

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

Next, we need to import Tailwind CSS styles in the main entry file of our React application. Open the index.css file in the src directory and import Tailwind CSS styles:

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

Step 4: Enable Tailwind CSS JIT mode (optional)

To enable Tailwind CSS JIT mode, we can edit the tailwind.config.js file and update the mode property to 'jit':

module.exports = {
  mode: 'jit',
  purge: [
    './src/**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}',
  ],
  theme: {
    extend: {},
  },
  variants: {},
  plugins: [],
}

Step 5: Build and run the React app

To build and run the React app with Tailwind CSS, run the following command in the terminal:

npm run dev

This command will start the Vite JS development server and open the React app in your default web browser. You should now see your React app with Tailwind CSS styles applied.

That’s it! You have successfully set up Tailwind CSS with React JS using Vite JS. You can now start building responsive and efficient web applications with this modern frontend tooling setup.