django-tailwind-cli¶

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The simplest way to integrate Tailwind CSS with Django ⚡

No Node.js required! This library provides seamless Tailwind CSS integration for Django using the standalone Tailwind CSS CLI. Inspired by the Tailwind integration for Phoenix, it eliminates the need for Node.js in your Django development workflow.

✨ Why django-tailwind-cli?¶

🚀 Zero Node.js dependency - No npm, webpack, or build tools required
⚡ Instant setup - Get Tailwind running in under 5 minutes
🔄 Hot reload - Watch mode with automatic CSS rebuilding
📦 Production ready - Optimized builds with automatic purging
🎨 DaisyUI support - Built-in component library integration
🛠️ Developer friendly - Rich CLI with helpful error messages and debugging tools

🚀 Quick Start¶

1. Install the package¶

# Using pip
pip install django-tailwind-cli

# Using uv (recommended)
uv add django-tailwind-cli

# Using poetry
poetry add django-tailwind-cli

2. Configure Django settings¶

Add to your settings.py:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ... your other apps
    "django_tailwind_cli",
]

# Configure static files directory — make sure it exists on disk,
# Django raises an error at startup if it does not.
STATICFILES_DIRS = [BASE_DIR / "assets"]

mkdir -p assets

3. Set up your base template¶

Create or update your base template (e.g., templates/base.html):

<!DOCTYPE html>
{% load tailwind_cli %}
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>My Django App</title>
    {% tailwind_css %}
</head>
<body class="bg-gray-50">
    <div class="container mx-auto px-4">
        {% block content %}{% endblock %}
    </div>
</body>
</html>

4. Start developing¶

# Start Django's dev server with a parallel Tailwind watcher (recommended)
python manage.py tailwind runserver

# Or run build and watch separately
python manage.py tailwind watch  # In one terminal
python manage.py runserver       # In another terminal

The watcher runs under Django’s own auto-reloader, so editing settings.py (e.g. adding a new app) restarts it automatically and picks up the new configuration on the fly. Pass --noreload to opt out.

First run creates a managed <BASE_DIR>/.django_tailwind_cli/ directory for the CLI binary and an auto-generated source.css. The directory is automatically git-ignored — no entry in your project-level .gitignore needed.

Tip: Prefer a guided walkthrough? Run python manage.py tailwind setup instead for an interactive step-by-step first-time setup.

🎉 You’re ready to go!¶

Start adding Tailwind classes to your templates:

{% extends "base.html" %}

{% block content %}
<div class="max-w-4xl mx-auto py-12">
    <h1 class="text-4xl font-bold text-gray-900 mb-8">
        Welcome to Django + Tailwind!
    </h1>
    <p class="text-lg text-gray-600">
        This text is styled with Tailwind CSS.
    </p>
    <button class="bg-blue-500 hover:bg-blue-700 text-white font-bold py-2 px-4 rounded mt-4">
        Click me!
    </button>
</div>
{% endblock %}

📚 Next Steps: Check out the full documentation for advanced configuration and usage patterns.

🎯 Core Features¶

🏗️ Build System¶

Automatic CLI download - No manual setup required
Smart caching - Faster rebuilds with file change detection
Production optimization - Automatic CSS purging and minification
Force rebuild - --force flag for clean builds

🔧 Development Tools¶

Interactive setup - python manage.py tailwind setup
Configuration viewer - python manage.py tailwind config
Troubleshooting guide - python manage.py tailwind troubleshoot

🎨 Styling Features¶

Tailwind CSS 4.x - Latest features and performance improvements
DaisyUI integration - Pre-built components via tailwindcss-cli-extra
Custom CSS support - Bring your own styles and configurations
Template tag - Simple {% tailwind_css %} inclusion

⚡ Performance¶

File change detection - Only rebuild when necessary
Concurrent processing - Parallel build and server processes
Progress indicators - Visual feedback during downloads and builds
Verbose logging - Detailed diagnostics with --verbose

🛠️ Management Commands¶

Command	Purpose	Example
`setup`	Interactive first-time setup guide	`python manage.py tailwind setup`
`build`	Production CSS build	`python manage.py tailwind build`
`watch`	Development file watcher (Django autoreload by default)	`python manage.py tailwind watch`
`runserver`	Django dev server + watcher (forwards any runserver flag)	`python manage.py tailwind runserver`
`config`	Show current configuration	`python manage.py tailwind config`
`troubleshoot`	Debug common issues	`python manage.py tailwind troubleshoot`

tailwind runserver is a transparent passthrough: every positional argument and option (apart from --force-default-runserver) is forwarded verbatim to the underlying runserver or runserver_plus. Every flag those commands accept works — including runserver_plus-only ones like --extra-file, --reloader-interval, and --print-sql.

📋 Requirements¶

Python: 3.10+
Django: 4.2 LTS, 5.2, or 6.0
Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux (automatic platform detection)

⚙️ Configuration Examples¶

Basic Configuration¶

# settings.py
STATICFILES_DIRS = [BASE_DIR / "assets"]

Advanced Configuration¶

# Pin specific Tailwind version
TAILWIND_CLI_VERSION = "4.1.3"

# Custom CSS paths
TAILWIND_CLI_SRC_CSS = "src/styles/main.css"
TAILWIND_CLI_DIST_CSS = "css/app.css"

# Enable DaisyUI
TAILWIND_CLI_USE_DAISY_UI = True

# Use an already-installed Tailwind binary (e.g. `brew install tailwindcss`)
TAILWIND_CLI_USE_SYSTEM_BINARY = True

# Auto-inject @source directives for editable-installed external apps (opt-in)
TAILWIND_CLI_AUTO_SOURCE_EXTERNAL_APPS = True

Production Settings¶

# Optimized for production
TAILWIND_CLI_VERSION = "4.1.3"  # Pin version
TAILWIND_CLI_AUTOMATIC_DOWNLOAD = False  # Use pre-installed CLI
TAILWIND_CLI_DIST_CSS = "css/tailwind.min.css"

🔍 Troubleshooting¶

Common Issues¶

CSS not updating?

python manage.py tailwind build --force
python manage.py tailwind troubleshoot

Configuration problems?

python manage.py tailwind config
python manage.py tailwind setup

Missing templates? Make sure every template directory is covered by an @source directive in your Tailwind CSS input file — Tailwind CSS 4.x discovers templates exclusively through those directives.

Performance Tips¶

Use file watching: python manage.py tailwind runserver for automatic rebuilds
Declare template sources explicitly: Use @source directives in your CSS so Tailwind only scans what you need
Optimize builds: Use --force only when necessary
Monitor file changes: Use --verbose for detailed logging

🎨 DaisyUI Integration¶

Enable beautiful pre-built components:

# settings.py
TAILWIND_CLI_USE_DAISY_UI = True

<!-- Use DaisyUI components -->
<button class="btn btn-primary">Primary Button</button>
<div class="card bg-base-100 shadow-xl">
    <div class="card-body">
        <h2 class="card-title">Card Title</h2>
        <p>Card content goes here.</p>
    </div>
</div>

📚 Documentation & Resources¶

📖 Full Documentation: django-tailwind-cli.rtfd.io
🎯 Tailwind CSS Docs: tailwindcss.com
🧩 DaisyUI Components: daisyui.com
💬 Django Commons: github.com/django-commons

🤝 Contributing¶

We welcome contributions! This project uses modern Python tooling for development.

Prerequisites¶

uv - Fast Python package manager
just - Command runner (optional but recommended)

Quick Development Setup¶

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/django-commons/django-tailwind-cli.git
cd django-tailwind-cli

# Setup development environment (with just)
just bootstrap

# Or setup manually with uv
uv venv
uv sync --all-extras

Development Commands¶

# With just (recommended)
just upgrade          # Update dependencies
just lint             # Run linting and formatting
just test             # Run test suite
just test-all         # Run tests across Python/Django versions

# Without just
uv sync --all-extras  # Update dependencies
uvx pre-commit run --all-files  # Run linting
uv run pytest        # Run tests
uvx --with tox-uv tox # Run full test matrix

Contribution Guidelines¶

🍴 Fork the repository
🌿 Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
✅ Test your changes (just test)
📝 Commit with conventional commits (feat:, fix:, docs:, etc.)
📤 Push to your branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
🔄 Create a Pull Request

Code Quality¶

Type hints for all new code
Tests for new features and bug fixes
Documentation updates for user-facing changes
Conventional commits for clear history

License¶

This software is licensed under MIT license.