Tailwind CSS Conventions

Leading word: utility-first. Check if a utility class exists before writing custom CSS. Custom CSS is the last resort.

Tailwind CSS v4 (released January 2025) is a CSS-first, zero-config framework. Key changes from v3: no tailwind.config.js required; configuration lives in CSS via @theme, @utility, and @source directives. The Oxide engine delivers sub-10ms builds with automatic tree-shaking and <10KB output. Verify which version the project uses before applying conventions — v3 used tailwind.config.js.

Core architecture (v4)

Import @import "tailwindcss"; in the main CSS file. Configuration lives in CSS:

@import "tailwindcss";

@theme {
  --color-brand: #0ea5e9;
  --font-sans: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

@utility clip-blob {
  clip-path: polygon(50% 0%, 100% 50%, 50% 100%, 0% 50%);
}

• @theme — defines design tokens as CSS custom properties. --color-purple-500 in @theme auto-generates bg-purple-500, text-purple-500, border-purple-500, etc. OKLCH by default.
• @source — controls which files Tailwind scans. source(none) disables auto-detection; add extra paths for libraries.

Class ordering convention

Order classes consistently (layout → sizing → typography → color → effects → states → responsive → dark):

<button className="flex items-center gap-2 px-4 py-2 rounded-lg bg-blue-600 text-white hover:bg-blue-700 focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-blue-400 dark:bg-blue-500 dark:hover:bg-blue-600">

1. Layout (flex, grid, gap-*, items-center)
2. Sizing (w-*, h-*, px-*, py-*)
3. Typography (font-*, text-*, leading-*)
4. Colors (bg-*, text-*, border-*)
5. Effects (shadow-*, rounded-*, border)
6. States (hover:, focus:, active:, disabled:)
7. Responsive (md:, lg:, xl:)
8. Dark mode (dark:)

Tooling: Prettier plugin (prettier-plugin-tailwindcss) auto-sorts. Mandatory.

Framework-specific patterns

For React/Next.js (cva, cn helper, MUI coexistence, metadata), Vue/Nuxt 4 (module version, HMR, SSR hydration), and Svelte patterns, read references/frameworks.md. Load it when the project uses one of those frameworks.

Tooling setup (mandatory)

Critical anti-patterns

Framework-agnostic guidelines

1. Utility-first — check if a utility exists before writing custom CSS.
2. Keep styles next to markup — Tailwind's biggest advantage.
3. Think in small pieces — Button, Card, Nav: each is one component.
4. Handle variations with props — primary/secondary buttons = same component, different props.
5. Mobile-first responsive — base styles without prefix, override with md:, lg:.
6. Design tokens via @theme — colors, fonts, spacing in CSS, not JS. Single source of truth.
7. Never concatenate class strings — 'bg-' + color + '-500' breaks the compiler.

Verification

Before completing Tailwind work, confirm:

• Classes follow the ordering convention (or are Prettier-sorted)
• No string concatenation for class names
• Components are extracted, not @apply in CSS
• cn helper used for conditional classes
• Images have explicit dimensions or aspect-ratio
• Design tokens defined via @theme (v4) or config (v3)
• No custom CSS unless no utility exists
• Dark mode uses dark: variant, not separate stylesheets