plain.tailwind

Integrate Tailwind CSS without JavaScript or npm.

Overview
Basic Usage
- Commands
- Template Tag
Configuration
- Updating Tailwind
- Adding Custom CSS
Deployment
Installation

Overview

This package allows you to use Tailwind CSS in your Plain project without requiring Node.js or npm. It uses the Tailwind standalone CLI, which is automatically downloaded and managed for you.

First, initialize Tailwind in your project:

plain tailwind init

This creates a tailwind.config.js file in your project root and a source CSS file.

Then compile your CSS:

plain tailwind build

For development, use watch mode to automatically recompile when files change:

plain tailwind build --watch

Include the compiled CSS in your templates:

{% tailwind_css %}

Basic Usage

Commands

The plain tailwind command provides several subcommands:

$ plain tailwind
Usage: plain tailwind [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  Tailwind CSS

Options:
  --help  Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  build    Compile a Tailwind CSS file
  init     Install Tailwind and create tailwind.css
  install  Install the Tailwind standalone CLI
  update   Update the Tailwind CSS version

init - Sets up Tailwind in your project, creating necessary config files
build - Compiles your Tailwind CSS (use --watch for auto-compilation, --minify for production)
update - Updates to the latest version of Tailwind CSS
install - Manually install the Tailwind CLI (usually automatic)

Template Tag

The tailwind_css template tag includes the compiled CSS file in your templates. Place it in your base template's <head>:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    {% tailwind_css %}
</head>
<body>
    <!-- Your content -->
</body>
</html>

Configuration

Updating Tailwind

The package tracks the Tailwind version in your pyproject.toml:

# pyproject.toml
[tool.plain.tailwind]
version = "3.4.1"

When you run plain tailwind build, it automatically checks if your local installation matches this version and updates if needed.

To update to the latest version:

plain tailwind update

This downloads the latest version and updates your pyproject.toml.

Adding Custom CSS

Custom CSS should be added to your source CSS file (by default at the root of your project as tailwind.css):

@import "tailwindcss";
@import "./.plain/tailwind.css";

/* Add your custom styles here */
.btn-primary {
    @apply bg-blue-500 hover:bg-blue-700 text-white font-bold py-2 px-4 rounded;
}

.custom-gradient {
    background: linear-gradient(to right, #4f46e5, #7c3aed);
}

The @import "./.plain/tailwind.css" line includes styles from all your installed Plain packages.

Read the Tailwind docs for more about using custom styles →

Deployment

For production deployments:

Add app/assets/tailwind.min.css to your .gitignore
Run plain tailwind build --minify as part of your deployment process

The build command automatically installs the Tailwind CLI if it's not present, making deployments seamless.

When using Plain on Heroku, the Plain buildpack handles this automatically.

Installation

Install the plain.tailwind package from PyPI:

uv add plain.tailwind

Then add to your INSTALLED_PACKAGES:

# settings.py
INSTALLED_PACKAGES = [
    # ...
    "plain.tailwind",
]

The package stores the Tailwind CLI binary and version information in a .plain directory. Add this to your .gitignore:

.plain/

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