Tailwind CSS

Tailwind CSS is a utility-first CSS framework that works exceptionally well with Next.js.

Installing Tailwind

Install the Tailwind CSS packages and run the init command to generate both the tailwind.config.js and postcss.config.js files:

Terminal

npm install -D tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer
npx tailwindcss init -p

Configuring Tailwind

Inside your Tailwind configuration file, add paths to the files that will use Tailwind class names:

tailwind.config.ts

import type { Config } from 'tailwindcss'
 
export default {
  content: [
    './app/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx,mdx}', // Note the addition of the `app` directory.
    './pages/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx,mdx}',
    './components/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx,mdx}',
 
    // Or if using `src` directory:
    './src/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx,mdx}',
  ],
  theme: {
    extend: {},
  },
  plugins: [],
} satisfies Config

You do not need to modify postcss.config.js.

Importing Styles

Add the Tailwind CSS directives that Tailwind will use to inject its generated styles to a Global Stylesheet in your application, for example:

app/globals.css

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

Inside the root layout (app/layout.tsx), import the globals.css stylesheet to apply the styles to every route in your application.

app/layout.tsx

import type { Metadata } from 'next'
 
// These styles apply to every route in the application
import './globals.css'
 
export const metadata: Metadata = {
  title: 'Create Next App',
  description: 'Generated by create next app',
}
 
export default function RootLayout({
  children,
}: {
  children: React.ReactNode
}) {
  return (
    <html lang="en">
      <body>{children}</body>
    </html>
  )
}

Using Classes

After installing Tailwind CSS and adding the global styles, you can use Tailwind's utility classes in your application.

app/page.tsx

export default function Page() {
  return <h1 className="text-3xl font-bold underline">Hello, Next.js!</h1>
}

Usage with Turbopack

As of Next.js 13.1, Tailwind CSS and PostCSS are supported with Turbopack.