Tailwind CSS

Learn how to customize Tailwind CSS in your Makerkit project.

All the Makerkit kits use Tailwind CSS for styling. Tailwind is a utility-first CSS framework that allows you to build custom designs without leaving your HTML. It's a great choice for Makerkit because it allows you to customize the look and feel of your project without having to write any CSS.

The Tailwind CSS configuration file is located at tailwind.config.js in the root of your project.

By default, it looks like this:

tailwind.config.js
const colors = require('tailwindcss/colors');
 
/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  content: ['./app/**/*.{ts,tsx,jsx,js}'],
  darkMode: 'class',
  theme: {
    extend: {
      fontFamily: {
        serif: ['serif'],
        heading: ['system-ui', 'Helvetica Neue', 'Helvetica', 'Arial'],
        sans: [
          'system-ui',
          'BlinkMacSystemFont',
          'Inter',
          'Segoe UI',
          'Roboto',
          'Ubuntu',
        ],
        monospace: [`SF Mono`, `ui-monospace`, `Monaco`, 'Monospace'],
      },
      colors: {
        border: 'hsl(var(--border))',
        input: 'hsl(var(--input))',
        ring: 'hsl(var(--ring))',
        background: 'hsl(var(--background))',
        foreground: 'hsl(var(--foreground))',
        dark: {
          ...colors.slate,
          DEFAULT: colors.slate[950],
          foreground: colors.slate[100],
        },
        primary: {
          DEFAULT: 'hsl(var(--primary))',
          foreground: 'hsl(var(--primary-foreground))',
          ...colors.violet,
        },
        secondary: {
          DEFAULT: 'hsl(var(--secondary))',
          foreground: 'hsl(var(--secondary-foreground))',
        },
        destructive: {
          DEFAULT: 'hsl(var(--destructive))',
          foreground: 'hsl(var(--destructive-foreground))',
        },
        muted: {
          DEFAULT: 'hsl(var(--muted))',
          foreground: 'hsl(var(--muted-foreground))',
        },
        accent: {
          DEFAULT: 'hsl(var(--accent))',
          foreground: 'hsl(var(--accent-foreground))',
        },
        popover: {
          DEFAULT: 'hsl(var(--popover))',
          foreground: 'hsl(var(--popover-foreground))',
        },
        card: {
          DEFAULT: 'hsl(var(--card))',
          foreground: 'hsl(var(--card-foreground))',
        },
      },
      borderRadius: {
        lg: 'var(--radius)',
        md: 'calc(var(--radius) - 2px)',
        sm: 'calc(var(--radius) - 4px)',
      },
      keyframes: {
        'accordion-down': {
          from: { height: 0 },
          to: { height: 'var(--radix-accordion-content-height)' },
        },
        'accordion-up': {
          from: { height: 'var(--radix-accordion-content-height)' },
          to: { height: 0 },
        },
      },
      animation: {
        'accordion-down': 'accordion-down 0.2s ease-out',
        'accordion-up': 'accordion-up 0.2s ease-out',
      },
    },
  },
  plugins: [require('tailwindcss-animate')],
};

The Tailwind configuration gets extended with two additional colors: primary and dark.

  1. primary is the main color of your project. It's used for buttons, links, and other interactive elements. It's also used for some backgrounds of the dark mode.
  2. dark is the color palette for the dark mode. It's used for the background of the dark mode.

By updating these colors, you can customize the look and feel of your project.

For example:

  1. If you want to change the primary color, you can update the primary color in the Tailwind configuration. Try changing it to blue and see what happens.
  2. If you want to change the dark mode background color, you can update the dark color in the Tailwind configuration. Try changing it to slate and see what happens.

Of course - you can also pass your own palette as the primary and dark colors.

Usage in practice

Let's say you want to change the primary color of your project to indigo. and the dark mode background color to zinc.

tailwind.config.js
const colors = require('tailwindcss/colors');
 
extend: {
  colors: {
    dark: {
      ...colors.zinc,
      DEFAULT: colors.zinc[950],
      foreground: colors.zinc[100],
    },
    primary: {
      DEFAULT: 'hsl(var(--primary))',
      foreground: 'hsl(var(--primary-foreground))',
      ...colors.indigo,
    }
  },
},

Additionally, please update the CSS variables of your global CSS file globals.css to match the new colors by updating the --primary color to match using the hsl value of the indigo color.

To have a reference of the Tailwind palette as hsl values, you can use this reference from the ShadcnUI repository.

When you want to use the primary color in your project, you can use the primary color class.

src/components/PrimaryButton.tsx
import React from 'react';
 
export const PrimaryButton = () => {
  return (
    <button className="bg-primary text-white dark:bg-primary/10 dark:text-primary px-4 py-2 rounded">
      Click me
    </button>
  );
};
NextShadcn UI
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