Go Tool for Tailwind CSS

Note

This project is not officially associated with or endorsed by Tailwind Labs Inc.

go-tw is an exectable to make it easier to integrate the Tailwindcss CLI into a Go project using the go tool directive.

Instead of having to have a separate install for tailwindcss, either with npm or the executable, a Go project can install and use tailwindcss with the go tool directive.

Install

Add go-tw as a Go Tool by running the following command

go get -tool github.com/Piszmog/go-tw

Run

Run go-tw as if it was the tailwindcss command. All arguments are piped to the tailwindcss executable.

go-tw -i ./styles/input.css -o ./dist/assets/css/output@dev.css

Tailwindcss Executable

When go-tw runs, it will install tailwindcss to your cache, for example ~/Library/Caches/go-tw on macos.

By default, go-tw will check if a newer version of tailwindcss exists. If it does, it will download it and delete the older versions.

To use a specific version, provide the -version flag.

 ❯  go-tw -h -version v4.0.7
≈ tailwindcss v4.0.7

Usage:
  tailwindcss [--input input.css] [--output output.css] [--watch] [options…]

Options:
  -i, --input ··········· Input file
  -o, --output ·········· Output file [default: `-`]
  -w, --watch ··········· Watch for changes and rebuild as needed
  -m, --minify ·········· Optimize and minify the output
      --optimize ········ Optimize the output without minifying
      --cwd ············· The current working directory [default: `.`]
  -h, --help ············ Display usage information`

Alpine Linux

On Alpine Linux, the tailwindcss musl binary requires libgcc and libstdc++. Install them with:

apk add --no-cache libgcc libstdc++

In a Dockerfile:

RUN apk add --no-cache libgcc libstdc++

Logging

go-tw has debug logging to help troubleshoot problems. Set the environment variable LOG_LEVEL to debug to see the debug logs.

LOG_LEVEL=debug go-tw -h

Testing

Unit Tests

Run the unit tests with:

go test ./...

Integration Tests

Integration tests verify cross-platform functionality by downloading and executing the real Tailwind CSS binary.

Run locally:

go test -v -tags=integration ./...

CI Testing:

Integration tests run automatically in GitHub Actions on:

• Linux (amd64)
• macOS (arm64)
• Windows (amd64)

Note: Integration tests download the latest Tailwind CSS binary (~15-20 MB) on first run, then cache it for subsequent runs.