Why does Laravel install TailwindCSS even with "None" starter kit?

[MasihTak]

Laravel Version

12

PHP Version

8.3

Database Driver & Version

MySQL 8.0

Description

Currently, a fresh Laravel installation includes TailwindCSS even when no frontend starter kit. This design decision implicitly assumes TailwindCSS as the default styling framework for all Laravel applications. This approach raises important concerns about framework neutrality, developer freedom, and project efficiency.

Problem Statement

Laravel has historically maintained a philosophy of freedom of choice — enabling developers to choose the best tools for their use cases. However, forcing TailwindCSS as a default dependency in every new Laravel project, regardless of frontend requirements, introduces unnecessary assumptions and dependencies.

This creates several problems:

1. Unnecessary Bloat:
   Many Laravel applications are API-only or use Vue, React, or other frontend stacks with their own styling systems. Including TailwindCSS by default adds unneeded configuration files, dependencies, and build complexity.

2. Framework Neutrality:
   Laravel should remain framework-agnostic at its core. By including TailwindCSS, the framework implicitly promotes one CSS methodology over others, which contradicts Laravel’s philosophy of flexibility and modularity.

3. Developer Experience:
   Developers who prefer SCSS, Bootstrap, or vanilla CSS must spend extra time removing Tailwind-related setup. This adds friction and overhead in an otherwise clean installation.

Steps To Reproduce

Create new Laravel project using Laravel new test and the for the starter kit select "none"

Which starter kit would you like to install? [None]

This also should be case for other options as well!

[macropay-solutions]

"devDependencies": {
    "@tailwindcss/vite": "^4.0.0",
    "axios": "^1.8.2",
    "concurrently": "^9.0.1",
    "laravel-vite-plugin": "^1.2.0",
    "tailwindcss": "^4.0.0",
    "vite": "^6.0.11"
}

Can you confirm it is not only for dev env?

[MasihTak]

"devDependencies": {
    "axios": "^1.8.2",
    "concurrently": "^9.0.1",
    "Laravel-vite-plugin": "^1.2.0",
    "vite": "^6.0.11"
}

Also vite.config.js should be like this

import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
import laravel from 'laravel-vite-plugin';

export default defineConfig({
    plugins: [
        laravel({
            input: ['resources/css/app.css', 'resources/js/app.js'],
            refresh: true,
        }),
    ],
});

[MasihTak]

PR: laravel/laravel#6690