Can’t resolve ‘tailwindcss’ when using npx @tailwindcss/cli ... or ./tailwindcss... (standalone) commands without a node_modules directory

[saent-x]

Hello!

How can I use tailwindcss v4 without having to install tailwindcss with npm install, in v3 I didn't have to include the node_modules folder, but when I try it with v4 it throws an error "Can't resolve 'tailwindcss'" based on the @import 'tailwindcss' when running the command npx @tailwindcss/cli ...

Any help??

[wongjn]

When you use @tailwindcss/cli, perhaps it is still in npm land, and thus will look for tailwindcss npm package. This was never a problem in v3 since the CLI and the main package were altogether in one package. @tailwindcss/cli has tailwindcssas a dependency so this shouldn't be a problem.

If you don't want a node_nodules folder, you could consider downloading the standalone executable from the latest GitHub release.

[saent-x]

Thanks for the response @wongjn

I also installed the standalone cli and added it to path then tried to run tailwindcss -i... but I get the same error "Can't resolve 'tailwindcss'

[wongjn]

What if you run the binary directly, i.e:

/path/to/tailwindcss -i …

Or otherwise, do you have any node_modulesfolders further up the file tree?

[saent-x]

Same error if I use the path directly, but it works with node_modules in the file tree. Just trying to see the possibility of not having the node_modules at all like in v3.

[nint8835]

I'm running into this problem as well, it's causing the version of Tailwind packaged in Homebrew to not work (Homebrew/homebrew-core#205505)

[saent-x]

Have you installed tailwindcss using npm install -D tailwindcss ?

[nint8835]

I have not, I'm trying to use Tailwind standalone like I could do with v3. The CLI has tailwindcss available at /opt/homebrew/Cellar/tailwindcss/4.0.0/libexec/lib/node_modules/tailwindcss, but the module resolution isn't finding it

[saent-x]

Yh, I was trying to do that also, couldn't get it to work that way, only way I could get it to work was installing tailwindcss with npm...

If you figure it out I'd love to know how...

[veszig]

it seems to be a bug #15235