💻 My Tailwind CSS v4 Setup Struggle

And How I Finally Got It Working

So… this was supposed to be easy. I just wanted to start learning Tailwind CSS. Everyone says it’s powerful, clean, fun to use — and I was excited!
But what was supposed to take 10 minutes? Ended up taking a whole day.

🌀 Lost in the Version Vortex

The problem? Tailwind CSS v4 had recently released — and almost every blog, video, and tutorial was still on v3 or older.

I went straight to YouTube.
Nothing on v4. Or at least, nothing I could find that actually worked.
I checked Discord servers, GitHub discussions… even ChatGPT was giving me commands from older versions like:

• npx tailwindcss init
• @tailwind base; @tailwind components; @tailwind utilities
• Modifying JSON files I didn’t even have 😩

People were telling me to edit config files and add dependencies that made zero sense at that point. I didn’t even have a working project yet.

🧹 Started Fresh the Next Day

By midnight, I was helping someone else debug their CSS (yes, seriously), and just gave up for the night.

Next morning, I deleted everything, every file and folder.
Started from scratch.
Opened the official Tailwind docs, and this time, told ChatGPT that Tailwind had updated to v4 and pasted the official steps.

That’s when things finally started making sense.

The Working Setup (and What I Wish I Knew Earlier)

I’ve written a clean step-by-step guide that actually works for Tailwind v4 + React + Vite.
No outdated commands. No unnecessary configs.

If you just want the working solution, here’s the post you need:
👉 Setting Up Tailwind CSS v4 with React + Vite

Thanks for reading! 💙
(Vibe check: I’m finally having fun with Tailwind now 😄)