Tailwind CSS v4.0 Released: Lightning-Fast Builds, Advanced Features, and Simplified Setup

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Date: 24 Jan 2025

Tailwind CSS has revolutionized web design once again with the release of Tailwind CSS v4.0 on January 22, 2025. This major update brings unparalleled performance improvements, a streamlined setup process, and a host of advanced features that modernize CSS workflows. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or a newcomer to Tailwind, there’s something in this release to elevate your projects.

What’s New in Tailwind CSS v4.0?

Blazing-Fast Builds

Full builds are 5x faster than previous versions.
Incremental builds complete in microseconds, making live previews nearly instantaneous.

When testing the new version on internal projects, full rebuilds showed improvements of over 3.5x in speed, while incremental builds were over 8x faster.

Designed for the modern web

Since the release of Tailwind CSS v3.0, the web platform has undergone significant advancements, and Tailwind CSS v4.0 harnesses these developments to deliver a cutting-edge experience.

@layer theme, base, components, utilities;
@layer utilities {
  .mx-6 {
    margin-inline: calc(var(--spacing) * 6);
  }
  .bg-blue-500\/50 {
    background-color: color-mix(in oklab, var(--color-blue-500) 50%, transparent);
  }
}
@property --tw-gradient-from {
  syntax: "<color>";
  inherits: false;
  initial-value: #0000;
}

With this release, Tailwind integrates modern CSS features that elevate both functionality and performance:

Native cascade layers: Provide precise control over how styles interact across different layers of your project.
Registered custom properties: Enable dynamic features like animating gradients and improve rendering performance for large-scale pages.
color-mix(): Adjust color opacity dynamically, including for CSS variables or currentColor.
Logical properties: Streamline right-to-left (RTL) support and minimize the size of generated CSS.

These features not only enhance your projects but also simplify Tailwind’s internal mechanics, reducing complexity and making it even more robust for developers.

Simplified installation – simple 3 steps

1. Install Tailwind CSS

npm i tailwindcss @tailwindcss/postcss;

2. Add the PostCSS plugin

export default {
  plugins: ["@tailwindcss/postcss"],
};

3. Import Tailwind in your CSS

@import "tailwindcss";

Just one-line of CSS — no more @tailwind directives, just add @import "tailwindcss" and start building. An extremly fast CSS parser, transformer, bundler and minifier Lightning CSS working under the hood. Don’t need postcss-import anymore because now Tailwind v4 handle this out of the box:

// postcss.config.js
export default {
  plugins: [
    "@tailwindcss/postcss",
  ],
};

CSS-first configuration

One of the biggest changes in Tailwind CSS v4.0. Instead of a tailwind.config.js file, you can configure all of your customizations directly in the CSS file

//CSS
@import "tailwindcss";
@theme {
  --font-display: "Satoshi", "sans-serif";
  --breakpoint-3xl: 1920px;
  --color-avocado-100: oklch(0.99 0 0);
  --color-avocado-200: oklch(0.98 0.04 113.22);
  --color-avocado-300: oklch(0.94 0.11 115.03);
  --color-avocado-400: oklch(0.92 0.19 114.08);
  --color-avocado-500: oklch(0.84 0.18 117.33);
  --color-avocado-600: oklch(0.53 0.12 118.34);
  --ease-fluid: cubic-bezier(0.3, 0, 0, 1);
  --ease-snappy: cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0, 1);
  /* ... */
}

Why Tailwind CSS v4.0 Matters

This release solidifies Tailwind’s position as the most developer-friendly CSS framework. The combination of performance boosts, modern features, and simplified workflows empowers developers to create stunning designs faster than ever. For businesses looking to leverage the power of Tailwind CSS in their projects, Front-end Development Services are available to help you build efficient, scalable, and modern web applications. There is a more new utilities and variants: