Installing Preact, Vite, and Tailwind CSS Together

Posted on December 17, 2023

Streamlining Web Development: Installing Preact, Vite, and Tailwind CSS Together

To quickly set up a web development environment with Preact, Vite, and Tailwind CSS, start by creating a new Vite project and then add Preact and Tailwind CSS to it.

Comprehensive Guide to Setting Up Preact, Vite, and Tailwind CSS

Understanding the Components:

  • Preact: A fast, lightweight alternative to React with the same modern API.
  • Vite: A build tool that aims to provide a faster and leaner development experience for modern web projects.
  • Tailwind CSS: A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom designs.

Prerequisites:

  • Node.js installed on your system.
  • Basic knowledge of JavaScript and React concepts (for Preact).

Installation Steps:

  1. Create a New Vite Project:

    • Open your terminal.
    • Run npm create vite@latest (You can also use yarn create vite if you prefer Yarn).
    • Follow the prompts to create your project. Choose "Preact" when asked for a framework.

  2. Navigate to Your Project Directory:

    • Use cd your-project-name to move into your project folder.

  3. Install Dependencies:

    • Ensure you’re in the project directory and run npm install or yarn install to install the necessary dependencies.

  4. Adding Tailwind CSS:

    • Install Tailwind CSS and its peer-dependencies by running: 
      npm install -D tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer

      or

      yarn add -D tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer
    • Create your Tailwind configuration files by running: 
      npx tailwindcss init -p

      This will create a tailwind.config.js and a postcss.config.js file in your project.

  5. Configure Tailwind to Remove Unused Styles in Production:

    • In tailwind.config.js, enable the ‘purge’ option by updating it with paths to all of your components: 
      module.exports = {
purge: ['./index.html', './src/**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}'],
// ...rest of the config
}

  6. Include Tailwind in Your CSS:

    • In your project, find or create a CSS file (usually index.css or global.css) and add the following: 
      @tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

  7. Start Your Development Server:

    • Run npm run dev or yarn dev.
    • Your new Preact app with Vite and Tailwind CSS is now running!

Conclusion

Setting up Preact, Vite, and Tailwind CSS together is an efficient way to start a modern web development project. This combination offers a lightweight, fast, and customizable environment, ideal for building high-performance web applications with ease and speed. Regularly check for updates to these tools to keep your development environment current and efficient.