Restore Support for Custom content Paths in Tailwind CSS v4

[sinder38]

Description:

After upgrading from Tailwind CSS v3.3.5 to v4, I've encountered issues where Tailwind no longer detects classes defined in custom directories specified in the content array of tailwind.config.js. For instance, the following configuration:

// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  content: ["../lib-template/tempalets/**/*.html"],
  // ...other configurations
};

worked as expected in v3.3.5, but in v4. Tailwind fails to detect classes and any changes in the specified path. This change disrupts projects that rely on custom directory structures and explicit content paths.

Expected Behaviour:

Tailwind should respect the content array in tailwind.config.js, allowing developers to specify custom paths for class detection.

The upgrade guide should provide clear instructions on how to configure custom content paths in v4

Actual Behaviour:

Tailwind v4 ignores the content array in tailwind.config.js, leading to missing styles from custom directories.

There is a lack of documentation on how to handle custom content paths in the new configuration paradigm.

Additional context:

I am not sure which version exactly breaks this

[wongjn]

See https://tailwindcss.com/docs/detecting-classes-in-source-files#explicitly-registering-sources

[sinder38]

Thank you very much.
I was trying to solve this on my own and by looking at this page of the documentation. I think it should mention about explicit registering. Can I make a PR or smth?

[wongjn]

Yes, the docs are open source at https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss.com.

[chrisjansky]

I am still having trouble making custom paths work in @source. I am using nuxt + nuxt/content. This worked in v3:

tailwind.config.ts

export default {
  content: ["./content/**/*.md", "./app/utils/**/*.ts"],
  ...
}

Since tailwind.css is in app/assets/css and the nuxt-content markdown files are at content, doing this should work:

@source "../../../content/**/*.md";

But no tailwind classes are read from markdown. Anyone got this working in nuxt?