In this guide, you will learn how to set up Ruby on Rails with Tailwind CSS and install Flowbite to start using the UI components built with the utility classes from Tailwind CSS.

Create a new project

Follow the next steps to get started with a Ruby on Rails project and install Tailwind CSS and Flowbite.

Make sure that you have Node.js and Ruby installed on your machine before continuing.

1. Run the following command to install the rails gem from Ruby:

gem install rails

2. Create a new Ruby on Rails application if you don't already have one:

rails new flowbite-app
cd flowbite-app

Now that you have created a new project you can proceed by setting up Tailwind CSS.

Install Tailwind CSS

Since Tailwind v4, it's really easy to install Tailwind CSS with Rails, because we no longer need to have a custom tailwind.config.js file. Instead, everything is configured in your main CSS file.

1. Install the official tailwindcss-rails gems:

./bin/bundle add tailwindcss-ruby
./bin/bundle add tailwindcss-rails

2. Run the install command to set up the Tailwind configuration files:

./bin/rails tailwindcss:install

Now that Tailwind CSS has been successfully installed you can proceed by installing Flowbite.

Install Flowbite

1. Install Flowbite by running the following command in your terminal:

npm install flowbite --save

2. Import the default theme variables from Flowbite inside your main application.css CSS file:

@import "flowbite/src/themes/default";

3. Import the Flowbite plugin file in your CSS:

@plugin "flowbite/plugin";

4. Configure the source files of Flowbite in your CSS:

@source "../../../node_modules/flowbite";

Turbo load support

Flowbite provides custom event listeners for turbo load support if you import the flowbite.turbo.js file. Check out the following guides to learn more how to integrate the JavasScript file that powers the interactive components with Importmap or ESBuild.

Importmap

Importmap is the default way of handling JavaScript on Rails 7. In order to support turbo load from importmaps you have to pin the flowbite.turbo.js file from a CDN where the turbo:load event listeners are added instead of load.

1. Add the following line inside your importmap.rb file:

pin "flowbite", to: "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/flowbite@{{< current_version >}}/dist/flowbite.turbo.min.js"

2. Then you need to import flowbite inside your application.js file:

import 'flowbite';

This will enable the interactive elements like dropdowns, modals, and navbars work by hooking the event listeners and actions to the data attributes whenever a new page is loaded in your application.

ESBuild

If you use ESBuild to Bundle your JavaScript on Rails, you will need to import a version of Flowbite which supports the turbo:load event listeners instead of load. To do this add the line below to your application.js file:

import "flowbite/dist/flowbite.turbo.js";

Standard JS (no turbo)

If you decide not to use turbo load then you can follow these steps:

1. Run this command to pin Flowbite in your importmap.rb file:

./bin/importmap pin flowbite

2. Then you need to include Flowbite inside your application.js file:

import 'flowbite';

Include via CDN

Alternatively to all of the above you can also include the JavaScript via CDN:

// include via CDN for turbo support
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/flowbite@{{< current_version >}}/dist/flowbite.turbo.min.js"></script>

// include via CDN without turbo support
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/flowbite@{{< current_version >}}/dist/flowbite.min.js"></script>

Datepicker

Since the release of version 2.4.0 of Flowbite the Datepicker component is now part of the main package so you don't need to include datepicker.turbo.js separately. It will work out of the box.

Versions prior to 2.4.0

In order to support turbo load from Ruby on Rails 7, you have to include the datepicker.turbo.js file either from NPM or CDN into your project.

Include the following JavaScript file to support the datepicker component:

pin "flowbite-datepicker", to: "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/flowbite@2.3.0/dist/datepicker.turbo.min.js"

Don't forget to also import it inside your application.js file:

import 'flowbite-datepicker';
import 'flowbite/dist/datepicker.turbo.js';

Building your project

Run the following command to start a local server and build the source files:

./bin/dev

This will create a local server and you will be able to access the pages on localhost:3000.

You can also run rails tailwindcss:build to compile Tailwind CSS.