Doesn't work without sprockets

[vfonic]

I've just created a new rails app like this: rails new app_name --skip-sprockets

Then I ran the two commands:
./bin/bundle add tailwindcss-rails - worked fine
./bin/rails tailwindcss:install

This second command fails with:

NameError: uninitialized constant Tailwindcss::Engine::Sprockets

Since I'm planning on using Webpacker exclusively, I don't see the need for having to add Sprockets just to be able to use this gem. What do you think?

[vfonic]

Confirmed. After I've uncommented require "sprockets/railtie" in config/application.rb, the installation succeeded.

[jasonplatts]

Hi @vfonic.

Unfortunately, that error is unrelated to the Tailwind CSS Nova extension, but instead is related to the tailwindcss-rails gem. If you submit an issue there, hopefully someone should be able to help. The Tailwind CSS Nova extension in no way relies on Sprockets.

Good luck!

Thanks,
Jason

[dhh]

This gem is designed to be used exclusively with the asset pipeline. It has no relevance for a Webpacker setup. You can just install Tailwind as normal for that.

[vfonic]

Perhaps that was true in the past, but it seems like the gem supports both Sprockets and Webpacker today.
As per README:

Tailwind CSS for Rails works with both the asset pipeline and Webpacker.

The install generator checks whether the app uses Sprockets or Webpacker:

https://github.com/rails/tailwindcss-rails/blob/main/lib/tasks/tailwindcss_tasks.rake#L3-L9

https://github.com/rails/tailwindcss-rails/blob/main/lib/tasks/tailwindcss_tasks.rake#L17-L20

Please reopen. Thanks!

[dhh]

Lol, yes, forgot we added that. Not sure it’s a good idea to have dual purpose like this, though.

[vfonic]

I understand. It's a tough call to make. I'd argue that, since the introduction of Webpacker, many gems have opted for the dual purpose/support. It's just the way things are now. I think having dual support makes more sense than having to maintain two separate gems that could have a lot of shared functionality (things like: purger, compressor, etc.)

[dhh]

Tailwind packed through Webpack has all those functions natively. This gem specifically implements those functions via Ruby for the asset pipeline. And then offers a slim, probably too-confusing wrapper on installing TW for Webpack.

[dixpac]

@dhh I could do two things:

1. Fix this issue and continue to support webpack
2. Drop webpack support

I agree with your point that easiest way forward would be to just support asset pipeline and have one north star. Fix would include conditionals inside the engine.rb(or somekind of conditionals :))

require "tailwindcss/compressor" if defined?(Sprockets) # maybe also here

module Tailwindcss
  class Engine < ::Rails::Engine
    if defined?(Sprockets)
      ...
    end
  end
end

That being said I'm not gonna lie, spined-up numerous webpacker apps and this generator was helpful, but... :)

---

Main issue to use TW with asset pipeline is inability to use @apply out of the box. Every TW production app that I've worked with used @apply to extract common components such as button. Using @apply is maybe anti-pattern if we look at the TW idea, but without it some kind of componentization(view_component,partials) would be "necessary"

[dhh]

I think we should remove the webpack installer. This heart of this gem is a sprockets-specific approach to using TW with the asset pipeline. Let's just go with that.

Re: @apply, yes, I agree, would be nice to have a a sprockets version of this.

[dixpac]

This is "fixed" here #64