Lovable ui

Tailwind Config Changes Not Reflecting in Dev

Changes to tailwind.config.js don't appear in development. Need to restart dev server to see theme changes. New colors, spacing, or custom utilities don't apply.

Vite should watch tailwind.config.js but sometimes changes aren't detected. Manual server restart required.

Common Causes

  1. Dev server not watching tailwind.config.js
  2. PostCSS not recompiling after config change
  3. Vite build cache needs clearing
  4. Content path changes not triggering rebuild
  5. IDE not saving file or watching disabled

How to Fix It

Ensure vite.config.js watches config file:

export default {
  server: {
    watch: {
      include: ['./tailwind.config.js']
    }
  }
}

Clear cache and restart: `rm -rf node_modules/.vite && npm run dev`

Or manually hard refresh browser (Shift+F5).

Real developers can help you.

Milan Surelia Milan Surelia Milan Surelia is a Mobile App Developer with 5+ years of experience crafting scalable, cross-platform apps at 7Span and Meticha. At 7Span, he engineers feature-rich Flutter apps with smooth performance and modern UI. As the Co-Founder of Meticha, he builds open-source tools and developer-focused products that solve real-world problems. Expertise: 💡 Developing cross-platform apps using Flutter, Dart, and Jetpack Compose for Android, iOS, and Web. 🖋️ Sharing insights through technical writing, blogging, and open-source contributions. 🤝 Collaborating closely with designers, PMs, and developers to build seamless mobile experiences. Notable Achievements: 🎯 Revamped the Vepaar app into Vepaar Store & CRM with a 2x performance boost and smoother UX. 🚀 Launched Compose101 — a Jetpack Compose starter kit to speed up Android development. 🌟 Open source contributions on Github & StackOverflow for Flutter & Dart 🎖️ Worked on improving app performance and user experience with smart solutions. Milan is always happy to connect, work on new ideas, and explore the latest in technology. ISHANTDEEP SINGH ISHANTDEEP SINGH Senior Software Engineer with 7+ years of experience in React, JavaScript, TypeScript, Next.js, and Node.js. I’ve also worked as a tech lead for startups, owning end-to-end technical execution including architecture, development, scaling, and delivery. I bring a strong mix of hands-on coding, product thinking, and technical leadership, and I’m comfortable building products from scratch as well as improving and scaling existing systems. Daniel Vázquez Daniel Vázquez Software Engineer with over 10 years of experience on Startups, Government, big tech industry & consulting. Matthew Jordan Matthew Jordan I've been working at a large software company named Kainos for 2 years, and mainly specialise in Platform Engineering. I regularly enjoy working on software products outside of work, and I'm a huge fan of game development using Unity. I personally enjoy Python & C# in my spare time, but I also specialise in multiple different platform-related technologies from my day job. Kingsley Omage Kingsley Omage Fullstack software engineer passionate about AI Agents, blockchain, LLMs. Vlad Temian Vlad Temian 15+ years shipping production infrastructure for startups. Former CTO at qed.builders (acquired by The Sandbox). Cursor ambassador and agentic tooling builder. I've scaled systems, automated deployments, and built observability tools for AI coding workflows. I specialize in taking vibe-coded apps from broken prototype to production-ready: fixing Supabase auth/RLS, Stripe integrations, deployment pipelines, and cleaning up AI-generated spaghetti. I build tools in this space (agentprobe, claudebin, micode) and understand both sides: how AI generates code and why it breaks. https://blog.vtemian.com/ Bastien Labelle Bastien Labelle Full stack dev w/ 20+ years of experience Nam Tran Nam Tran 10 years as fullstack developer Matthew Butler Matthew Butler Systems Development Engineer @ Amazon Web Services Tejas Chokhawala Tejas Chokhawala Full-stack engineer with 5 years experience building production web apps using React, Next.js and TypeScript. Focused on performance, clean architecture and shipping fast. Experienced with Supabase/Postgres backends, Stripe billing, and building AI-assisted developer tools.

You don't need to be technical. Just describe what's wrong and a verified developer will handle the rest.

Get Help

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I force reload config?

Stop dev server, delete .vite cache folder, restart. Or hard refresh browser with Shift+F5.

Do I need to rebuild CSS?

No, Tailwind JIT compiles on demand. Changes should appear after browser refresh.

Related Lovable Issues

Can't fix it yourself?
Real developers can help.

You don't need to be technical. Just describe what's wrong and a verified developer will handle the rest.

Get Help