Guides

Practical guides for converting CSS concepts into Tailwind utilities.

  • CSS vs Tailwind — Classic CSS excels at complex selectors and animations. Tailwind excels at colocating visual decisions with markup. Most teams use both.
  • CSS Spacing to Tailwind — padding: 1.5rem becomes p-6. Shorthands expand to side utilities. Off-scale lengths become p-[13px].
  • CSS Typography to Tailwind — font-size: 1.5rem maps to text-2xl. font-weight: 700 maps to font-bold. Colors use text-* utilities.
  • CSS Flexbox to Tailwind — display:flex → flex. flex-direction:column → flex-col. justify-content:space-between → justify-between. gap:1rem → gap-4.
  • CSS Grid to Tailwind — grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr) becomes grid-cols-3. Custom tracks use arbitrary grid-cols values.
  • CSS Colors to Tailwind — Known palette hex values map to tokens like text-gray-900. Unknown colors become bg-[#1a2b3c].
  • CSS Borders to Tailwind — border: 1px solid becomes border plus border-color utilities. border-radius: 0.5rem maps to rounded-lg.
  • Responsive CSS to Tailwind — @media (min-width: 768px) aligns with md:. 1024px with lg:. Complex queries need manual review.
  • CSS Shadows to Tailwind — Common elevations map to shadow / shadow-lg. Unique shadows become arbitrary shadow utilities.
  • CSS Positioning to Tailwind — position:absolute → absolute. Inset sides map to top/right/bottom/left utilities. Custom z-index uses arbitrary values.
  • CSS Migration Strategies — Prefer incremental migration: new components in Tailwind, convert hot paths next, keep legacy CSS until replaced.

Open converter Chrome Extension

Chrome Extension

Convert CSS in Chrome’s Side Panel

Install the free CSS to Tailwind extension — paste CSS, convert locally, and copy utilities without leaving the page you’re on.

Add to Chrome — Free
Chrome Extension