name: setting-up-charcoal-tailwind description: Use before writing or editing code that uses @charcoal-ui with Tailwind, and whenever such a project's charcoal setup is unverified or incomplete. The v2 token route still needs the theme CSS and the .ch-token-v2 opt-in, which the preset does not supply. metadata: version: "1.0.1"

Setting up charcoal with Tailwind

@charcoal-ui/tailwind-config turns charcoal tokens into a Tailwind preset. This is the actively developed utility route — new Design Token 2.0 features land here first.

Install

npm install --save-dev @charcoal-ui/tailwind-config @charcoal-ui/theme

Peer dependencies: tailwindcss >=1.4.6, postcss >=7.0.32, csstype >=3.0.0. Tailwind v4 support is WIP — v4 works only by pointing @config at a v3-shaped config.

Configure

// tailwind.config.js
const { light, dark } = require('@charcoal-ui/theme')
const { createTailwindConfig } = require('@charcoal-ui/tailwind-config')
/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  content: ['./src/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}'],
  presets: [
    createTailwindConfig({
      version: 'v3',
      theme: {
        ':root': light,
        '@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark)': dark,
      },
      unstableTokenV2: true, // Design Token 2.0 — omit and you get 1.0
      iconsV2: true,
    }),
  ],
}

createTailwindConfig() options: version ('v1' | 'v2' | 'v3', Tailwind's version — unrelated to charcoal's), theme, cssVariablesV1, unstableTokenV2, iconsV1, iconsV2. A bare default preset is also exported as config.

unstableTokenV2: true needs the theme CSS too

The preset does not define Design Token 2.0 variables. unstable_createTailwindConfigTokenV2() contains no plugin and no addBase() — it only emits class values that _reference_ var(--charcoal-color-*). Something else has to define them.

Two disjoint namespaces are in play:

customPropertyToken() produces --charcoal-${id}, so the v1 variables never satisfy a v2 reference. Turning on unstableTokenV2 without loading the theme CSS gives you classes that resolve to nothing — colors silently disappear.

So with unstableTokenV2: true, do all three:

/* globals.css */
@import '@charcoal-ui/theme/css/v2/light.css';
@import '@charcoal-ui/theme/css/v2/dark.css';
 
@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

<html lang="ja" class="ch-token-v2">
  <body>
    <div id="root"></div>
  </body>
</html>

.ch-token-v2 gates the light-theme rules in light.css. Without it, no light rule matches and every v2 variable is undefined — the same failure described in setting-up-charcoal-css-variables.

If you stay on Design Token 1.0 (unstableTokenV2 omitted), the preset's own addBase() supplies everything and the three @tailwind lines are all you need.

The preset replaces Tailwind's defaults

createTailwindConfig() writes colors, spacing, width, gap, borderRadius, screens, and transitionDuration at the top level of `theme`, not under extend. Tailwind's preset merge therefore _replaces_ the stock scales:

• bg-red-500, text-blue-600 and the rest of the default palette stop existing. Only transparent, current, black, white, and charcoal tokens remain.
• p-4 no longer means 1rem. Spacing keys are charcoal's px values: 0, 4, 8, 16, 24, 40, 64, 104, 168, 272, 440 — so p-16 is 16px.
• corePlugins: { lineHeight: false } disables every leading-* utility.

If existing markup relies on stock Tailwind classes, add them back explicitly:

const colors = require('tailwindcss/colors')
module.exports = {
  presets: [createTailwindConfig({/* … */})],
  theme: { extend: { colors: { red: colors.red } } },
}

Classes you get

<div className="bg-background1 text-text1 rounded-8 p-16">
  <h2 className="typography-20">タイトル</h2>
  <button className="ch-focus-ring bg-brand hover:bg-brand-hover active:bg-brand-press">
    送信
  </button>
</div>

• Colors carry DEFAULT / hover / press / disabled variants — bg-brand, bg-brand-hover, …
• typography-{12|14|16|20|32} sets font-size and line-height together.
• .ch-focus-ring reproduces the focus ring used by @charcoal-ui/react.
• w-col-span-{n} and w-{n}/12 come from the grid system.

Those names are Design Token 1.0. They keep working when unstableTokenV2 is on, because the preset merges v2 entries on top of v1 rather than replacing them.

Design Token 2.0 adds five color groups — background, border, container, icon, text — folded so that a default key becomes the bare class:

color.container.default      → bg-container
color.container.hover        → bg-container-hover
color.text.default           → text-text
color.text.info.default      → text-text-info
color.text.negative.hover    → text-text-negative-hover
color.background.secondary   → bg-background-secondary

Spacing splits into component-* and layout-* (p-component-20, gap-layout-40), radius becomes rounded-{xs|s|m|l|xl|xxl|oval}, and border colors take a ch prefix (border-ch-secondary).

To see exactly what your config produces, resolve it rather than guessing:

console.log(
  require('tailwindcss/resolveConfig')(require('./tailwind.config.js')).theme
    .colors,
)

Dark theme

Tailwind's dark: variant is not supported. A charcoal token keeps its name across themes while its value changes, so dark:bg-background1 is meaningless. Pass a theme map instead and the generated var() switches for you.

// follow the OS
theme: { ':root': light, '@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark)': dark }
// or switch from JS
theme: { ':root': light, 'html[data-theme="dark"]': dark }

document.documentElement.dataset.theme = 'dark'

Do not nest :root under the @media key — the build inserts it for you.

The `theme` map only drives Design Token 1.0. It feeds cssVariablesV1, which defines --charcoal-<v1 token>. Token 2.0 variables come from @charcoal-ui/theme/css/v2/*.css, and that CSS defines dark only at :root[data-theme='dark'] — it has no prefers-color-scheme block. So on unstableTokenV2: true, '@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark)': dark does not make v2 tokens follow the OS.

Either write data-theme explicitly from JS, or add the bridge described in setting-up-charcoal-css-variables:

@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
  :root:not([data-theme='light']).ch-token-v2,
  :root:not([data-theme='light']) .ch-token-v2 {
    /* copy the declarations from @charcoal-ui/theme/css/v2/dark.css */
  }
}

Common mistakes

Using charcoal React components too

@charcoal-ui/react is independent of this preset. It needs its own CSS and the .ch-token-v2 opt-in — see setting-up-charcoal-css-variables. Set corePlugins: { preflight: false } if Tailwind's reset interferes with charcoal component styles.