.gitignore is too powerful and cannot be stopped

[kingmesal]

What version of Tailwind CSS are you using?

v4.0.9

What build tool (or framework if it abstracts the build tool) are you using?

postcss: 8.5.3

What version of Node.js are you using?

Node: v22.11.0
Bun: 1.2.5

What browser are you using?

N/A

What operating system are you using?

Linux

Describe your issue

I have a mulitple wildcard patterns like special-*.hbs in my .gitignore and I cannot find a way to tell tailwind v4 to ignore my gitignore or to be able to specify an @source "../src/special-*.hbs"

Let me explain my process. My toolset copies a bunch of templates into my users site. They match special-*.hbs. These are in the .gitignore because they are not intended to be checked into their repository.

I have tried @import "tailwindcss" source(none); then specify @source "../src"; but the .gitignore is still in effect, which I thought would get turned off using the source(none).

What can I do here?

[kerams]

Same here. During builds I am generating files which are gitignored, so I'd really love the ability to use source(none) in combination with file globbing like in v3, something like @source "../*.generated.js", or some strict whitelisting with everything else excluded.

[rvanbaalen]

Omg, @kerams I was running into exactly the same problem. Generating some templated files in my build process and somehow, Tailwind was not having it when it comes to parsing the correct styles.

After wasting two days in this I finally discovered the problem was the .gitignore file.

These are two completely separate concerns! What I want ignored by .gitignore is for, you guessed it, git to ignore. It has nothing to do with Tailwind and the fact that this is not clearly documented in big fat red letters is unfortunate.

If tailwind wants to do magic automated guessing; perhaps support some sort of .twignore file standard instead.
Even when explicitly mentioning specific folders with @source() won't overwrite the .gitignore.

Sorry for the rant, I was just disappointed that this cost me two full days to discover. I love tailwind as much as the next person but this was just annoying and more important, unexpected.

[KennethHoff]

I think using .gitignore is a good default. Most people don't need or want Tailwind to scan generated files, and having to define everything twice is annoying.

I'm not opposed to a .twignore ( or similar) concept, but it should default to following .gitignore without such a file.

[rvanbaalen]

@KennethHoff you're right. My previous comment was written slightly in the heat of the moment (can you tell? 🤣 )

.gitignore is an acceptable default. The current situation/problem is just a two fold:

• The fact that .gitignore is used as a default is not documented/clearly stated
• Its hard (impossible?) to overwrite the .gitignore-ignores.

[kingmesal]

I think this is a multi-step problem:

• Step 1 - How can a user override/ ignore .gitignore
• Step 2 - How can a user specify what they actually want TW to ignore

[philipp-spiess]

Hey folks! You'll be happy with this PR I think: #17255

This makes some changes that will also make it so that @source rules can now overwrite your .gitignore presets so the examples I saw in this thread (@source "../src/special-*.hbs" and @source "../*.generated.js") will now be included regardless of your .gitignore settings.

[RobinMalfait]

Hey! Small update, we merged the PR (#17255) that fixes this, and it will be available in the next release.