Generate a theme
built for Tailwind
The _tw generator creates a WordPress starter theme optimized for modern development with Tailwind CSS, Tailwind Typography and the WordPress editor.
Build Faster
A bespoke theme in less time
Ideal for pixel-perfect conversions of designs created in applications like Figma, Sketch or Illustrator, and ready for development in minutes.
- Tailwind, pre-configured
- Go from download to a Tailwind-built CSS file in two commands.
- Your WordPress editor of choice
- Preview styles in the block editor, the classic editor and ACF WYSIWYG fields.
- Ready for theme.json
- Enter colors and widths in your theme.json file for immediate access via Tailwind.
- Bundle all the JavaScript
- Hit the ground running with JavaScript bundling via esbuild.
- JIT-compatible
- Use updated build commands for compatibility with Tailwind 3’s just-in-time compiler.
- Quick builds
- Create an upload-ready theme archive with a single command.
Over 25 thousand themes generated
Frequently asked questions
Tailwind is a “utility-first CSS framework ... that can be composed to build any design, directly in your markup,” and it makes it possible to build modern websites in less time. (The Tailwind homepage does a great job explaining the rest.) If you’re utility-class–hesitant, Tailwind creator Adam Wathan wrote a blog post to allay your fears.
This starter theme began as a fork of _s, adding first-class support for Tailwind CSS. _tw lets WordPress developers add Tailwind to their workflow while otherwise diverging as little as possible from longstanding WordPress theme development practices. I use this starter theme primarily for client and agency work, creating WordPress themes from a designer’s mockups. I used it for this site, too.
Once it was clear _s would no longer be maintained, I began merging updates into _tw from Varia, Automattic’s internal successor to _s. These two themes have been battle tested over more than a decade, and they’re easy to learn. Projects like Sage and Timber make integrating Tailwind fairly straightforward, but they come with a corresponding learning curve for traditional WordPress theme developers that makes starting with _tw an easier lift.
Theme generators have saved me countless hours over the years, and _tw began as a fork of the underscores.me generator. I was first motivated to resolve some outstanding issues with the generator, and then I modified it to use my preferred directory structure. When I started using Tailwind for all my client work, I updated the generator accordingly.
Full-site editing is the future of WordPress and will be a huge benefit to its users. That said, I think there will continue to be space for hybrid themes that make full use of the block editor for posts while opting into a subset of FSE features. _tw already supports theme.json files, and I look forward to supporting more elements of FSE in the future.