Can't get Jekyll setup with Tailwind

Hi all,

I’ve been trying for several DAYS now, and have already spent over four hours a day on this with no luck. All I want to do is create a jekyll boilerplate with tailwind. I’m loosely familiar with both jekyll and tailwind. I’ve read a few questions on jekyll talk (as well as a dozen other websites) and found nothing. I’m following this “tutorial”: https://mdoliwa.com/2020/08/22/how-to-setup-jekyll-with-tailwind-css.html and posted my question (among other places), on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/jzzx27/need_help_setting_up_a_jekyll_and_tailwind/

I’ve run bundle install and bundle update, I’ve updated my gemfile, my config file, postcss.config.js, tailwind.config.js, and assets/css/main.scss. I’ve troubleshooted everything, asked everyone I can, and googled everything I can think of, and I’m completely lost. Jekyll just completely fails to serve. I’ve tried closing and opening command prompt, clearing cache, restarting PC, I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled all this stuff, and nothing whatsoever works. I’m on windows 10.

Thanks in advance to anyone who has a clue on how to solve this… I’m so close to giving up but I really love jekyll and just want to use it. Any help greatly appreciated.

(jekyll serve output is on imgur at imgur dot com slash a slash N6o8QSP since nEw UsErS cAn OnLy SuBmIt tWo LiNkS)

Hi. The problem is that you installed your plugin in your user gems with gem command in the command line. While bundler executes from a local directory - like vendor.

You need Bundler for your user which it looks like you have already

gem install bundler

Then add to your Gemfile (which contains ruby and not shell code)

group :jekyll_plugins do
  gem "jekyll-postcss", "~> 0.4.0"
end

Then configure bundle in your repo from the shell.

bundle config --local set path vendor\bundle

And install gems.

bundle install

And then you’ll get the plugin added to a local directory in your project.

Other than Bundler, all my Jekyll related things get installed using bundle install and not gem install.

What I left was installed Jekyll itself.

You can do this in the shell

gem install jekyll -v 3.9

To have global Jekyll across projects.

I did 3.9 above as that matches Github Pages’ locked version, not 4. You can use 4 if you want though.

Or you can install Jekyll using a line in your Gemfile and then bundle install

Here is my template file.

Note use of the Jekyll plugins group means that plugins get loaded in the right order and also they get enabled so you don’t need to list them in your config’s plugins field.

can you copy in here what you got in the console - that is always better than an image.

here is your imgur link:

whats in your jekyll config file?

on reddit you said you don’t have a package.json file - if you ran npm install tailwindcss it should have created one. Not sure what it would be used for with jekyll though, little weird with the gems and modules, not sure how that is going to work.

Thank you for the quick and strightforward answers.

MichaelCurrin I followed everything you said, updated my Gemfile with gem "jekyll-postcss", "~> 0.4.0" and ran the commands. Here is my (long) output:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19041.630]
(c) 2020 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>gem install bundler
Successfully installed bundler-2.1.4
Parsing documentation for bundler-2.1.4
Done installing documentation for bundler after 3 seconds
1 gem installed

C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>bundle config --local set path vendor\bundle

C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>bundle install
Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/..........
Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/.
Resolving dependencies...
Using public_suffix 4.0.6
Using addressable 2.7.0
Using bundler 2.1.4
Using colorator 1.1.0
Using concurrent-ruby 1.1.7
Using eventmachine 1.2.7 (x64-mingw32)
Using http_parser.rb 0.6.0
Using em-websocket 0.5.2
Using ffi 1.13.1 (x64-mingw32)
Using forwardable-extended 2.6.0
Using i18n 1.8.5
Using sassc 2.4.0 (x64-mingw32)
Using jekyll-sass-converter 2.1.0
Using rb-fsevent 0.10.4
Using rb-inotify 0.10.1
Using listen 3.3.1
Using jekyll-watch 2.2.1
Using rexml 3.2.4
Using kramdown 2.3.0
Using kramdown-parser-gfm 1.1.0
Using liquid 4.0.3
Using mercenary 0.4.0
Using pathutil 0.16.2
Using rouge 3.25.0
Using safe_yaml 1.0.5
Using unicode-display_width 1.7.0
Using terminal-table 1.8.0
Using jekyll 4.1.1
Using jekyll-feed 0.15.1
Using jekyll-postcss 0.4.0
Using jekyll-seo-tag 2.7.1
Using minima 2.5.1
Using thread_safe 0.3.6
Using tzinfo 1.2.8
Using tzinfo-data 1.2020.4
Using wdm 0.1.1
Bundle complete! 7 Gemfile dependencies, 36 gems now installed.
Use `bundle info [gemname]` to see where a bundled gem is installed.

C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>jekyll serve --trace
Configuration file: C:/Users/justi/OneDrive/Desktop/jekyll tailwind boilerplate/boilerplate/_config.yml
Traceback (most recent call last):
        27: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in `<main>'
        26: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in `load'
        25: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/exe/jekyll:15:in `<top (required)>'
        24: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary.rb:21:in `program'
        23: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/program.rb:44:in `go'
        22: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `execute'
        21: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `each'
        20: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `block in execute'
        19: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/serve.rb:86:in `block (2 levels) in init_with_program'
        18: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `process_with_graceful_fail'
        17: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `each'
        16: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `block in process_with_graceful_fail'
        15: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/build.rb:30:in `process'
        14: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/build.rb:30:in `new'
        13: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:36:in `initialize'
        12: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:132:in `setup'
        11: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:312:in `instantiate_subclasses'
        10: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:312:in `map'
         9: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:313:in `block in instantiate_subclasses'
         8: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:313:in `new'
         7: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `initialize'
         6: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `fetch'
         5: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `block in initialize'
         4: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `new'
         3: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:13:in `initialize'
         2: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:60:in `start_dev_server'
         1: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:60:in `open'
C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:60:in `initialize': Interrupt
C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll: Interrupt
Terminate batch job (Y/N)?
^C
C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>

rdyar

I ran npm install tailwindcss again in that direcotry, and still no package.json. Please see my reply above for the text output from the command line. Thank you both again for the help… This has been a nightmare just trying to do something seemingly so simple…

Off topic: also, love the jekyll talk website; viewing questions, replying, writing replies, everything UX is just amazing, love that the editor has shortcut buttons for code and also lets you use and see markdown, hate reddit’s thing where if you type tildas then it escapes them as if you want a literal tilda, and you have to click the code button, unless you want to go to markdown mode… also love the reply screen can be minimized so I can view and reply : )

Tried using the jekyll tailwind boilerplate here: https://github.com/danklammer/jekyll-tailwindcss-boilerplate and ran jekyll serve and:

C:\\Users\\justi\\OneDrive\\Documents\\GitHub\\jekyll-tailwindcss-boilerplate>jekyll serve

Traceback (most recent call last):

12: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in \`<main>'

11: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in \`load'

10: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/exe/jekyll:11:in \`<top (required)>'

9: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/plugin\_manager.rb:52:in \`require\_from\_bundler'

8: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler.rb:149:in \`setup'

7: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:20:in \`setup'

6: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:101:in \`block in definition\_method'

5: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/definition.rb:226:in \`requested\_specs'

4: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/definition.rb:237:in \`specs\_for'

3: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/definition.rb:170:in \`specs'

2: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/spec\_set.rb:80:in \`materialize'

1: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/spec\_set.rb:80:in \`map!'

C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/spec\_set.rb:86:in \`block in materialize': Could not find public\_suffix-4.0.3 in any of the sources (Bundler::GemNotFound)

ran npm run setup and I get this:

C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Documents\GitHub\jekyll-tailwindcss-boilerplate>jekyll serve
Traceback (most recent call last):
        10: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in `<main>'
         9: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in `load'
         8: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/exe/jekyll:11:in `<top (required)>'
         7: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/plugin_manager.rb:52:in `require_from_bundler'
         6: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler.rb:149:in `setup'
         5: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:26:in `setup'
         4: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:26:in `map'
         3: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/spec_set.rb:147:in `each'
         2: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/spec_set.rb:147:in `each'
         1: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:31:in `block in setup'
C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/bundler-2.1.4/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:312:in `check_for_activated_spec!': You have already activated public_suffix 4.0.6, but your Gemfile requires public_suffix 4.0.3. Prepending `bundle exec` to your command may solve this. (Gem::LoadError)

ran bundle exec and I get this:

bundler: exec needs a command to run

and I’ve tried searching up on bundle exec and for the life of me can’t find anything on it. This (ruby stuff, not jekyll) is really dumb: I’m just trying to run my damn webpage and it crashes the whole thing because I don’t have the exact right version of one dependency… isn’t that THE ENTIRE POINT of package managers: to manage the versions of packages so everything magically works? Nothing I run fixes this. Help appreciated… Hour FIFTEEN of trying to get an empty website with jekyll and tailwind… I’m losing my mind. Thanks in advance…

when you are using bundler it is not enough to just do bundle install you also need to do bundle execute jekyll serve - like the error said, bundle execute doesn’t have a command.

Try that and paste the result here.

I got the boilerplate working by running one of the commands from the readme (my mistake). Trying to get my own boilerplate set up, I ran the two commands you listed:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19042.630]
(c) 2020 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>bundle install
Using public_suffix 4.0.6
Using addressable 2.7.0
Using bundler 2.1.4
Using colorator 1.1.0
Using concurrent-ruby 1.1.7
Using eventmachine 1.2.7 (x64-mingw32)
Using http_parser.rb 0.6.0
Using em-websocket 0.5.2
Using ffi 1.13.1 (x64-mingw32)
Using forwardable-extended 2.6.0
Using i18n 1.8.5
Using sassc 2.4.0 (x64-mingw32)
Using jekyll-sass-converter 2.1.0
Using rb-fsevent 0.10.4
Using rb-inotify 0.10.1
Using listen 3.3.1
Using jekyll-watch 2.2.1
Using rexml 3.2.4
Using kramdown 2.3.0
Using kramdown-parser-gfm 1.1.0
Using liquid 4.0.3
Using mercenary 0.4.0
Using pathutil 0.16.2
Using rouge 3.25.0
Using safe_yaml 1.0.5
Using unicode-display_width 1.7.0
Using terminal-table 1.8.0
Using jekyll 4.1.1
Using jekyll-feed 0.15.1
Using jekyll-postcss 0.4.0
Using jekyll-seo-tag 2.7.1
Using minima 2.5.1
Using thread_safe 0.3.6
Using tzinfo 1.2.8
Using tzinfo-data 1.2020.4
Using wdm 0.1.1
Bundle complete! 7 Gemfile dependencies, 36 gems now installed.
Use `bundle info [gemname]` to see where a bundled gem is installed.

C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>bundle execute jekyll serve
Could not find command "execute".
Did you mean?  "exec"

C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>bundle exec jekyll serve
Configuration file: C:/Users/justi/OneDrive/Desktop/jekyll tailwind boilerplate/boilerplate/_config.yml
                    ------------------------------------------------
      Jekyll 4.1.1   Please append `--trace` to the `serve` command
                     for any additional information or backtrace.
                    ------------------------------------------------
Terminate batch job (Y/N)? y
Terminate batch job (Y/N)? y

C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>bundle exec jekyll serve -- trace
Configuration file: C:/Users/justi/OneDrive/Desktop/jekyll tailwind boilerplate/boilerplate/_config.yml
                    ------------------------------------------------
      Jekyll 4.1.1   Please append `--trace` to the `serve` command
                     for any additional information or backtrace.
                    ------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
        27: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in `<main>'
        26: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in `load'
        25: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/exe/jekyll:15:in `<top (required)>'
        24: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary.rb:21:in `program'
        23: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/program.rb:44:in `go'
        22: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `execute'
        21: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `each'
        20: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `block in execute'
        19: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/serve.rb:86:in `block (2 levels) in init_with_program'
        18: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `process_with_graceful_fail'
        17: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `each'
        16: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `block in process_with_graceful_fail'
        15: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/build.rb:30:in `process'
        14: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/build.rb:30:in `new'
        13: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:36:in `initialize'
        12: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:132:in `setup'
        11: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:312:in `instantiate_subclasses'
        10: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:312:in `map'
         9: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:313:in `block in instantiate_subclasses'
         8: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:313:in `new'
         7: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `initialize'
         6: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `fetch'
         5: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `block in initialize'
         4: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `new'
         3: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:13:in `initialize'
         2: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:60:in `start_dev_server'
         1: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:60:in `open'
C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:60:in `initialize': Interrupt
        12: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in `<main>'
        11: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in `load'
        10: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/exe/jekyll:15:in `<top (required)>'
         9: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary.rb:21:in `program'
         8: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/program.rb:44:in `go'
         7: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `execute'
         6: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `each'
         5: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `block in execute'
         4: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/serve.rb:86:in `block (2 levels) in init_with_program'
         3: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:90:in `process_with_graceful_fail'
         2: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:100:in `rescue in process_with_graceful_fail'
         1: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/log_adapter.rb:97:in `abort_with'
C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/log_adapter.rb:97:in `abort': exit (SystemExit)
C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll: Interrupt
Terminate batch job (Y/N)?
^CTerminate batch job (Y/N)?
^C
C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>

my bad - looks like it is exec not execute?

try bundle exec jekyll serve. I don’t use bundler as I don’t use plugins and have a simple setup.

You ran -- trace instead of --trace at the last part.

Try again. There is not enough info in the last command output to see Jekyll is complaining. Maybe there is more output to add. All the error tells me is that it tried to start the server and it existed for an error.

And that you have two (?) batch jobs that you were running and stopped. I don’t know what that is about

Thank you both again for the replies. No worries on missing exec, I simply fixed it after running the wrong one first. Have no idea why it shows two jobs running; I’m only running one but maybe it’s lagging? I fixed the trace flag, output seems same (or similar):

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19042.630]
(c) 2020 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\justi>cd C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate

C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>bundle exec jekyll serve --trace
Configuration file: C:/Users/justi/OneDrive/Desktop/jekyll tailwind boilerplate/boilerplate/_config.yml
Traceback (most recent call last):
        27: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in `<main>'
        26: from C:/Ruby26-x64/bin/jekyll:23:in `load'
        25: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/exe/jekyll:15:in `<top (required)>'
        24: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary.rb:21:in `program'
        23: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/program.rb:44:in `go'
        22: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `execute'
        21: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `each'
        20: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/mercenary-0.4.0/lib/mercenary/command.rb:221:in `block in execute'
        19: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/serve.rb:86:in `block (2 levels) in init_with_program'
        18: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `process_with_graceful_fail'
        17: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `each'
        16: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/command.rb:91:in `block in process_with_graceful_fail'
        15: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/build.rb:30:in `process'
        14: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/commands/build.rb:30:in `new'
        13: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:36:in `initialize'
        12: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:132:in `setup'
        11: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:312:in `instantiate_subclasses'
        10: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:312:in `map'
         9: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:313:in `block in instantiate_subclasses'
         8: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-4.1.1/lib/jekyll/site.rb:313:in `new'
         7: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `initialize'
         6: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `fetch'
         5: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `block in initialize'
         4: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll/converters/postcss.rb:15:in `new'
         3: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:13:in `initialize'
         2: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:60:in `start_dev_server'
         1: from C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:60:in `open'
C:/Ruby26-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.6.0/gems/jekyll-postcss-0.4.0/lib/jekyll-postcss/socket.rb:60:in `initialize': Interrupt
Terminate batch job (Y/N)? y
Terminate batch job (Y/N)? y

C:\Users\justi\OneDrive\Desktop\jekyll tailwind boilerplate\boilerplate>

Hmm still not enough info

Can you setup a new Jekyll project in another directory and check that works.

Like a Gemfile that covers Jekyll 4.1 and an index.html. nothing else. See if your command will start

And then add and install the tailwind plugin there and see if it runs.

And any plugins

Also try

bundle exec jekyll build --trace

You can also add the --verbose flag to build or serve. Just please don’t post the hundreds of lines that will generate. Share just a few lines in the verbose output that are above and below the error

Ok thank you for continuing to help.

I want to confirm what exactly I should do before creating a new project, since there are a lot of steps.

creating the new jekyll project:

jekyll new myproject
cd myproject
bundle exec jekyll serve

and then:

bundle exec jekyll build --trace

Does this look good?

You don’t want me to add in any tailwind stuff until later, right?

Jekyll is working fine on other projects for what it’s worth, and on this one, creating a new jekyll project worked fine and I tested it before adding tailwind.

If you have Jekyll running in other projects that is encouraging.

And the commands you sent above would be correct.

If you like, you can comment out tailwind from your gem file and comment out theme in your config and see if Jekyll serve will start.

If the theme is definitely the thing can causes the error, then perhaps there is a decency problem like dependencies stored in the wrong folder or an incomplete install or you are using a Jekyll or ruby version not compatible with the theme.

If would help though if you can share your Gemfile and your config as as code snippets or a github link then I can run.

That’s a great idea about sharing the code; I’ll just made a repo in github real quick. Apologies in advanced for whatever horrible jekyll or tailwind things I may be doing wrong, have just been listening to advice from message boards such as this one and it may have created an amalgam… Although I’ve also tried getting repos like this one to work with little luck: https://github.com/kangabru/jekyll-tailwindcss-boilerplate/ let me know if you get it working and what steps you took (note the css not appearing note in the readme and let me know if it works for you)

Here is my newly created repo: https://github.com/justingolden21/boilerplate-jekyll-tailwindcss (I can add you to the repo if that’s easier for you)

Thanks again for the help : )

I tried building your project after adding a couple of missing files to it based on kangabru. No install or build errors in Jekyll.

Although the kangabru project looks like it works as a demo deploy to Netlify, I would not use that theme. There are pieces that look like bad practice in Jekyll.

I tried following the instructions in the tutorial linked in your first message. I found two confusing errors around CSS processing so ditched that.

But…

I found an example under TailWindLabs account. It was the first result for Jekyll Tailwind on Google

The Jekyll example there is outdated and has errors, so I gave it new life on a feature branch on my fork

and added a PR to the original

The locally build site is just a header and a link to a post so doesn’t look like much. But is includes tailwind CSS in the built css/styles.css file in _site which is loaded in the head tag.

Try it out

git clone git@github.com:MichaelCurrin/tailwindcss-setup-examples.git
git checkout update-jekyll-example
make install
make serve

Assuming you have make installed on Linux or macOS. You can install make on windows. Or follow the instructions in README.md on the branch

Wow thank you so much for going through all that. I’ll check out your repo right now. I did a lot of googling, including “jekyll tailwind” and it doesn’t even show up on the first page for me. I’ll check out your repo right now.