The @source Directive

@source lives in your input CSS and tells TailwindPHP where to find the template files it should scan for class names. It is primarily used with the CLI, where a single input CSS file drives a build over a content directory.

@import "tailwindcss";
@source "./templates";

@source directives are read during compilation and removed from the output — they never appear in the generated CSS. Paths must be quoted, and both single and double quotes are accepted.

Directories

Point @source at a directory to scan every supported file inside it:

@source "./templates";

Glob patterns

Narrow the scan with a glob:

@source "./src/**/*.php";

Multiple sources

Add as many @source directives as you need; they accumulate:

@source "./templates";
@source "./components/**/*.php";

Negated patterns

Prefix a path with not to exclude it from scanning:

@source "./src";
@source not "./src/legacy";

Inline candidates

@source inline(...) forces classes into the output even when they never appear in scanned files — useful for class names assembled dynamically at runtime:

@source inline("flex p-4 m-2");

Inline candidates support variants too:

@source inline("hover:bg-blue-500 focus:ring-2");

Brace expansion

Inline patterns expand brace groups, so you can enumerate many candidates compactly:

@source inline("p-{1,2,4}");
/* Generates p-1, p-2, and p-4 */

@source inline("text-{red,blue}-500");
/* Generates text-red-500 and text-blue-500 */

Ignored inline candidates

@source not inline(...) does the opposite of inline() — it strips matching candidates from the output even if they were found in your content. Brace expansion works here as well:

@source not inline("legacy");
@source not inline("p-{1,2}");

Validation rules

@source is a statement, not a block. The compiler rejects:

• A directive with a body — @source cannot have a body.
• A nested directive (inside @media, for example) — @source cannot be nested.
• An unquoted path — @source paths must be quoted.

/* Invalid — throws "`@source` cannot have a body." */
@source "./src" {
    .some-style { color: red; }
}

/* Invalid — throws "`@source` paths must be quoted." */
@source ./src;

See the CLI for running source-driven builds, and Imports for resolving @import and virtual modules.