Tailwind UI Design Practice

Tailwind UI Design Practice is an open-source learning project that rebuilds Tailwind UI components from scratch using Gatsby, CSS Modules, and SCSS, with a live demo hosted on Vercel. Instead of copying Tailwind UI's code, the author hand-builds each component to strengthen their front-end abilities, making the repository a study resource for developers who want to see an alternative CSS approach to the same designs.

What is Tailwind UI Design Practice?

It is a practice repository on GitHub where components inspired by Tailwind UI (a premium set of React and HTML components) are recreated from zero. The project takes the visual designs as a reference and produces React components styled with CSS Modules and SCSS, all organized into a Gatsby static site. The live version is deployed at https://tailwindui-design-practice.vercel.app/ and the code is available for anyone to inspect or fork.

What makes this project stand out?

• Gatsby static site — Uses Gatsby as the site generator, which means the practice components are built into fast, pre-rendered HTML.
• CSS Modules for scoped styling — Each component's styles are scoped locally, preventing class name collisions and making the CSS more maintainable.
• SCSS preprocessing — The project uses SCSS (Sass) alongside CSS Modules, enabling variables, nesting, and mixins for more expressive styles.
• Hand-built components — Instead of copying Tailwind UI's utility classes, every component is coded from scratch, which is the core point of the exercise.
• Live Vercel deployment — The practice site is continuously deployed to Vercel, giving a real-world preview of the components.
• Clear learning intent — The repository description explicitly states the goal: to practice and improve front-end skills, making it a transparent example of deliberate practice.

Who should use this project?

• Front-end developers learning CSS — Those who want to practice building polished components without reaching for a utility-first framework like Tailwind can study how CSS Modules and SCSS achieve similar results.
• React and Gatsby learners — Developers exploring Gatsby will find a small, readable codebase that shows how to structure a Gatsby site with reusable React components.
• Developers preparing for design-heavy interviews — Rebuilding well-known components like those from Tailwind UI is a common exercise, and this project serves as a reference solution.
• Anyone comparing CSS approaches — If you are deciding between utility-first CSS and component-scoped styles, this repo provides a side-by-side mental model for one way the latter works.

Use cases

• Study a component rebuild: Open the repository on GitHub to see how each component is structured, from JSX markup to scoped SCSS styles.
• Deploy your own version: Fork the repository, modify the components, and connect the GitHub project to Vercel for a live preview of your changes.
• Practice new components: Use the existing code as a starting point to add your own recreations of other Tailwind UI components, extending the collection.
• Portfolio show-off: Point to the live Vercel demo and the clean code organization as evidence of your front-end fundamentals.

FAQ

Is Tailwind UI Design Practice free to use?

Yes, it is a public GitHub repository, so the code is freely accessible and can be forked for personal or educational purposes. There is no pricing or licensing gate.

Does this project use Tailwind CSS?

No. Despite the name and inspiration, the project deliberately avoids Tailwind CSS utility classes. It uses plain CSS Modules and SCSS to recreate the look of Tailwind UI components from scratch.

What technologies does it use?

The project is built with Gatsby, React, CSS Modules, and SCSS. This combination gives a static React site with scoped, preprocessed CSS.

Where can I see it running?

The live version is hosted on Vercel at https://tailwindui-design-practice.vercel.app/.

Can I contribute or learn from it?

Since the repository is public on GitHub, you can read the code, raise issues, or fork it to continue the practice yourself. The author's stated goal is skill improvement, so the project is intentionally educational.