Install daisyUI for Rails

1. Create a new Rails project

Install Ruby on Rails according to the official Rails guide.

Create a new Rails project

rails new my-app
cd my-app

2. Install Tailwind CSS for Rails

Install Tailwind CSS 4 gem for Rails

./bin/bundle add tailwindcss-rails
./bin/rails tailwindcss:install

3. Add daisyUI

There are 3 ways to add daisyUI to your Rails project

This method is recommended if are already using Node.js.
This works as a Tailwind CSS plugin so only the class names you need will be added to your CSS file.

Initialize a package.json (if you don't have one) and install daisyUI

npm init -y
npm install daisyui@latest

Put Tailwind CSS and daisyUI in your CSS file (and remove old styles)

@import "tailwindcss";
@plugin "daisyui";

This method is recommended if you are not using Node.js.
This works as a Tailwind CSS plugin so only the class names you need will be added to your CSS file.

Run this code to download latest version of daisyUI as a single js file

curl -sLo app/assets/tailwind/daisyui.mjs https://github.com/saadeghi/daisyui/releases/latest/download/daisyui.mjs
curl -sLo app/assets/tailwind/daisyui-theme.mjs https://github.com/saadeghi/daisyui/releases/latest/download/daisyui-theme.mjs

Put Tailwind CSS and daisyUI in your CSS file (and remove old styles)

@import "tailwindcss";

@source not "./daisyui{,*}.mjs";

@plugin "./daisyui.mjs";

/* Optional for custom themes – Docs: https://daisyui.com/docs/themes/#how-to-add-a-new-custom-theme */
@plugin "./daisyui-theme.mjs"{
  /* custom theme here */
}

This method is recommended if you want to quickly add daisyUI without adding any file.

Put Tailwind CSS and daisyUI in your CSS file (and remove old styles)

@import "tailwindcss";

@import "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/daisyui@5";

• You can choose the parts you need
• You can import small CSS files separately
• You can import all themes or specific themes

4. Create a homepage in Rails

Now you can use daisyUI class names! Let's create a simple page and try a button

class PagesController < ApplicationController
  def home
  end
end

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  root to: 'pages#home'
end

<button class="btn btn-primary">Hello daisyUI!</button>

5. Start Rails

./bin/dev