From bfb5732b0b948d89c6803cb537bca168ec8e0a46 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: It's Me! <192345912+rebasecase@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2026 14:45:39 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Fall back to the plugin `base` when PostCSS has no `from`
 option (#19980)
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## Summary

`@tailwindcss/postcss` derives `inputBasePath` from `result.opts.from`:

```ts
let inputFile = result.opts.from ?? ''
let inputBasePath = path.dirname(path.resolve(inputFile))
```

When PostCSS calls the plugin without `from` (some bundlers, including
Turbopack, do this for certain CSS inputs), `inputFile` is `''`,
`path.resolve('')` returns `process.cwd()`, and `path.dirname(...)`
therefore returns the **parent of CWD**. The downstream `compileAst({
base: inputBasePath })` call then asks the resolver to find
`tailwindcss` from one level above the project root, which fails with:

```
Can't resolve 'tailwindcss' in '<parent of CWD>'
```

The plugin already computes `base = opts.base ?? process.cwd()` near the
top. Reusing that as the fallback gives a sensible default (CWD) and
respects an explicit `opts.base` when set.

```diff
-let inputBasePath = path.dirname(path.resolve(inputFile))
+let inputBasePath = inputFile
+  ? path.dirname(path.resolve(inputFile))
+  : base
```

## Test plan

Added a test in `packages/@tailwindcss-postcss/src/index.test.ts` that
processes `@import 'tailwindcss'` via `processor.process(input)` with no
`from` option. Before the fix, this throws `Error: Can't resolve
'tailwindcss' in '<parent of CWD>'`; after the fix, the import resolves
and the processor returns non-empty CSS.

I wasn't able to run the suite locally — `pnpm build` requires `cargo`
for `@tailwindcss/oxide` and I don't have a Rust toolchain set up — so
the test has been written to match existing conventions in
`index.test.ts` (vitest, plain
`postcss([tailwindcss({...})]).process(...)`), and I'm relying on CI to
verify.

---------

Co-authored-by: rebasecase <rebasecase@localhost>
Co-authored-by: Robin Malfait <malfait.robin@gmail.com>
---
 CHANGELOG.md                                    |  1 +
 packages/@tailwindcss-postcss/src/index.test.ts | 10 ++++++++++
 packages/@tailwindcss-postcss/src/index.ts      |  2 +-
 3 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 47b21eed2..2768ffbc4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Ensure `@plugin` resolves package JavaScript entries instead of browser CSS entries when using `@tailwindcss/vite` ([#19949](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/19949))
 - Fix relative `@import` and `@plugin` paths resolving from the wrong directory when using `@tailwindcss/vite` ([#19965](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/19965))
 - Ensure CSS files containing `@variant` are processed by `@tailwindcss/vite` ([#19966](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/19966))
+- Resolve imports relative to `base` when `result.opts.from` is not provided when using `@tailwindcss/postcss` ([#19980](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/19980))
 
 ## [4.2.4] - 2026-04-21
 
diff --git a/packages/@tailwindcss-postcss/src/index.test.ts b/packages/@tailwindcss-postcss/src/index.test.ts
index ff12e09ef..9d23d0a8d 100644
--- a/packages/@tailwindcss-postcss/src/index.test.ts
+++ b/packages/@tailwindcss-postcss/src/index.test.ts
@@ -140,6 +140,16 @@ describe('processing without specifying a base path', () => {
   })
 })
 
+test('fallback to `base` directory when `result.opts.from` is not provided', async () => {
+  let processor = postcss([
+    tailwindcss({ base: `${__dirname}/fixtures/example-project`, optimize: { minify: false } }),
+  ])
+
+  let result = await processor.process(`@import 'tailwindcss'`)
+
+  expect(result.css.length).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+})
+
 describe('plugins', () => {
   test('local CJS plugin', async () => {
     let processor = postcss([
diff --git a/packages/@tailwindcss-postcss/src/index.ts b/packages/@tailwindcss-postcss/src/index.ts
index 2ff4405b6..0bc70cb9c 100644
--- a/packages/@tailwindcss-postcss/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/@tailwindcss-postcss/src/index.ts
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ function tailwindcss(opts: PluginOptions = {}): AcceptedPlugin {
           }
 
           let context = getContextFromCache(postcss, inputFile, opts)
-          let inputBasePath = path.dirname(path.resolve(inputFile))
+          let inputBasePath = inputFile ? path.dirname(path.resolve(inputFile)) : base
 
           // Whether this is the first build or not, if it is, then we can
           // optimize the build by not creating the compiler until we need it.