UPDATE: review our follow-up status updates to this delay here:

• Update 1: Tailwind v4 Support - RFC and Status Update #3192
• Update 2: Tailwind v4 and RFC Follow Up #3211

Hey everyone, Chris here from the Skeleton team. Per our recent status update, I wanted officially confirm that we will in fact be delaying Skeleton v3 for a short time. This will give us an opportunity to rewrite the Skeleton Tailwind plugin to support Tailwind v4.

Why Delay?

Originally the plan was to release Skeleton v3 this week in it's current status. We've been hard at work to reach this point. Unfortunately a few important things have happened over the last week that have made us reconsider:

1. Tailwind v4 shipped - this has occurred much earlier than anticipated.
2. The Svelte CLI, aka sv will soon default to Tailwind v4. And we anticipate Next.js will soon follow.
3. We've tested and confirmed Skeleton v3's Tailwind plugin is not currently compatible with Tailwind v4.

This means that if we go forward with the launch, folks will almost immediately be met with confusion and issues where Skeleton does not operate with the default dependencies scaffolded by these tools. Furthermore, it would have meant users would have to follow a major v3 release and migration with yet another migration for a "Skeleton v4" that included Tailwind v4 support. That's a lot to ask for any community.

To put it simply, your time is valuable and we don't want to waste it.

Community Consensus

Given the impact on new and upcoming v3 users in the community, we opted to poll the community to gather the preference for an immediate v3 release versus a delay to support Tailwind v4. We asked, you answered, and the consensus is clear.

The team and I fully agree with this delay to ensure folks are not faced with multiple large releases back to back, and all the work that comes from breaking changes. This will help ease folks into the new version in one fell swoop.

The Plan

The team and I have spent the last few days reviewing the impact of moving to Tailwind v4, and we've come up with what we feel is a competent plan for moving forward. This will occur in three separate phases, which we'll execute starting this week:

Phase 1

In this initial phase, we'll resume regular maintenance and updates for both Skeleton v2 and v3 once more. We'll return our focus to the Skeleton v2 initially to address some dated information and known issues with the docs. This will help ensure users that remain on v2 for now are not left behind. We're also extending the deadline for community contributions for v2. And of course preparing for the plugin rewrite for Tailwind v4 behind the scenes.

Phase 2

In this phase, we'll put our full effort into rewriting the plugin features to meet the new requirements for Tailwind v4, as documented here. Note that we will NOT be focusing on new Tailwind 4 features during this phase, but rather porting features 1:1 until we reach parity with Skeleton v3 as we know it today. The ONLY known exception to this will be updates to the Skeleton Themes format and Themes Generator, which will use the new CSS-based configuration and possibly oklch colors to match Tailwind's recommendations. Once complete, we'll update all documentation and provide this to the community to begin testing. As well as provide migration steps for current Skeleton v3 users, which will focus on configuration and theme conversion.

Phase 3

In this final phase, we'll then revisit all styles and features authored by Skeleton to retrofit and take advantage of the new features Tailwind v4 provides. For example, Container Queries will allow components to resize responsively in a more intelligent manner. This is where we might expect breaking changes as we take advantage of features not previously available to Skeleton. Once again, on completion of this phase we'll update all documentation and provide migration guidance.

Launch

Once all three phase have been completed in full, we'll then focus on launching Skeleton v3 and archiving Skeleton v2.

Estimated Launch Date

Unfortunately, given the scope of changes, we cannot yet provide a definitive estimate for the full release with absolute certainty. However, we operate in two week cycles, and hope to ideally handle one phase per cycle. Assuming that goes according to plan, it may look something like this:

• Cycle 1 (2 weeks): Phase 1 completed
• Cycle 2 (2 weeks): Phase 2 completed
• Cycle 2 (2 weeks): Phase 3 completed

That would put total time at around 6 weeks, so please make plans accordingly and understand we'll be posting regular status updates to adjust expectations on the fly.

FAQs

As we've already heard a number of users ask questions about the delay and update, we've provide a quick FAQ here.

When do you expect Skeleton v3 to release?

See the speculative estimate in the section above.

If I'm already using Skeleton v3, how will my project be impacted?

The good news is we don't anticipate a major impact on consuming Skeleton. For the most part utility classes from Skeleton should remain mostly as is. The bulk of changes will happen "under the hood" on our side, which will then affect how you import and configure Skeleton compared to the prior plugin. For the most part, this will likely just mean importing one or more CSS stylesheets!

If I've not yet migrated to Skeleton v3, how will I be impacted?

Again, we'll be resuming updates to Skeleton v2 and doing a pass through the docs to ensure all information is accurate. Taking care to indicate that Skeleton v2 will only ever support Tailwind v3. Likewise we'll be updating the Skeleton v3 docs to pin the version of sv used to ensure folks do not receive Tailwind v4 before we're ready for it.

Should I hold off on updating to Skeleton v3?

This depends on your project's requirements and expectations. If you're wanting a fully stable project that does not include breaking changes, you should not be using v3 at all yet in it's pre-release state! However, if you're ok to follow with what likely will be minor user-facing issues along the way, then feel free to update. Again, we will be making an effort to help current v3 users move forward with all upcoming improvements, such as migrating themes to the new CSS format.

Will the upcoming Skeleton CLI's migration feature be updated?

Yes, of course. We will continue to update and maintain this to help move users all the way from v2 to the launch version of v3.

Will Skeleton v3 receive any updates outside the scope of Tailwind v4?

Yes, we will continue to address bug fixes and feature requests related to components and welcome pull requests from the community. We may also consider adding new components based on the available Zag.js primitives if time allows. And of course continue to rollout new REPL apps for all supported frameworks. These were initiatives already planned for this point in time.

What if my question is not covered here?

Please reach out in the comments below, or on Discord in the #skeleton-next channel. Please and thanks!