What version of Tailwind CSS are you using?

tailwindcss 4.1.12

What build tool (or framework if it abstracts the build tool) are you using?

postcss 8.5.6, npm 11.5.2, Vite 7.1.2

What version of Node.js are you using?

v22.18.0

What browser are you using?

N/A

What operating system are you using?

Windows 11

Reproduction URL

You can find a minimal reproduction of this bug at the following public GitHub repository:

https://github.com/Dhanush-Annam/tailwind-bug-repo

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Clone the repository.

2. Run npm install on a Windows machine.

3. Observe that the installation completes successfully, but the node_modules.bin\tailwindcss executable is missing.

Describe your issue

Expected Behavior:
When running npm install -D tailwindcss, the installation should complete, and a tailwindcss executable file (e.g., tailwindcss.cmd) should be created inside the node_modules.bin directory, allowing npx tailwindcss to be used.

Actual Behavior:
The npm install command completes and reports success with no errors (e.g., added X packages, and audited Y packages... found 0 vulnerabilities). However, the node_modules.bin directory is not populated with the tailwindcss executable. This makes it impossible to run any npx tailwindcss commands, as the executable cannot be found.

This issue was confirmed through an extensive troubleshooting process with the following key findings:

The bug has been replicated on two different Windows laptops, confirming it is not a unique machine configuration issue.

Installing an older version, specifically tailwindcss@3.3.0, works correctly and the .bin executable is created as expected.

Installing other packages with executables (e.g., npm install -D vite) also works correctly, which proves that the npm client and the underlying system are functioning properly.

The evidence strongly suggests a bug exists in recent versions of the tailwindcss package that prevents the bin script from being properly linked during installation on Windows.