tailwindcss command not found after install (npm/yarn) on Windows [duplicate]

I'm encountering a persistent issue setting up Tailwind CSS v4 in a Vite + React project on Windows 10/11. The core problem is that the tailwindcss CLI command is unavailable after installation via either npm or yarn.

Environment:

OS: Windows 10 / Windows 11 (User should specify exact one if known) Node.js: v22.14.0 npm: 10.9.2 Yarn: v1.22.22 Project: Minimal Vite (^6.2.0) + React (^19.0.0) project Tailwind: Tried tailwindcss@^4.1.3 and tailwindcss@^4.0.0 PostCSS: postcss@^8.5.3 Autoprefixer: autoprefixer@^10.4.21 Vite Config: Using @tailwindcss/postcss plugin correctly in vite.config.js.

// vite.config.js
import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import react from '@vitejs/plugin-react'
import tailwindcss from '@tailwindcss/postcss' // Correct import for v4

// [https://vitejs.dev/config/](https://vitejs.dev/config/)
export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [react()],
  css: {
    postcss: {
      plugins: [
        tailwindcss(), // Correct usage
        // autoprefixer(), // Also installed
      ],
    },
  },
})


// tailwind.config.js
/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
export default {
  content: [
    "./index.html",
    "./src/**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}",
  ],
  theme: {
    extend: {},
  },
  plugins: [],
}

css

/* src/index.css */
@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

Problem Details:

After running npm install or yarn install, I cannot execute any Tailwind CLI commands:

npx tailwindcss ... fails (command not found). npm exec -- tailwindcss ... fails (command not found). npm run <script_using_tailwindcss> fails. Investigating the node_modules directory revealed two key issues:

The node_modules/.bin/ directory does not contain tailwindcss, tailwindcss.cmd, or tailwindcss.ps1 executables/links. Other package binaries (like vite, eslint) are present. Crucially, when inspecting the installed package itself at node_modules/tailwindcss/package.json, the "bin" section (which should define the CLI entry point) is completely missing. This seems to indicate a corrupted or incomplete installation of the tailwindcss package itself.

Troubleshooting Steps Taken (None Resolved the Issue):

• Clean Installs: Repeatedly deleted node_modules, package-lock.json, and yarn.lock, followed by npm install or yarn install.

• Cache Cleaning: Cleared npm cache (npm cache clean --force) and yarn cache (yarn cache clean).

• Tried Different Package Managers: Used both npm and yarn

• Tried Different Tailwind Versions: Tested tailwindcss@^4.1.3 and
  tailwindcss@^4.0.0.

• Run as Administrator: Ran the install commands (npm install, yarn
  install) from a PowerShell terminal opened "as Administrator".

• Disabled Antivirus: Temporarily disabled Windows Defender Real-time
  protection during the installation process.

• Verified Node/npm/Yarn: Versions are up-to-date and seem functional
  for other packages.

• Tried Direct Script Execution (Failed): Cannot use the workaround
  node ./node_modules/tailwindcss/path/to/cli.js because the missing
  "bin" section in package.json means we don't know the correct script path for v4.

Despite all these steps, the tailwindcss package consistently installs without its necessary binary links and, more worryingly, without the "bin" entry in its own package.json.

Question:

Has anyone encountered a similar issue where a specific npm package (like tailwindcss) fails to install its binaries and even seems to have a corrupted package.json (missing "bin") on Windows? What could be causing this specific package installation to fail so fundamentally, and what other diagnostic steps or solutions could I try?

Thanks in advance for any help!