To set up a project from scratch using React, Tailwind CSS, and Shadcn, but without using any pre-built boilerplates like create-next-app or create-react-app, you can manually configure the setup using Webpack or other similar bundlers. Below is a guide for setting this up with Webpack:

Step 1: Initialize an npm Project

Create a new project directory and initialize a new npm project:

mkdir my-shadcn-app
cd my-shadcn-app
npm init -y

Step 2: Install React and Dependencies

Install React, ReactDOM, webpack, and webpack-dev-server:

npm install react react-dom
npm install --save-dev webpack webpack-cli webpack-dev-server babel-loader @babel/core @babel/preset-env @babel/preset-react html-webpack-plugin

Step 3: Install Tailwind CSS

Install Tailwind CSS and its peer dependencies:

npm install -D tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer
npx tailwindcss init

This creates the tailwind.config.js file.

Step 4: Configure Webpack

Create a webpack.config.js file for configuring Webpack:

touch webpack.config.js

Inside webpack.config.js, add the following:

const path = require('path');
const HtmlWebpackPlugin = require('html-webpack-plugin');

module.exports = {
  entry: './src/index.jsx',
  output: {
    filename: 'bundle.js',
    path: path.resolve(__dirname, 'dist'),
  },
  mode: 'development',
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /\.(js|jsx)$/,
        exclude: /node_modules/,
        use: {
          loader: 'babel-loader',
          options: {
            presets: ['@babel/preset-env', '@babel/preset-react'],
          },
        },
      },
      {
        test: /\.css$/,
        use: ['style-loader', 'css-loader', 'postcss-loader'],
      },
    ],
  },
  resolve: {
    extensions: ['.js', '.jsx'],
  },
  plugins: [
    new HtmlWebpackPlugin({
      template: './public/index.html',
    }),
  ],
  devServer: {
    static: './dist',
    hot: true,
  },
};

Step 5: Configure Babel

Create a .babelrc file for Babel configuration:

touch .babelrc

Inside .babelrc, add the following:

{
  "presets": ["@babel/preset-env", "@babel/preset-react"]
}

Step 6: Configure Tailwind CSS

Update your tailwind.config.js file to include the paths to your components:

`tailwind.config.js`:

/** @type {import('tailwindcss').Config} */
module.exports = {
  content: ['./src/**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}', './public/index.html'],
  theme: {
    extend: {},
  },
  plugins: [],
};

Step 7: Set Up Your Project Structure

Create the necessary folders and files for your React application:

mkdir src public
touch src/index.jsx src/App.jsx src/index.css public/index.html

`public/index.html`:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <title>My Shadcn App</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="root"></div>
  </body>
</html>

`src/index.jsx`:

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import App from './App';
import './index.css';

ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById('root'));

`src/App.jsx`:

import React from 'react';

const App = () => {
  return (
    <div className="p-6">
      <h1 className="text-3xl font-bold">Hello Shadcn!</h1>
    </div>
  );
};

export default App;

`src/index.css`:

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

Step 8: Install Shadcn Components

Now that you have the basic setup, install the Shadcn package and its components. Install the Shadcn CLI and Tailwind components for your React project:

npx shadcn-init

Follow the on-screen instructions to install components and generate the Shadcn library for your project.

Step 9: Update npm Scripts

Update your package.json to add a start script to run the Webpack development server:

"scripts": {
  "start": "webpack serve --open"
}

Step 10: Start the Development Server

Run the development server with:

npm start

This should open up your app in the browser, and you'll see "Hello Shadcn!" styled with Tailwind CSS. You can now continue adding Shadcn components to your React project.

(Generated with AI assistance)

How to start a Shadcn project from scratch