Laravel with MaterialUI

Laravel with Material Tailwind HTML is a practical choice for developers who want Material Design styling while continuing to use Blade templates and Tailwind CSS. It provides prebuilt UI components without requiring React or any JavaScript framework.

Material Tailwind HTML works directly on top of Tailwind CSS, so Tailwind must be installed first. Laravel handles routing, backend logic, and Blade rendering, while Material Tailwind enhances the frontend UI layer.

This setup is commonly used for admin dashboards, SaaS panels, and internal tools where a clean Material Design look is needed without the complexity of a SPA.

How Material Tailwind Works with Laravel

Material Tailwind HTML is not a framework. It is a collection of Tailwind-based components that can be used directly inside Blade files. Laravel uses Vite 6 for asset bundling, ensuring fast builds and hot reloading.

Step 1: Create a New Laravel Project

composer create-project laravel/laravel example-app

Step 2: Install Tailwind CSS

Material Tailwind depends on Tailwind CSS, so it must be installed before using any components.

npm install -D tailwindcss postcss autoprefixer
npx tailwindcss init -p

Step 3: Configure Tailwind

Update the tailwind.config.js file to scan Laravel Blade and JavaScript files.

export default {
  content: [
    "./resources/**/*.blade.php",
    "./resources/**/*.js",
    "./resources/**/*.vue",
  ],
  theme: {
    extend: {},
  },
  plugins: [],
};

Step 4: Install Material Tailwind HTML

You can install Material Tailwind HTML using any package manager.

npm install @material-tailwind/html

Step 5: Update Tailwind Configuration for Material Tailwind

After installing Material Tailwind, the Tailwind configuration must be wrapped with the withMT() helper. This step is required for components to work correctly.

import withMT from "@material-tailwind/html/utils/withMT";

export default withMT({
  content: [
    "./resources/**/*.blade.php",
    "./resources/**/*.js",
    "./resources/**/*.vue",
  ],
  theme: {
    extend: {},
  },
  plugins: [],
});

Ripple Effect Support

Material Tailwind HTML includes a Material Design ripple effect. It can be enabled by loading the ripple script and adding data attributes to components.

<script async src="https://unpkg.com/@material-tailwind/html@latest/scripts/ripple.js"></script>

Use data-ripple-light="true" or data-ripple-dark="true" on supported elements.

Example Button in Blade

<button
  type="button"
  data-ripple-light="true"
  class="font-bold uppercase text-xs py-3 px-6 rounded-lg bg-gray-900 text-white shadow-md hover:shadow-lg">
  Button
</button>

Why Use Material Tailwind with Laravel ?

Material Tailwind HTML is ideal when you want Material Design components without moving to React or Vue. It works seamlessly with Blade, supports Vite 6, and keeps the frontend lightweight.

This approach is best suited for Laravel projects that need a professional UI, fast development, and minimal JavaScript complexity.