Native CSS features now match Tailwind's core value proposition, benchmarks show

Short summary

Native CSS now supports nesting, :has(), and @layer across all major browsers, eliminating the cascade pain points that made Tailwind necessary. Benchmarks show vanilla CSS with no build step outperforms Tailwind v4's Rust-based Oxide engine, and bundle sizes are ~75% lighter on landing pages. The author argues solo developers and small teams should re-evaluate whether their CSS toolchain is still needed, though large teams with established conventions face real switching costs.

• •Native CSS nesting, :has(), and @layer now have full browser support, removing Tailwind's original justification
• •Vanilla CSS benchmarks faster (nothing to compile) and produces ~75% lighter bundles on landing pages
• •37signals ships three products with 14,000 lines of vanilla CSS across 105 files and no build tools

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