Django-Tailwind Deployment on Vercel Issue

The error you're encountering is because Vercel is looking for a specific output directory named "dist" at the root level after your build completes, but it can't find it.

Solution Approaches

1. Configure Output Directory in Vercel

You need to explicitly tell Vercel where your built files are located. Since your dist directory is at theme/static/css/dist, you should configure this in your Vercel project settings:

1. Go to your Vercel project dashboard
2. Navigate to "Settings" > "General"
3. Find the "Build & Development Settings" section
4. Set the "Output Directory" to collectstatic_build (since that's where your static files are being collected)

2. Update your vercel.json

Make sure your vercel.json file correctly specifies the output directory:

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{
  "builds": [
    {
      "src": "your_project_name/wsgi.py",
      "use": "@vercel/python"
    },
    {
      "src": "build_files.sh",
      "use": "@vercel/static-build",
      "config": {
        "distDir": "collectstatic_build"
      }
    }
  ],
  "routes": [
    // Your routes configuration
  ]
}

3. Create a build script

Create a build_files.sh script in your project root:

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# build_files.sh
pip install -r requirements.txt
python manage.py tailwind install
python manage.py tailwind build
python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

Make sure this script is executable:

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chmod +x build_files.sh

4. Ensure your Django settings are correct

In your Django settings, verify:

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STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'collectstatic_build')

# Make sure django-tailwind settings are correct
TAILWIND_APP_NAME = 'theme'

By properly configuring the output directory in Vercel and ensuring your build process correctly generates and collects the static files, you should be able to resolve this deployment issue.