diff --git a/.changeset/free-turkeys-lick.md b/.changeset/free-turkeys-lick.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9c30c9e5b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/free-turkeys-lick.md
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+"flowbite-react": patch
+---
+
+Use CSS variables for `tailwindcss@v4` instead of inline colors.
+
+### Changes
+
+- [x] automatically generate `tailwindcss@v4` config file
+- [x] use css variables for the `v4` config
+
+### Breaking changes
+
+Only applicable to `tailwindcss@v4`:
+
+before
+`@plugin "flowbite-react/plugins/tailwindcss"` - this points to the legacy JS plugin (that uses inline colors)
+
+after
+`@import "flowbite-react/plugins/tailwindcss"` - this points to the CSS-based plugin (that uses CSS variables)
+
+The breaking change is self-managed once upgrading `flowbite-react` and starting/building the app, which runs the `flowbite-react dev` or respectively `flowbite-react build` command that triggers the patch/fix/migration automatically.
diff --git a/bun.lock b/bun.lock
index 35a6295eaa..e047a9e776 100644
--- a/bun.lock
+++ b/bun.lock
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {
   "lockfileVersion": 1,
+  "configVersion": 0,
   "workspaces": {
     "": {
       "name": "root",
diff --git a/packages/ui/.gitignore b/packages/ui/.gitignore
index 6cacdc638f..d971cbfada 100644
--- a/packages/ui/.gitignore
+++ b/packages/ui/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 coverage
 dist
 src/metadata
+src/plugin/tailwindcss/index.css
diff --git a/packages/ui/package.json b/packages/ui/package.json
index ac1bcd1d96..2b728c7b81 100644
--- a/packages/ui/package.json
+++ b/packages/ui/package.json
@@ -150,7 +150,8 @@
       "require": {
         "types": "./dist/plugin/tailwindcss/index.d.cts",
         "default": "./dist/plugin/tailwindcss/index.cjs"
-      }
+      },
+      "style": "./dist/plugin/tailwindcss/index.css"
     },
     "./plugin/tailwindcss/*": {
       "import": {
@@ -252,10 +253,11 @@
     "format": "prettier . --write",
     "format:check": "prettier . --check",
     "generate-metadata": "bun scripts/generate-metadata.ts",
+    "generate-tailwind-plugin-css-file": "bun scripts/generate-tailwind-plugin-css-file.ts",
     "lint": "eslint .",
     "lint:fix": "eslint . --fix",
     "prepack": "clean-package",
-    "prepare": "bun run generate-metadata",
+    "prepare": "bun run generate-metadata && bun run generate-tailwind-plugin-css-file",
     "prepublishOnly": "bun run build",
     "test": "bun test scripts src/cli src/helpers && vitest",
     "test:coverage": "vitest run --coverage",
diff --git a/packages/ui/rollup.config.js b/packages/ui/rollup.config.js
index 1e76ddf72d..94a81bb31b 100644
--- a/packages/ui/rollup.config.js
+++ b/packages/ui/rollup.config.js
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@ import esbuild from "rollup-plugin-esbuild";
 import { rollupPluginUseClient } from "rollup-plugin-use-client";
 import packageJson from "./package.json";
 
+const tailwindPluginCssFile = "plugin/tailwindcss/index.css";
+
 let entries = await Array.fromAsync(new Glob("src/**/*").scan());
-entries = entries.filter((path) => !path.includes(".test.")).sort();
+entries = entries.filter((path) => !path.includes(".test.") && !path.includes(tailwindPluginCssFile)).sort();
 
 const external = [
   "ast-types",
@@ -53,10 +55,12 @@ export default {
   plugins: [
     cleanOutputDir(),
     generateMetadata(),
+    generateTailwindPluginCssFile(),
     esbuild({
       sourceMap: false,
     }),
     rollupPluginUseClient(),
+    copyTailwindPluginCssFile(),
     generateDts(),
     generateRspackPlugin(),
   ],
@@ -90,6 +94,24 @@ function generateMetadata() {
   };
 }
 
+function generateTailwindPluginCssFile() {
+  return {
+    name: "generate-tailwind-plugin-css-file",
+    async buildStart() {
+      await $`bun run generate-tailwind-plugin-css-file`;
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+function copyTailwindPluginCssFile() {
+  return {
+    name: "copy-tailwind-plugin-css-file",
+    async buildEnd() {
+      await Bun.write(`${outputDir}/${tailwindPluginCssFile}`, await Bun.file(`src/${tailwindPluginCssFile}`).text());
+    },
+  };
+}
+
 function generateDts() {
   return {
     name: "generate-dts",
diff --git a/packages/ui/scripts/generate-tailwind-plugin-css-file.ts b/packages/ui/scripts/generate-tailwind-plugin-css-file.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..82e3d12fd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ui/scripts/generate-tailwind-plugin-css-file.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+import prettier from "prettier";
+import { colors } from "../src/plugin/tailwindcss/colors";
+import { backgroundImage, boxShadow } from "../src/plugin/tailwindcss/theme";
+
+let VARS = "";
+let COLORS = "";
+
+for (const colorName in colors) {
+  const colorShades = colors[colorName as keyof typeof colors];
+
+  for (const shade in colorShades) {
+    VARS += `--${colorName}-${shade}: ${colorShades[shade as unknown as keyof typeof colorShades]};\n`;
+  }
+  VARS += `\n`;
+
+  for (const shade in colorShades) {
+    COLORS += `--color-${colorName}-${shade}: var(--${colorName}-${shade});\n`;
+  }
+  COLORS += `\n`;
+}
+
+const BACKGROUND_IMAGES = Object.entries(backgroundImage)
+  .map(([name, value]) => `--background-image-${name}: ${value};`)
+  .join("\n");
+
+const SHADOWS = Object.entries(boxShadow)
+  .map(([name, value]) => `--shadow-${name}: ${value};`)
+  .join("\n");
+
+const content = `
+:root {
+  ${VARS}
+}
+
+@theme inline {
+  ${COLORS}
+}
+
+@theme {
+  ${BACKGROUND_IMAGES}
+}
+
+@theme {
+  ${SHADOWS}
+}
+`;
+
+const outputFile = "src/plugin/tailwindcss/index.css";
+
+try {
+  await Bun.write(
+    outputFile,
+    await prettier.format(content, {
+      parser: "css",
+    }),
+  );
+  console.log(`Tailwind plugin CSS file generated successfully: ${outputFile}`);
+} catch (error) {
+  console.error(`Failed generating Tailwind plugin CSS file: ${outputFile}`, error);
+}
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/build.ts b/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/build.ts
index d29a8ceb21..e69d22c9ff 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/build.ts
+++ b/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/build.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { findFiles } from "../utils/find-files";
 import { getConfig } from "../utils/get-config";
 import { setupInit } from "./setup-init";
 import { setupOutputDirectory } from "./setup-output-directory";
+import { setupTailwind } from "./setup-tailwind";
 
 export async function build() {
   await setupOutputDirectory();
@@ -14,6 +15,7 @@ export async function build() {
   try {
     const config = await getConfig();
     await setupInit(config);
+    await setupTailwind();
     const initLogger = createInitLogger(config);
 
     const importedComponents: string[] = [];
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/dev.ts b/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/dev.ts
index 7fe278123e..839d39ccdc 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/dev.ts
+++ b/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/dev.ts
@@ -21,11 +21,13 @@ import { getConfig } from "../utils/get-config";
 import { setupGitIgnore } from "./setup-gitignore";
 import { setupInit } from "./setup-init";
 import { setupOutputDirectory } from "./setup-output-directory";
+import { setupTailwind } from "./setup-tailwind";
 
 export async function dev() {
   await setupOutputDirectory();
   let config = await getConfig();
   await setupInit(config);
+  await setupTailwind();
   const initLogger = createInitLogger(config);
 
   if (config.components.length) {
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/setup-tailwind.ts b/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/setup-tailwind.ts
index 05dca47b85..ae9134fd42 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/setup-tailwind.ts
+++ b/packages/ui/src/cli/commands/setup-tailwind.ts
@@ -74,13 +74,17 @@ async function setupTailwindV4() {
         .join(path.relative(path.dirname(file), process.cwd()), classListFilePath)
         .replace(/\\/g, "/");
 
-      const pluginRegex = new RegExp(
+      const pluginRegex_OLD = new RegExp(
         `@plugin\\s+['"](${pluginDirectivePath.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, "\\$&")})['"](;|\\s|$)`,
       );
+      const pluginRegex = new RegExp(
+        `@import\\s+['"](${pluginDirectivePath.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, "\\$&")})['"](;|\\s|$)`,
+      );
       const sourceRegex = new RegExp(
         `@source\\s+['"](${sourceDirectivePath.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, "\\$&")})['"](;|\\s|$)`,
       );
 
+      const hasPluginDirective_OLD = pluginRegex_OLD.test(content);
       const hasPluginDirective = pluginRegex.test(content);
       const hasSourceDirective = sourceRegex.test(content);
 
@@ -88,9 +92,17 @@ async function setupTailwindV4() {
         continue;
       }
 
+      if (hasPluginDirective_OLD) {
+        const pluginImportIndex = lines.findIndex((line) => pluginRegex_OLD.test(line));
+        if (pluginImportIndex !== -1) {
+          console.log(`Removing old flowbite-react plugin import directive from ${file}...`);
+          lines.splice(pluginImportIndex, 1);
+        }
+      }
+
       const directivesToAdd = [];
       if (!hasPluginDirective) {
-        const pluginDirective = `@plugin ${quoteType}${pluginDirectivePath}${quoteType};`;
+        const pluginDirective = `@import ${quoteType}${pluginDirectivePath}${quoteType};`;
         directivesToAdd.push(pluginDirective);
       }
       if (!hasSourceDirective) {