diff --git a/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/server.ts b/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/server.ts
index 1e0a530..26d9f5f 100644
--- a/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/server.ts
+++ b/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/server.ts
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ import * as culori from 'culori'
 import namedColors from 'color-name'
 import preflight from './lib/preflight'
 import tailwindPlugins from './lib/plugins'
-import isExcluded from './util/isExcluded'
+import isExcluded, { DEFAULT_FILES_EXCLUDE } from './util/isExcluded'
 import { getFileFsPath, normalizeFileNameToFsPath } from './util/uri'
 import { equal } from 'tailwindcss-language-service/src/util/array'
 
@@ -109,7 +109,6 @@ const TRIGGER_CHARACTERS = [
   // JIT opacity modifiers
   '/',
 ] as const
-const DEFAULT_FILES_EXCLUDE = ['**/.git/**', '**/.svn/**', '**/.hg/**', '**/node_modules/**']
 
 const colorNames = Object.keys(namedColors)
 
diff --git a/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/util/isExcluded.ts b/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/util/isExcluded.ts
index 9f48b83..62d1f9e 100644
--- a/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/util/isExcluded.ts
+++ b/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/util/isExcluded.ts
@@ -4,11 +4,13 @@ import { State } from 'tailwindcss-language-service/src/util/state'
 import { TextDocument } from 'vscode-languageserver-textdocument'
 import { getFileFsPath } from './uri'
 
+export const DEFAULT_FILES_EXCLUDE = ['**/.git/**', '**/.svn/**', '**/.hg/**', '**/node_modules/**']
+
 export default async function isExcluded(state: State, document: TextDocument): Promise<boolean> {
   let settings = await state.editor.getConfiguration(document.uri)
   let file = getFileFsPath(document.uri)
 
-  for (let pattern of settings.tailwindCSS.files.exclude) {
+  for (let pattern of settings.tailwindCSS.files?.exclude ?? DEFAULT_FILES_EXCLUDE) {
     if (minimatch(file, path.join(state.editor.folder, pattern))) {
       return true
     }