diff --git a/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/server.ts b/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/server.ts
index b706d1505f56a3380b0a311ced6ae033e14fab1c..809c79d62601bebcdd608f705dbb9bb52f58af18 100644
--- a/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/server.ts
+++ b/packages/tailwindcss-language-server/src/server.ts
@@ -642,7 +642,7 @@       originalConfig = klona(exports)
 
       let separator = dlv(exports, sepLocation)
       if (typeof separator !== 'string') {
-        separator = ''
+        separator = ':'
       }
       dset(exports, sepLocation, `__TWSEP__${separator}__TWSEP__`)
       exports.purge = []
@@ -732,6 +732,7 @@       throw new SilentError(`Failed to load config file: ${state.configPath}`)
     }
 
     state.config = resolveConfig.module(originalConfig)
+    state.separator = state.config.separator
 
     if (state.jit) {
       state.jitContext = state.modules.jit.createContext.module(state)
@@ -772,7 +773,6 @@     watcher.add(state.dependencies)
 
     state.configId = getConfigId(state.configPath, state.dependencies)
 
-    state.separator = state.config.separator
     state.plugins = await getPlugins(originalConfig)
     state.classNames = (await extractClassNames(postcssResult.root)) as ClassNames
     state.variants = getVariants(state)