To achieve rapid detection of tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) in food, a fluorescence probe method based on wood essential oil carbon dots (WCDs) was developed. Blue-fluorescent WCDs were synthesized via a one-step oil bath method using wood essential oil as the raw material. The detection performance and mechanism of WCDs toward TCs were investigated, and the feasibility of the WCDs-based fluorescence probe was validated in eight food samples. Results indicated that the optimal excitation and emission wavelengths of WCDs were 370 nm and 440 nm, respectively. Under optimized conditions using phosphate buffer as solvent, with incubation at 45 ℃ for 30 min, the WCDs probe exhibited a strong linear response to TCs within the concentration range of 0.05～5.0 μg·mL -1 (R2=0.999 5), and a detection limit of 0.036 41 μg·mL -1. The fluorescence quenching of WCDs induced by TCs was attributed to the synergistic effects of fluorescence resonance energy transfer and aggregation-caused quenching. Spike recovery tests in eight food samples yielded recoveries of 94.0%～106.4% with relative standard deviations of 1.2%～2.7%. These findings demonstrate that the WCDs fluorescence probe possesses high selectivity, sensitivity, and practical applicability for rapid TCs detection, offering a novel strategy for monitoring TCs in food.