Shadcn

shadcn/ui

A framework for building ui, components and design systems. Components are added as source code to the user's project via the CLI.

IMPORTANT: Default shadcn runner: bunx --bun shadcn@latest. In pnpm repos, use pnpm dlx shadcn@latest; with npm, npx shadcn@latest; with Yarn, yarn dlx shadcn@latest. Detect via packageManager, then lockfile. Examples use Bun; substitute the project runner throughout, including the info --json step below.

Current Project Context

Select the package runner using the IMPORTANT line above, then load the project config and installed components with <runner> info --json. With the default Bun runner the context is already injected below:

!`bunx --bun shadcn@latest info --json`

The resulting JSON contains the project config and installed components. If the injected result below is an error (e.g. Bun is not installed), run <runner> info --json with your selected runner instead. Use <runner> docs <component> to get documentation and example URLs for any component.

Principles

1. Use existing components first. Use bunx --bun shadcn@latest search to check registries before writing custom UI. Check community registries too.
2. Compose, don't reinvent. Settings page = Tabs + Card + form controls. Dashboard = Sidebar + Card + Chart + Table.
3. Use built-in variants before custom styles. variant="outline", size="sm", etc.
4. Use semantic colors. bg-primary, text-muted-foreground — never raw values like bg-blue-500.

Critical Rules

These rules are always enforced. Each links to a file with Incorrect/Correct code pairs.

Styling & Tailwind → styling.md

• className for layout, not styling. Never override component colors or typography.
• No space-x-* or space-y-*. Use flex with gap-*. For vertical stacks, flex flex-col gap-*.
• Use size-* when width and height are equal. size-10 not w-10 h-10.
• Use truncate shorthand. Not overflow-hidden text-ellipsis whitespace-nowrap.
• No manual dark: color overrides. Use semantic tokens (bg-background, text-muted-foreground).
• Use cn() for conditional classes. Don't write manual template literal ternaries.
• No manual z-index on overlay components. Dialog, Sheet, Popover, etc. handle their own stacking.

Forms & Inputs → forms.md

• Forms use FieldGroup + Field. Never use raw div with space-y-* or grid gap-* for form layout.
• InputGroup uses InputGroupInput/InputGroupTextarea. Never raw Input/Textarea inside InputGroup.
• Buttons inside inputs use InputGroup + InputGroupAddon.
• Option sets (2–7 choices) use ToggleGroup. Don't loop Button with manual active state.
• FieldSet + FieldLegend for grouping related checkboxes/radios. Don't use a div with a heading.
• Field validation uses data-invalid + aria-invalid. data-invalid on Field, aria-invalid on the control. For disabled: data-disabled on Field, disabled on the control.

Component Structure → composition.md

• Items always inside their Group. SelectItem → SelectGroup. DropdownMenuItem → DropdownMenuGroup. CommandItem → CommandGroup.
• Use asChild (radix) or render (base) for custom triggers. Check base field from bunx --bun shadcn@latest info. → base-vs-radix.md
• Dialog, Sheet, and Drawer always need a Title. DialogTitle, SheetTitle, DrawerTitle required for accessibility. Use className="sr-only" if visually hidden.
• Use full Card composition. CardHeader/CardTitle/CardDescription/CardContent/CardFooter. Don't dump everything in CardContent.
• Button has no isPending/isLoading. Compose with Spinner + data-icon + disabled.
• TabsTrigger must be inside TabsList. Never render triggers directly in Tabs.
• Avatar always needs AvatarFallback. For when the image fails to load.

Use Components, Not Custom Markup → composition.md

• Use existing components before custom markup. Check if a component exists before writing a styled div.
• Callouts use Alert. Don't build custom styled divs.
• Empty states use Empty. Don't build custom empty state markup.
• Toast follows the project base. Use toast from the toast component for Base UI projects. Use toast() from sonner for Radix and React Aria projects.
• Use Separator instead of <hr> or <div className="border-t">.
• Use Skeleton for loading placeholders. No custom animate-pulse divs.
• Use Badge instead of custom styled spans.

Icons → icons.md

• Icons in Button use data-icon. data-icon="inline-start" or data-icon="inline-end" on the icon.
• No sizing classes on icons inside components. Components handle icon sizing via CSS. No size-4 or w-4 h-4.
• Pass icons as objects, not string keys. icon={CheckIcon}, not a string lookup.

Chat & Messaging → chat.md

• Chat UI composes the chat primitives. Conversations use MessageScroller, rows use Message, surfaces use Bubble. Never hand-rolled bubble divs or a raw scroll container.
• MessageScroller owns scroll behavior. Streaming follow, anchoring, and jump-to-latest (MessageScrollerButton) are built in. Don't write a useStickToBottom/ResizeObserver hook.
• Attachments use Attachment; system notes and dividers use Marker. Not Item cards or Separator + a label.

CLI

• Never decode preset codes or build preset URLs manually. Use bunx --bun shadcn@latest preset decode <code>, preset url <code>, or preset open <code>. For project-aware preset detection, use bunx --bun shadcn@latest preset resolve.
• Apply preset codes directly with the CLI. Use bunx --bun shadcn@latest apply <code> for existing projects, or bunx --bun shadcn@latest init --preset <code> when initializing.

Key Patterns

These are the most common patterns that differentiate correct shadcn/ui code. For edge cases, see the linked rule files above.

// Form layout: FieldGroup + Field, not div + Label.
<FieldGroup>
  <Field>
    <FieldLabel htmlFor="email">Email</FieldLabel>
    <Input id="email" />
  </Field>
</FieldGroup>

// Validation: data-invalid on Field, aria-invalid on the control.
<Field data-invalid>
  <FieldLabel>Email</FieldLabel>
  <Input aria-invalid />
  <FieldDescription>Invalid email.</FieldDescription>
</Field>

// Icons in buttons: data-icon, no sizing classes.
<Button>
  <SearchIcon data-icon="inline-start" />
  Search
</Button>

// Spacing: gap-*, not space-y-*.
<div className="flex flex-col gap-4">  // correct
<div className="space-y-4">           // wrong

// Equal dimensions: size-*, not w-* h-*.
<Avatar className="size-10">   // correct
<Avatar className="w-10 h-10"> // wrong

// Status colors: Badge variants or semantic tokens, not raw colors.
<Badge variant="secondary">+20.1%</Badge>    // correct
<span className="text-emerald-600">+20.1%</span> // wrong

Component Selection

Key Fields

The injected project context contains these key fields:

• aliases → use the actual alias prefix for imports (e.g. @/, ~/), never hardcode.
• isRSC → when true, components using useState, useEffect, event handlers, or browser APIs need "use client" at the top of the file. Always reference this field when advising on the directive.
• tailwindVersion → "v4" uses @theme inline blocks; "v3" uses tailwind.config.js.
• tailwindCssFile → the global CSS file where custom CSS variables are defined. Always edit this file, never create a new one.
• style → component visual treatment (e.g. nova, vega).
• base → primitive library (radix or base). Affects component APIs and available props.
• iconLibrary → determines icon imports. Use lucide-react for lucide, @tabler/icons-react for tabler, etc. Never assume lucide-react.
• resolvedPaths → exact file-system destinations for components, utils, hooks, etc.
• framework → routing and file conventions (e.g. Next.js App Router vs Vite SPA).
• packageManager → use this for any non-shadcn dependency installs (e.g. pnpm add date-fns vs npm install date-fns).
• preset → resolved preset code and values for the current project. Use bunx --bun shadcn@latest preset resolve --json when you only need preset information.

See cli.md — info command for the full field reference.

Component Docs, Examples, and Usage

Run bunx --bun shadcn@latest docs <component> to get the URLs for a component's documentation, examples, and API reference. Fetch these URLs to get the actual content.

bunx --bun shadcn@latest docs button dialog select

When creating, fixing, debugging, or using a component, always run bunx --bun shadcn@latest docs and fetch the URLs first. This ensures you're working with the correct API and usage patterns rather than guessing.

Workflow

1. Get project context — already injected above. Run bunx --bun shadcn@latest info again if you need to refresh.
2. Check installed components first — before running add, always check the components list from project context or list the resolvedPaths.ui directory. Don't import components that haven't been added, and don't re-add ones already installed.
3. Find components — bunx --bun shadcn@latest search.
4. Get docs and examples — run bunx --bun shadcn@latest docs <component> to get URLs, then fetch them. Use bunx --bun shadcn@latest view to browse registry items you haven't installed. To preview changes to installed components, use bunx --bun shadcn@latest add --diff.
5. Install or update — bunx --bun shadcn@latest add. When updating existing components, use --dry-run and --diff to preview changes first (see Updating Components below).
6. Fix imports in third-party components — After adding components from community registries (e.g. @bundui, @magicui), check the added non-UI files for hardcoded import paths like @/components/ui/.... These won't match the project's actual aliases. Use bunx --bun shadcn@latest info to get the correct ui alias (e.g. @workspace/ui/components) and rewrite the imports accordingly. The CLI rewrites imports for its own UI files, but third-party registry components may use default paths that don't match the project.
7. Review added components — After adding a component or block from any registry, always read the added files and verify they are correct. Check for missing sub-components (e.g. SelectItem without SelectGroup), missing imports, incorrect composition, or violations of the Critical Rules. Also replace any icon imports with the project's iconLibrary from the project context (e.g. if the registry item uses lucide-react but the project uses hugeicons, swap the imports and icon names accordingly). Fix all issues before moving on.
8. Registry must be explicit — When the user asks to add a block or component, do not guess the registry. If no registry is specified (e.g. user says "add a login block" without specifying @shadcn, @tailark, owner/repo, etc.), ask which registry to use. Never default to a registry on behalf of the user.
9. Switching presets — Ask the user first: overwrite, partial, merge, or skip?
   • Inspect current preset: bunx --bun shadcn@latest preset resolve. Use --json when you need structured values.
   • Inspect incoming preset: bunx --bun shadcn@latest preset decode <code>. Use preset url <code> or preset open <code> to share or open the preset builder.
   • Overwrite: bunx --bun shadcn@latest apply <code>. Overwrites detected components, fonts, and CSS variables.
   • Partial: bunx --bun shadcn@latest apply <code> --only theme,font. Updates only the selected preset parts without reinstalling UI components. Supported values are theme and font; comma-separated combinations are allowed. icon is intentionally not supported, because icon changes may require full component reinstall and transforms.
   • Merge: bunx --bun shadcn@latest init --preset <code> --force --no-reinstall, then run bunx --bun shadcn@latest info to list installed components, then for each installed component use --dry-run and --diff to smart merge it individually.
   • Skip: bunx --bun shadcn@latest init --preset <code> --force --no-reinstall. Only updates config and CSS, leaves components as-is.
   • Important: Always run preset commands inside the user's project directory. apply only works in an existing project with a components.json file. The CLI automatically preserves the current base (base vs radix) from components.json. If you must use a scratch/temp directory (e.g. for --dry-run comparisons), pass --base <current-base> explicitly — preset codes do not encode the base.

Updating Components

When the user asks to update a component from upstream while keeping their local changes, use --dry-run and --diff to intelligently merge. NEVER fetch raw files from GitHub manually — always use the CLI.

1. Run bunx --bun shadcn@latest add <component> --dry-run to see all files that would be affected.
2. For each file, run bunx --bun shadcn@latest add <component> --diff <file> to see what changed upstream vs local.
3. Decide per file based on the diff:
   • No local changes → safe to overwrite.
   • Has local changes → read the local file, analyze the diff, and apply upstream updates while preserving local modifications.
   • User says "just update everything" → use --overwrite, but confirm first.
4. Never use --overwrite without the user's explicit approval.

Quick Reference

# Create a new project.
bunx --bun shadcn@latest init --name my-app --preset base-nova
bunx --bun shadcn@latest init --name my-app --preset a2r6bw --template vite

# Create a monorepo project.
bunx --bun shadcn@latest init --name my-app --preset base-nova --monorepo
bunx --bun shadcn@latest init --name my-app --preset base-nova --template next --monorepo

# Initialize existing project.
bunx --bun shadcn@latest init --preset base-nova
bunx --bun shadcn@latest init --defaults  # shortcut: --template=next --preset=nova (base style implied)

# Apply a preset to an existing project.
bunx --bun shadcn@latest apply a2r6bw
bunx --bun shadcn@latest apply a2r6bw --only theme
bunx --bun shadcn@latest apply a2r6bw --only font
bunx --bun shadcn@latest apply a2r6bw --only theme,font

# Inspect preset codes and project preset state.
bunx --bun shadcn@latest preset decode a2r6bw
bunx --bun shadcn@latest preset url a2r6bw
bunx --bun shadcn@latest preset open a2r6bw
bunx --bun shadcn@latest preset resolve
bunx --bun shadcn@latest preset resolve --json

# Add components.
bunx --bun shadcn@latest add button card dialog
bunx --bun shadcn@latest add @magicui/shimmer-button
bunx --bun shadcn@latest add owner/repo/item
bunx --bun shadcn@latest add --all

# Preview changes before adding/updating.
bunx --bun shadcn@latest add button --dry-run
bunx --bun shadcn@latest add button --diff button.tsx
bunx --bun shadcn@latest add @acme/form --view button.tsx
bunx --bun shadcn@latest add owner/repo/item --dry-run

# Search registries.
bunx --bun shadcn@latest search @shadcn -q "sidebar"
bunx --bun shadcn@latest search @tailark -q "stats"
bunx --bun shadcn@latest search owner/repo -q "login"
bunx --bun shadcn@latest search                          # all configured registries
bunx --bun shadcn@latest search @shadcn -q "menu" -t ui  # filter by item type

# Get component docs and example URLs.
bunx --bun shadcn@latest docs button dialog select

# View registry item details (for items not yet installed).
bunx --bun shadcn@latest view @shadcn/button
bunx --bun shadcn@latest view owner/repo/item

Named presets: nova, vega, maia, lyra, mira, luma Templates: next, vite, start, react-router, astro (all support --monorepo) and laravel (not supported for monorepo) Preset codes: Version-prefixed base62 strings (e.g. a2r6bw or b0), from ui.shadcn.com.

Detailed References

Layout note: this skill vendors the upstream shadcn skill layout, so long-form material lives in top-level cli.md, registry.md, customization.md, and rules/ instead of references/. This is intentional: it keeps future upstream updates mergeable. Do not "fix" it by moving files into references/.

• rules/forms.md — FieldGroup, Field, InputGroup, ToggleGroup, FieldSet, validation states
• rules/composition.md — Groups, overlays, Card, Tabs, Avatar, Alert, Empty, Toast, Separator, Skeleton, Badge, Button loading
• rules/chat.md — MessageScroller, Message, Bubble, Attachment, Marker; streaming, anchoring, jump-to-latest
• rules/icons.md — data-icon, icon sizing, passing icons as objects
• rules/styling.md — Semantic colors, variants, className, spacing, size, truncate, dark mode, cn(), z-index
• rules/base-vs-radix.md — asChild vs render, Select, ToggleGroup, Slider, Accordion
• cli.md — Commands, flags, presets, templates
• registry.md — Authoring source registries, include, item definitions, dependencies, GitHub registry rules
• customization.md — Theming, CSS variables, extending components