Shadcn Svelte

shadcn-svelte

Overview

shadcn-svelte is a copy-paste component library for Svelte 5 + Tailwind CSS v4, built on top of Bits UI primitives. Components are installed into your project source (not imported from node_modules), so you own and customize the code.

CLI

Install a component (no confirmation prompt)

npx shadcn-svelte@latest add <component> -y

Install multiple components

npx shadcn-svelte@latest add button card dialog tabs -y

Install all components

npx shadcn-svelte@latest add -a -y

Overwrite existing files

npx shadcn-svelte@latest add <component> -y -o

Initialize a new project

npx shadcn-svelte@latest init

Key CLI flags: -y (skip confirmation), -o (overwrite), -a (all components), --no-deps (skip dependency install).

Discovering Available Components

Do NOT hardcode a component list. The registry is updated regularly. Use these live sources:

Live Registry (machine-readable)

Fetch the current component list from:

https://shadcn-svelte.com/registry/index.json

Filter entries where "type": "registry:ui" to get UI components. Each entry has a name (the CLI install name) and registryDependencies (other components it depends on).

Individual component JSON (for inspecting files, dependencies):

https://shadcn-svelte.com/registry/<name>.json

LLM-Friendly Docs

Full structured docs index:

https://shadcn-svelte.com/llms.txt

Component Documentation

Each component doc page follows this pattern:

https://shadcn-svelte.com/docs/components/<name>

For example: https://shadcn-svelte.com/docs/components/accordion

Where to Look Up API Docs

Most components are thin wrappers around Bits UI. When you need the full API reference (props, events, state management, accessibility), check the underlying package docs.

Bits UI (primary primitive library)

• Docs index: https://bits-ui.com/llms.txt
• Full docs dump: https://bits-ui.com/docs/llms.txt
• Per-component: https://bits-ui.com/docs/components/<name>
• Per-component LLM version: https://bits-ui.com/docs/components/<name>/llms.txt
• GitHub: https://github.com/huntabyte/bits-ui

The majority of shadcn-svelte components map directly to a Bits UI component of the same name (accordion, dialog, tabs, select, popover, tooltip, etc.).

Components with different underlying packages

Components that are shadcn-svelte only (no underlying primitive)

These are simple styled components with no external primitive dependency -- just read the shadcn-svelte docs page:

alert, badge, button-group, breadcrumb, card, empty, field, input, input-group, item, kbd, native-select, skeleton, spinner, table, textarea, typography

Usage Patterns

Importing components

Components are installed to your $lib/components/ui/ directory (configurable in components.json):

<script lang="ts">
  import { Button } from "$lib/components/ui/button";
  import * as Dialog from "$lib/components/ui/dialog";
  import * as Tabs from "$lib/components/ui/tabs";
</script>

Compound components (dialog, tabs, accordion, select, etc.) use namespace imports (import * as X).

Basic component example

<script lang="ts">
  import { Button } from "$lib/components/ui/button";
  import * as Card from "$lib/components/ui/card";
</script>

<Card.Root>
  <Card.Header>
    <Card.Title>Title</Card.Title>
    <Card.Description>Description</Card.Description>
  </Card.Header>
  <Card.Content>
    <p>Content here</p>
  </Card.Content>
  <Card.Footer>
    <Button>Action</Button>
  </Card.Footer>
</Card.Root>

Compound component pattern (Bits UI based)

<script lang="ts">
  import * as Dialog from "$lib/components/ui/dialog";
  import { Button } from "$lib/components/ui/button";
</script>

<Dialog.Root>
  <Dialog.Trigger>
    {#snippet child({ props })}
      <Button {...props}>Open</Button>
    {/snippet}
  </Dialog.Trigger>
  <Dialog.Content>
    <Dialog.Header>
      <Dialog.Title>Title</Dialog.Title>
      <Dialog.Description>Description</Dialog.Description>
    </Dialog.Header>
    <p>Body</p>
    <Dialog.Footer>
      <Dialog.Close>Cancel</Dialog.Close>
    </Dialog.Footer>
  </Dialog.Content>
</Dialog.Root>

State management with Svelte 5 runes

Bits UI components support bind:value for two-way binding:

<script lang="ts">
  import * as Tabs from "$lib/components/ui/tabs";

  let activeTab = $state("account");
</script>

<Tabs.Root bind:value={activeTab}>
  <Tabs.List>
    <Tabs.Trigger value="account">Account</Tabs.Trigger>
    <Tabs.Trigger value="settings">Settings</Tabs.Trigger>
  </Tabs.List>
  <Tabs.Content value="account">Account tab</Tabs.Content>
  <Tabs.Content value="settings">Settings tab</Tabs.Content>
</Tabs.Root>

Theming

shadcn-svelte uses CSS custom properties for theming. The base color is chosen during init. Colors are defined in your global CSS file using HSL values. See https://shadcn-svelte.com/docs/theming for the full variable reference.

Common Mistakes

• Do not import from shadcn-svelte or bits-ui directly for styled components -- import from your local $lib/components/ui/ path.
• When looking up component APIs (props, events, sub-components), check Bits UI docs for Bits-based components, not just the shadcn-svelte page (which focuses on styling/usage examples).
• Do not hardcode component lists -- always fetch from the live registry at https://shadcn-svelte.com/registry/index.json.
• Use -y flag when adding components in automated/agent contexts to skip confirmation prompts.
• The form component requires both formsnap and sveltekit-superforms -- check both package docs for form validation patterns.