Component Reuse First

Component Reuse First

Before creating any UI component, exhaustively check whether an existing component (or close variant) already covers the need. Only create a new component when reuse is genuinely impossible — and when you do, design it to be reused next time.

Core Workflow

1. Search Before Create (mandatory)

Run all of these in parallel before writing any new component:

• Glob common component directories:
  • **/components/**/*.{tsx,jsx,ts,js,vue,svelte}
  • **/ui/**/*.{tsx,jsx,vue,svelte}
  • **/shared/**/*.{tsx,jsx,vue,svelte}
  • **/design-system/**/*, **/lib/components/**/*
• Grep for the conceptual name and synonyms:
  • User asks for "Modal" → grep Modal|Dialog|Popup|Overlay|Sheet|Drawer
  • User asks for "Button" → grep Button|Btn|IconButton|CTA
  • User asks for "Card" → grep Card|Panel|Tile|Box
  • User asks for "Input" → grep Input|TextField|TextInput|FormField
  • User asks for "List" → grep List|Table|DataGrid|Items
• Check imports in similar pages/features for what they already use
• Check the package.json for design system libraries (shadcn/ui, MUI, Chakra, Mantine, Ant, Radix, HeroUI, NextUI, Tamagui, native-base, etc.) — prefer those over hand-rolling

2. Decision Tree

After search:

• Exact match exists → Reuse as-is. Do not duplicate.
• Close match exists (90%+) → Extend the existing component via props/variants. Do not fork.
• Partial match exists → Refactor existing into base + variant, or compose. Avoid copy-paste.
• Nothing matches → Create new, following the Reusable-by-Default rules below.

State the decision explicitly to the user before coding: e.g. "Found Button at src/ui/Button.tsx with variant prop — adding ghost variant" or "No matching modal — creating new Modal at src/ui/Modal.tsx."

3. Reusable-by-Default Rules (when creating new)

When a new component is necessary, build it for the next caller, not just this one:

Placement

• Shared/generic → components/ui/, src/ui/, or the project's design-system path
• Feature-scoped (only meaningful inside one feature) → features/<feature>/components/
• Never put a reusable primitive inside a route/page file

API design

• Accept className and forward refs (React: forwardRef + cn(className) pattern)
• Spread rest props to the underlying element (...props / v-bind="$attrs")
• Use variants (e.g. cva, tv, prop unions) instead of duplicating components
• Children/slots over hardcoded content
• Use semantic prop names (variant, size, tone, intent) — not visual ones (bigBlueButton)
• Required vs optional props: keep required surface minimal; sensible defaults for the rest

Composition over configuration

• Prefer compound components (Card.Header, Card.Body) over giant prop bags
• Slot/children patterns beat dozens of *Content props

Styling

• Match the project's existing approach (Tailwind, CSS modules, styled-components, vanilla-extract). Do not introduce a new styling system.
• Use design tokens / theme values, not hard-coded colors or spacings

Type safety (TS projects)

• Extend native element props: ButtonHTMLAttributes<HTMLButtonElement>
• Discriminated unions for variants when behavior differs (e.g. as="link" | "button")

Accessibility

• Correct semantic element by default (button vs div)
• ARIA attributes wired through props
• Keyboard interaction handled at the primitive level

4. After Creating

• Export from the directory's index.ts barrel (if the project uses one)
• Add to Storybook / docs if the project has them
• If you noticed during search that several existing components could now be replaced by the new one, mention it to the user (don't refactor unprompted)

Anti-patterns to Refuse

• ❌ Creating Button2, NewButton, CustomButton next to existing Button
• ❌ Inline-defining a component inside a page when it's clearly reusable
• ❌ Copy-pasting a component to tweak two lines instead of adding a prop
• ❌ Hardcoded copy/colors/sizes that prevent reuse
• ❌ Introducing a second design system / UI lib when one is already in use
• ❌ Skipping the search step "because the component is simple"

Quick Heuristics

• If you typed function Button( and a Button already exists in the repo → stop, reuse.
• If your new component has zero props → it's probably not reusable; ask if it should accept content/variants.
• If you're about to write the same JSX you saw 20 minutes ago in another file → extract it.

Example Interactions

User: "Add a confirmation modal for the delete action." You: Grep for Modal|Dialog|Confirm. Found ConfirmDialog at src/ui/ConfirmDialog.tsx. → Reuse it; pass title, onConfirm, destructive props.

User: "Create a pricing card component." You: Grep for Card. Found Card primitive in src/ui/Card.tsx. → Compose PricingCard from Card + Card.Header + Card.Body; place in features/pricing/components/. Don't reinvent the card frame.

User: "I need a button with a loading spinner." You: Grep for Button. Found one without loading prop. → Add loading?: boolean prop to existing Button; do not create LoadingButton.

Activation Triggers

This skill should activate whenever the conversation involves:

• Creating, building, scaffolding, or adding a UI component
• Words: component, button, modal, dialog, card, form, input, table, list, dropdown, menu, sidebar, header, footer, layout, page, view, screen, widget
• Frameworks: React, Vue, Svelte, Angular, Solid, SwiftUI, Jetpack Compose, Flutter
• Phrases: "make a", "build a", "I need a", "create a", "add a" + UI noun