shadcn/ui: the component library that doesn't fight you

The problem with component libraries

I've used them all. Material UI, Chakra, Ant Design, Mantine. They all share the same problem: when you need to customize something beyond the provided props, you fight the library.

Override styles? Specificity wars. Custom behavior? Fork the component. Different design language? Good luck theming a library that was designed for Material Design.

shadcn/ui is different

It's not a library you install. It's a collection of components you copy into your project. You own the code. You modify it directly. There's no abstraction layer between you and the DOM.

npx shadcn@latest add button dialog form table

This copies the component source into src/components/ui/. Need to change the button's border radius? Edit the file. Need a custom variant? Add it.

Why this works for client projects

Every client has different design requirements. With a traditional component library, customization is:

1. Read the theming docs
2. Create a custom theme
3. Override individual component styles
4. Discover some styles can't be overridden
5. Use !important or CSS hacks
6. Hate your life

With shadcn/ui:

1. Edit the component file
2. Done

The Radix UI foundation

Under the hood, shadcn/ui components use Radix UI primitives for accessibility and behavior. This means you get:

• Keyboard navigation
• Screen reader support
• Focus management
• ARIA attributes

All without thinking about it. The accessible behavior is baked into the primitives. You just style the surface.

My most-used components

Across all my projects, these get used on every build:

• Button, the foundation of every UI
• Dialog, modals done right (focus trap, escape to close)
• Form, React Hook Form + Zod integration out of the box
• Table, pairs perfectly with TanStack Table for data-heavy dashboards
• Tabs, for dashboard layouts
• Toast (Sonner), non-intrusive notifications
• Command (cmdk), command palette for power users

The ecosystem is thriving

shadcn/ui has become the de facto standard for React projects. The community contributes new components regularly, and the CLI makes adding them frictionless. It's the first thing I install on every new project.