CoreUI Free Bootstrap Admin Template
Free Bootstrap 5 admin dashboard template with AI-coding context files included.
- Stars
- 12.3k
- Forks
- 3.1k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- HTML
- Last update
- 3 months ago
- Type
- App
What it is
This is a free starter template for building admin panels and dashboards using Bootstrap 5, a popular CSS framework. It gives you pre-built layouts, pages and components so you do not have to design an admin interface from scratch. It also includes documentation files meant to help AI coding assistants understand the project.
- Start a new admin dashboard with sidebar navigation and prebuilt pages
- Adapt the included authentication, error and form pages for your own app
- Customize styles using the SCSS source files
- Use the included icon references from the CoreUI icon set
Great for
- Developers building an internal admin or dashboard page with Bootstrap
- Teams who want a starting layout instead of building one from zero
- Developers who use AI coding assistants like Cursor or Claude Code
- Developers who prefer plain Bootstrap over React, Vue or Angular
Not ideal for
- People who need a finished app without any coding, since this is a developer starter template
- Teams that need a React, Vue or Angular version; the README points to separate projects for those
- Projects needing the paid CoreUI PRO components, which the README describes as separate products
How to get it
- 1
Clone and build from source
You'll need: Node.js · npm
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/coreui/coreui-free-bootstrap-admin-template.git my-projectGo into the project folder
cd my-projectInstall dependencies
npm install - 2
Run it
- Run npm install inside the project folder
- Run npm start to serve the template with hot reload at localhost:3000
- Open localhost:3000 in your browser
- Run npm run build when you want a minified production build
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Open the project in an AI-powered IDE such as Cursor or VS Code with Copilot to use the included context files
- Read ARCHITECTURE.md and DEVELOPMENT.md for the build pipeline and conventions
- Use the Pug and SCSS source folders to change layouts and styles
- Check the CoreUI documentation site linked in the README for component examples
Downloads
Strengths
- Free and MIT licensed, so it can be used in commercial projects per the license
- Built on Bootstrap 5 with a documented folder structure
- Includes AI assistant context files such as .cursorrules and ARCHITECTURE.md
Trade-offs
- The README mentions many paid CoreUI PRO and add-on products, which may make the free scope less clear
- The README is truncated, so details of the full feature list and version history are not confirmed here
- Setup depends on Node.js and npm tooling that the README does not fully spell out
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| coreui-free-bootstrap-admin-template (this) | 12.3k | App | intermediate | 3 months ago | Developers building an internal admin or dashboard page with Bootstrap |
| AdminLTE | 45.7k | Library | beginner | 5 days ago | Developers building an internal admin panel or back-office tool quickly |
| tabler | 42k | Library | beginner | 7 days ago | Developers building internal admin panels or dashboards quickly |
| gentelella | 21.6k | Library | intermediate | 6 days ago | Developers who want a starting point for an internal admin panel without adopting a frontend framework |
| ngx-admin | 25.7k | Framework | intermediate | 2.1 years ago | Developers starting a new Angular admin or back-office dashboard |
| vuestic-admin | 11k | App | intermediate | 8 months ago | Developers starting a new internal admin or dashboard in Vue |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.