shadcn/ui
Copy-in React UI components you customize as your own code, built on Tailwind CSS.shadcn-ui/ui
- Stars
- 127k
- Forks
- 12k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- TypeScript
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- Library
What it is
shadcn/ui is a collection of UI components (buttons, forms and similar pieces) that you add to your own project as source code rather than installing as a locked package. You can then edit, extend and restyle them. The README describes it as a starting point for building your own component library.
- Add a prebuilt, accessible button, dialog or form to a React app and then restyle it
- Build an internal component library on top of the provided components
- Create a shared design system for a product team
Great for
- Developers building React or Next.js interfaces who want full control over component code
- Teams that want a consistent design system they can change freely
- Designers working with developers who need components that match a custom look
- Projects already using Tailwind CSS, which the topics list suggests is the styling base
Not ideal for
- People who want a finished, unstyled-free app or website template; this is a set of building blocks
- Developers who do not use React, since the topics point to a React-focused stack
- Beginners without basic web development knowledge, as adapting components requires reading code
How to get it
- 1
See the README
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/shadcn-ui/ui - 2
Run it
- Read the documentation at https://ui.shadcn.com/docs
- Follow the setup guide there to add your first component to a project
- Customize the generated component code in your own project
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Read the full documentation at ui.shadcn.com/docs for setup and component options
- Edit the copied component source directly to match your brand instead of overriding styles
- Check the contributing guide if you want to propose changes upstream
Downloads
Strengths
- Component code lives in your project, so you can change it without waiting on an upstream release
- The README states the components are open source and MIT licensed
- Large community interest, with over 120,000 stars on GitHub
Trade-offs
- Because you own the code, you are responsible for updating components yourself
- The README provided is short, so detailed setup and feature information lives on the external docs site
- Relies on a specific stack (React and Tailwind) as indicated by the topics, which limits use elsewhere
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ui (this) | 127k | Library | intermediate | 4 days ago | Developers building React or Next.js interfaces who want full control over component code |
| headlessui | 28.8k | Library | intermediate | 7 months ago | React or Vue developers building custom-designed interfaces |
| material-ui | 99.3k | Library | intermediate | 4 days ago | React developers who want a consistent, prebuilt set of UI components |
| chakra-ui | 40.7k | Library | intermediate | 4 days ago | React developers who want prebuilt UI components instead of styling from scratch |
| magicui | 23k | Library | intermediate | 4 days ago | React or Next.js developers who want animated landing-page elements |
| hyperui | 12.3k | Library | beginner | 11 days ago | Developers building marketing sites with Tailwind CSS |
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.