shadcn/ui Component Patterns

Quick Guide: shadcn/ui is a distribution rather than a dependency — npx shadcn@latest add writes component source into your repository and you own it from then on. Three consequences shape everything else: customisation means editing the file, not overriding it from outside; upgrades are a diff you review rather than a version bump; and the components arrive already composed out of a primitive library and utility CSS, which the source imports by name. Theme through CSS custom properties in OKLCH, merge classes through cn(), and lay fields out with Field, which replaced the form-library-coupled Form/FormField pattern.

Detailed Resources:

examples/core.md — components.json, cn(), skeleton loading
examples/composition.md — extending a component, responsive dialog/drawer
examples/forms.md — Field, FieldGroup, FieldSet, the legacy Form pattern
examples/dialogs.md — AlertDialog, Sheet, toasts
examples/data-table.md — table with sortable headers and row actions
examples/command-palette.md — command menu with a keyboard shortcut
examples/theming.md — custom OKLCH colours, dark mode, theme-aware components
reference.md — CLI commands, CSS variable table, anti-patterns, platform changes

Which path applies

Which primitive library the components sit on. init --base radix and --base base produce different component sources for the same registry entry. The shadcn-level API — the exported names, cn(), the variant props, data-slot — is identical either way, so everything in this skill holds; what differs is the primitive whose props you reach for when editing the source.
Field or the legacy Form. New work uses Field and its siblings, which are layout only. A codebase already on Form/FormField/FormItem/FormControl/FormMessage still works; those are bound to one form library and are not where new fields should go. Both are in examples/forms.md.

<critical_requirements>

Before writing shadcn/ui code

Add components with npx shadcn@latest add <name>. The CLI resolves the registry entry's dependencies, installs the primitive packages it needs, writes the file to the path components.json records, and rewrites imports to your configured aliases — none of which happens when source is pasted from the documentation.

Read the component source before changing its behaviour. It is a file in your repository, not a package boundary, so the answer to "can I change this" is always yes and the question worth asking is what else imports it.

Route every class through cn(), with the incoming className last. It resolves conflicting Tailwind utilities by keeping the last one, which is what makes a caller's px-8 replace the component's px-4 instead of joining it in a specificity tie.

Pair every new background colour with a foreground. --brand without --brand-foreground leaves text on that surface inheriting whatever came before, which usually passes in one theme and fails contrast in the other. Add both, in :root and in .dark, plus the @theme inline mapping that turns them into utilities.

Prefer a variant to a one-off class. A style that more than one caller needs belongs in the component's variant map, where it is named and typed; a class list repeated at call sites is the same decision made again each time.

</critical_requirements>

Auto-detection: shadcn/ui, shadcn, components.json, npx shadcn, shadcn@latest add, cn(), data-slot, @theme inline, --base radix, --base base, Field, FieldLabel, FieldDescription, FieldError, FieldGroup, FieldSet, FieldLegend, CommandDialog, SheetContent, AlertDialogAction, --primary-foreground, --sidebar-*, --chart-*

Applies to:

Getting components into a project and keeping them current — the CLI, components.json, diffs
Editing owned component source: adding a variant, a prop, or a behaviour
The theme contract — background/foreground pairs, OKLCH values, @theme inline, dark mode
Composing the compound components the registry ships: Card, Dialog, Sheet, Tabs, Command, Field
Choosing between the registry's overlapping components for a given interaction

Handled elsewhere:

Utility-class authoring and the CSS pipeline — this skill settles which variables the components read; how the utility layer is configured and built is a separate concern
The primitive library underneath — its own props, its asChild semantics and its accessibility contract belong to whichever primitive library the project selected
Variant-map authoring as a general technique — this skill covers extending the variant maps that ship in the component source
Form state, validation and submission — Field is layout and accessibility wiring, and holds no value

shadcn/ui inverts the usual bargain. A component library gives you an API and keeps the source; this gives you the source and keeps nothing. The registry is a starting point that stops being upstream the moment the file lands.

That is why the CLI matters more than it looks. It is not a convenience wrapper around copy-paste — it is the only thing that knows the registry entry's dependency graph, your alias configuration and which primitive base you chose, and it is what makes --diff able to tell you later how far your copy has drifted from the registry's.

What the components are made of is named here as a fact of the composition. The source the CLI writes imports a primitive library, applies utility classes and declares a variant map — a skill that would not name them could not describe the file the reader has open. Teaching those constituents is a different job, and sits above under Handled elsewhere.

</philosophy>

<decision_framework>

Choosing an overlay

Confirmation the user must answer?
└─ AlertDialog — no dismiss path except Cancel or Action

Form or detailed content?
├─ Wide viewport  → Dialog (centred)
└─ Narrow viewport → Drawer (rises from the bottom)
   Both at once → branch on a media query; see examples/composition.md

Editing in context, page still visible?
└─ Sheet — slides in from an edge

A short action or a single selection?
└─ Popover for content, DropdownMenu for a list of actions

Choosing a field control

Text            → Input, or Textarea when it wraps
Two to five options, all worth showing → RadioGroup
Many options    → Select, or Combobox when it needs filtering
Several at once → Checkbox per option
A setting that takes effect immediately → Switch
An agreement or a term to accept        → Checkbox
A date          → Calendar, or DatePicker with a trigger

Whatever the control, wrap it in Field — not the legacy FormField.

</decision_framework>

Core patterns

Pattern 1: Installing and inspecting components

The CLI is the interface to the registry. --dry-run, --diff and --view all answer questions about a component without writing anything, which is what makes reviewing an upgrade possible.

npx shadcn@latest init                  # writes components.json
npx shadcn@latest add button card dialog
npx shadcn@latest add button --diff     # how far your copy has drifted
npx shadcn@latest info                  # the resolved project context

Full command list: reference.md

Pattern 2: The theme contract

Every colour is a pair — a surface and the text that sits on it — declared in :root, overridden in .dark, and exposed as a utility through @theme inline. A new colour needs all three or it exists in only one of the two themes, or in none of the utilities.

:root {
  --brand: oklch(0.627 0.265 303.9);
  --brand-foreground: oklch(1 0 0);
}

@theme inline {
  --color-brand: var(--brand);
  --color-brand-foreground: var(--brand-foreground);
}

--brand-foreground is the text colour used on --brand, not a brand-coloured text — the naming reads the opposite way round to most conventions, and getting it backwards produces invisible text.

Full code: examples/theming.md

Pattern 3: `cn()` and why order matters

cn() is conflict resolution, not concatenation. Two utilities from the same group collapse to the last one, so the incoming className goes last and a caller's override actually wins.

cn("px-4", "px-8"); // → "px-8", not "px-4 px-8"

<div className={cn("rounded-lg border bg-card shadow-sm", className)} />;

Plain string concatenation leaves both classes in the list, and which one renders then depends on their order in the generated stylesheet rather than on the call site.

Full code: examples/core.md

Pattern 4: Extending a component through its variant map

Each shipped component declares its styles as a variant map — a base class list plus named variant and size axes, with the prop types derived from the map. You add a variant by editing that map in your own source; there is no augmentation API because none is needed.

variants: {
  variant: {
    default: "bg-primary text-primary-foreground hover:bg-primary/90",
    brand: "bg-brand text-brand-foreground hover:bg-brand/90",  // added
  },
}

<Button variant="brand">Subscribe</Button>;

Adding a behavioural prop works the same way — see the loading button in examples/composition.md.

Pattern 5: `Field` for form layout

Field and its siblings carry the label, description, error slot and the ARIA wiring between them, and hold no value of their own. That is what makes them work with any form library, with server actions, or with nothing at all.

<Field data-invalid={hasError}>
  <FieldLabel htmlFor="email">Email</FieldLabel>
  <Input id="email" aria-invalid={hasError} />
  <FieldDescription>We will never share your email.</FieldDescription>
  {hasError && <FieldError errors={errors} />}
</Field>

The contract is those three points: data-invalid on Field, aria-invalid on the control, and FieldError rendered only when there is an error. FieldGroup, FieldSet and FieldLegend group fields; orientation switches label placement.

Full code: examples/forms.md

Pattern 6: Composing the compound components

Card, Dialog, Sheet, Tabs and Command are each a set of parts. Wrap them to build something specific; replacing the parts with plain elements loses the styling hooks and, in the overlays, the behaviour.

function ProductCard({ title, price }: ProductCardProps) {
  return (
    <Card>
      <CardHeader>
        <CardTitle>{title}</CardTitle>
        <CardDescription>${price}</CardDescription>
      </CardHeader>
    </Card>
  );
}

asChild on a trigger merges it onto your child rather than nesting inside it, which is what keeps a Button wrapping a link from rendering an anchor inside a button.

Full code: examples/dialogs.md, examples/command-palette.md

</patterns>

<red_flags>

Red flags

Breaks at runtime:

No components.json — every CLI command fails, since it is where the aliases, the style and the primitive base are recorded
A background colour added without its -foreground pair — text on that surface inherits, and the result usually passes in one theme and fails contrast in the other
A colour added to :root but not to .dark, or not mapped in @theme inline — it exists in one theme, or in no utility
hsl() wrapped around a value that is already oklch(...) — an invalid colour, so the declaration is dropped and the element falls back to whatever it inherited
A Button containing a link rather than asChild onto it — an anchor nested in a button is invalid HTML and reaches keyboard users as one confusing control
A Select given neither value nor defaultValue while onValueChange is wired — it never displays a selection

Surprising behaviour:

--primary-foreground is the text colour on --primary, not a primary-coloured text
Concatenating class strings instead of using cn() leaves both conflicting utilities present, so which one wins depends on stylesheet order rather than on the call site
Editing a component in components/ui/ is the intended workflow; --diff is how you later see what you changed against the registry
Under React 19 the shipped components take ref as an ordinary prop and mark their parts with data-slot rather than exporting a class name to target
A theme provider that reads the system preference needs suppressHydrationWarning on <html>, because the server cannot know which class the client will apply
Form/FormField/FormItem/FormControl/FormMessage still work and are still bound to one form library — Field is where new fields go
Chart colours are read as var(--chart-1) directly; the hsl() wrapper older setups used is now wrong rather than merely redundant

</red_flags>