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shadcn/ui

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Also called shadcn

A collection of accessible, customizable React components that developers copy and paste directly into their source code rather than installing as a dependency.

What it is

Built on top of Radix UI and Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui provides a modern component architecture where developers use a CLI to scaffold components directly into their repository. Unlike traditional component libraries, you own the code completely, allowing for infinite customization without fighting library constraints. It is heavily utilized by AI UI generators like v0.

When you would use it

You use shadcn/ui when you want the speed of a component library but require total ownership over the underlying markup, styles, and accessibility attributes.

Common operations

  • Rapidly scaffolding accessible dashboards and web applications.
  • Serving as the styling target for AI UI generators.

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