Shadcn-ui: What is it, and why do you care?

Each component is built on Radix—a library of unstyled, accessible primitives that handle keyboard navigation, ARIA attributes, and other core accessibility requirements.

‍Why Developers Are Using It‍

• Accessibility First: Components rely on Radix, which handles focus management, screen-reader compatibility, and compliance with relevant accessibility guidelines.
• Customization: Tailwind CSS is the primary styling approach, enabling quick theme changes without rigid, prepackaged design constraints.
• Code Ownership: Shadcn ships components you copy-paste or generate via a CLI. In both cases, the files live in your repository— no forced updates or locked-in designs exist.
• Flexibility: It’s easy to remove or refactor any component, integrate new styling tokens, or adapt the layout for different frameworks like Next.js, Astro, or Remix.

Install and setup options

You typically adopt shadcn in one of two ways:

CLI-based workflow

pnpm dlx shadcn@latest init

Follow prompts to select color schemes, whether to use CSS variables, etc.

‍Add individual components via:

‍pnpm dlx shadcn@latest add button

Copy-Paste

You can also browse the shadcn-ui repo or site, manually copy the necessary component code and paste it into your project.

Both methods achieve the same end result: components that live under your own version control, sidestepping package-level external updates that might otherwise cause conflicts.

Integration with Vercel’s v0 for rapid prototyping

Alongside shadcn, there’s been growing interest in Vercel v0—a platform that integrates generative AI for quickly creating and customizing Next.js applications. While it’s still evolving, v0 offers:

• Natural Language Project Generation: You can describe what you want (e.g., “Create an app with user authentication and a dashboard”) and get a starting codebase, often with initial routes, styles, and configuration in place.
• Interactive Component Editing: For UI elements sourced from shadcn or elsewhere, you can adjust properties and styles, add new functionality via chat, and export updated code.
• Speed and Iteration: The AI-assisted scaffolding helps you prototype faster, especially when combined with shadcn’s prebuilt, Radix-based components.
  

This workflow streamlines the creation and customization of modern, accessible React apps.

Try shadcn-ui

shadcn provides a middle ground between “headless” UI approaches and fully packaged component libraries. You get a clear path to accessibility (via Radix) and a straightforward theming experience (via Tailwind), plus the choice to install or copy components in a way that suits your project best.

With Vercel 's v0 adding generative AI-driven scaffolding, the broader workflow—from initializing a Next.js app to customizing shading components—promises faster prototyping and higher-quality end results.

If you value direct code ownership, accessible defaults, and flexible setup options, shadcn is worth exploring—especially if you plan to use v0’s generative AI tools for rapid Next.js development.