3 ms·

Brainless: Shadcn components that look like Claude Code, Codex and Grok

128 points by benswerd 3mo ago

dprkh 3mo ago
Why did you choose to use shadcn registry?
- benswerd 3mo ago
  Generally, when using these components I ended up wanting to customize a lot. I switched around the options, coloring, the words in the loading, I mix and matched the components from different CLIs, etc. I think these are more useful as baselines than as final destinations, and I expect production users to customize them far more than options in components. I also separately don't really believe in traditional components anymore, code is cheap. The value in these components is that I took the time to pixel match a bunch of the CLIs, not the specific interface used to integrate them.
  - tipiirai 3mo ago
    What are traditional components? How are untraditional better?
    - benswerd 3mo ago
      Think MUI, heroUI, traditional components have you install their package, import the component and configure it through arguments. ShadCN components have you copy the component code into your codebase, you own it. They come with the ability to configure arguments, but also because the code is yours its expected that you change the internal logic/styling/structure of the component. I believe in the era of AI code the ladder just makes more sense.
      - crab_galaxy 3mo ago
        If you are using shadCN as building blocks for a centralized component library I think it makes more sense, but personally I don’t think the component registry pattern scales well across multiple teams/UIs. ShadCN and tailwind really encourage design drift. I think shadCN has its place for sure but I’d always advocate for Mantine and css modules anywhere early enough to use premade UI solutions.
      - scoot 3mo ago
        > ShadCN components have you copy the component code into your codebase, you own it That’s a common misconception/myth/lie that doesn’t seem to want to go away even though Shadcn is more honest about it these days. You don’t own the compenents, and you don’t copy the component code into your codebase. The components are Base UI (and previously Radix) And they’re imported like any other. What you’re copying is a thin styling wrapper, just the same as you can use to restyle “traditional” components. The difference is that you have to provide all the styles, rather than just overrides, which can be both a blessing and a curse.
        benswerd 3mo ago
        I think this is a misinterpretation. BaseUI provides baseline semantics that because the code is in your codebase you can choose to keep or remove. BaseUI is also actively unstyled/unopinionated, you use it to compose your own components, which again live in your codebase. When you import shadcn components you can rebuild them however you want, thats the point.
        bbg2401 3mo ago
        > When you import shadcn components you can rebuild them however you want, thats the point. Why not use BaseUI directly?
        benswerd 3mo ago
        I'm a big believer in guides. ShadCN provides great starting points for continued engineering as do other ShadCN libraries. For companies with the resources to, they do just start with BaseUI. In the long run I think most UI will be BaseUI/RadixUI + Component and style guides, prompts, and traditional packages will no longer be relevant.
        nightski 3mo ago
        I mean, you are using BaseUI directly... The components on top live in your code base.
sim04ful 3mo ago
I love this!
_345 3mo ago
What inspired you to make this?
- benswerd 3mo ago
  gonna use it on my websites homepage
techpression 3mo ago
I fully expected this to be complements for the output you get from those tools for some reason, that AI generated look. No idea why anyone would want that though.
Exoristos 3mo ago
On a barely-related note, I'm getting a little tired of job openings at startups that emphatically require Shadcn and Tailwind for dedicated frontend development. Shadcn and Tailwind are crutches for "fullstack" devs -- if I'm a really accomplished frontend developer, they make little sense for me to use and hamper what I can do for you. Just a peeve.
- foxygen 3mo ago
  I don’t know about Shadcn, but how does Tailaind hampers your ability to do anything?
  - Exoristos 3mo ago
    Some developers are CSS experts.
    - foxygen 3mo ago
      Can you show me some examples that are hard to implement in Tailwind? I've been using Tailwind for an app with a somewhat complex UI for the past ~2 years, and it works great most of the time. Sometimes it doesn't, but then I write some CSS. Tailwind doesn't stop me from doing so.
      - whatshisface 3mo ago
        Tailwind removes the C and the S, leaving only the S in CSS. (In long form, CSS is supposed to encourage modularity and a separation of concerns, concepts totally abandoned in the world of per-element styles.)
        Yiin 3mo ago
        Tailwind is the worst form of CSS, except for all the others.
      - Exoristos 3mo ago
        You're kind of missing the point. I'll probably bungle this analogy, but why is it important to a furniture startup that a master carpenter can put together Ikea?

128 points by benswerd 3mo ago

dprkh 3mo ago

Why did you choose to use shadcn registry?

benswerd 3mo ago
Generally, when using these components I ended up wanting to customize a lot. I switched around the options, coloring, the words in the loading, I mix and matched the components from different CLIs, etc. I think these are more useful as baselines than as final destinations, and I expect production users to customize them far more than options in components. I also separately don't really believe in traditional components anymore, code is cheap. The value in these components is that I took the time to pixel match a bunch of the CLIs, not the specific interface used to integrate them.
- tipiirai 3mo ago
  What are traditional components? How are untraditional better?
  - benswerd 3mo ago
    Think MUI, heroUI, traditional components have you install their package, import the component and configure it through arguments. ShadCN components have you copy the component code into your codebase, you own it. They come with the ability to configure arguments, but also because the code is yours its expected that you change the internal logic/styling/structure of the component. I believe in the era of AI code the ladder just makes more sense.
    - crab_galaxy 3mo ago
      If you are using shadCN as building blocks for a centralized component library I think it makes more sense, but personally I don’t think the component registry pattern scales well across multiple teams/UIs. ShadCN and tailwind really encourage design drift. I think shadCN has its place for sure but I’d always advocate for Mantine and css modules anywhere early enough to use premade UI solutions.
    - scoot 3mo ago
      > ShadCN components have you copy the component code into your codebase, you own it That’s a common misconception/myth/lie that doesn’t seem to want to go away even though Shadcn is more honest about it these days. You don’t own the compenents, and you don’t copy the component code into your codebase. The components are Base UI (and previously Radix) And they’re imported like any other. What you’re copying is a thin styling wrapper, just the same as you can use to restyle “traditional” components. The difference is that you have to provide all the styles, rather than just overrides, which can be both a blessing and a curse.
      - benswerd 3mo ago
        I think this is a misinterpretation. BaseUI provides baseline semantics that because the code is in your codebase you can choose to keep or remove. BaseUI is also actively unstyled/unopinionated, you use it to compose your own components, which again live in your codebase. When you import shadcn components you can rebuild them however you want, thats the point.
        bbg2401 3mo ago
        > When you import shadcn components you can rebuild them however you want, thats the point. Why not use BaseUI directly?
        benswerd 3mo ago
        I'm a big believer in guides. ShadCN provides great starting points for continued engineering as do other ShadCN libraries. For companies with the resources to, they do just start with BaseUI. In the long run I think most UI will be BaseUI/RadixUI + Component and style guides, prompts, and traditional packages will no longer be relevant.
        nightski 3mo ago
        I mean, you are using BaseUI directly... The components on top live in your code base.

sim04ful 3mo ago

I love this!

_345 3mo ago

What inspired you to make this?

benswerd 3mo ago
gonna use it on my websites homepage

techpression 3mo ago

I fully expected this to be complements for the output you get from those tools for some reason, that AI generated look. No idea why anyone would want that though.

Exoristos 3mo ago

On a barely-related note, I'm getting a little tired of job openings at startups that emphatically require Shadcn and Tailwind for dedicated frontend development. Shadcn and Tailwind are crutches for "fullstack" devs -- if I'm a really accomplished frontend developer, they make little sense for me to use and hamper what I can do for you. Just a peeve.

foxygen 3mo ago
I don’t know about Shadcn, but how does Tailaind hampers your ability to do anything?
- Exoristos 3mo ago
  Some developers are CSS experts.
  - foxygen 3mo ago
    Can you show me some examples that are hard to implement in Tailwind? I've been using Tailwind for an app with a somewhat complex UI for the past ~2 years, and it works great most of the time. Sometimes it doesn't, but then I write some CSS. Tailwind doesn't stop me from doing so.
    - whatshisface 3mo ago
      Tailwind removes the C and the S, leaving only the S in CSS. (In long form, CSS is supposed to encourage modularity and a separation of concerns, concepts totally abandoned in the world of per-element styles.)
      - Yiin 3mo ago
        Tailwind is the worst form of CSS, except for all the others.
    - Exoristos 3mo ago
      You're kind of missing the point. I'll probably bungle this analogy, but why is it important to a furniture startup that a master carpenter can put together Ikea?