UI Styling Skill

Comprehensive skill for creating beautiful, accessible user interfaces combining shadcn/ui components, Tailwind CSS utility styling, and canvas-based visual design systems.

Overview

Use this skill when you need a practical styling guide for component systems, utility-first CSS, and visually consistent UI implementation.

Quick Reference

• shadcn/ui: https://ui.shadcn.com/llms.txt
• Tailwind CSS: https://tailwindcss.com/docs

When to Use

Use when:

• Building UI with React-based frameworks (Next.js, Vite, Remix, Astro)
• Implementing accessible components (dialogs, forms, tables, navigation)
• Styling with utility-first CSS approach
• Creating responsive, mobile-first layouts
• Implementing dark mode and theme customization
• Building design systems with consistent tokens
• Generating visual designs, posters, or brand materials
• Rapid prototyping with immediate visual feedback
• Adding complex UI patterns (data tables, charts, command palettes)

Core Stack

Component Layer: shadcn/ui

• Pre-built accessible components via Radix UI primitives
• Copy-paste distribution model (components live in your codebase)
• TypeScript-first with full type safety
• Composable primitives for complex UIs
• CLI-based installation and management

Styling Layer: Tailwind CSS

• Utility-first CSS framework
• Build-time processing with zero runtime overhead
• Mobile-first responsive design
• Consistent design tokens (colors, spacing, typography)
• Automatic dead code elimination

Visual Design Layer: Canvas

• Museum-quality visual compositions
• Philosophy-driven design approach
• Sophisticated visual communication
• Minimal text, maximum visual impact
• Systematic patterns and refined aesthetics

Quick Start

Component + Styling Setup

Install shadcn/ui with Tailwind:

npx shadcn@latest init

CLI prompts for framework, TypeScript, paths, and theme preferences. This configures both shadcn/ui and Tailwind CSS.

Add components:

npx shadcn@latest add button card dialog form

Use components with utility styling:

import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button"
import { Card, CardHeader, CardTitle, CardContent } from "@/components/ui/card"

export function Dashboard() {
  return (
    <div className="container mx-auto p-6 grid gap-6 md:grid-cols-2 lg:grid-cols-3">
      <Card className="hover:shadow-lg transition-shadow">
        <CardHeader>
          <CardTitle className="text-2xl font-bold">Analytics</CardTitle>
        </CardHeader>
        <CardContent className="space-y-4">
          <p className="text-muted-foreground">View your metrics</p>
          <Button variant="default" className="w-full">
            View Details
          </Button>
        </CardContent>
      </Card>
    </div>
  )
}

Alternative: Tailwind-Only Setup

Vite projects:

npm install -D tailwindcss @tailwindcss/vite

// vite.config.ts
import tailwindcss from '@tailwindcss/vite'
export default { plugins: [tailwindcss()] }

/* src/index.css */
@import "tailwindcss";

Component Library Guide

Comprehensive component catalog with usage patterns, installation, and composition examples.

See: references/shadcn-components.md

Covers:

• Form & input components (Button, Input, Select, Checkbox, Date Picker, Form validation)
• Layout & navigation (Card, Tabs, Accordion, Navigation Menu)
• Overlays & dialogs (Dialog, Drawer, Popover, Toast, Command)
• Feedback & status (Alert, Progress, Skeleton)
• Display components (Table, Data Table, Avatar, Badge)

Theme & Customization

Theme configuration, CSS variables, dark mode implementation, and component customization.

See: references/shadcn-theming.md

Covers:

• Dark mode setup with next-themes
• CSS variable system
• Color customization and palettes
• Component variant customization
• Theme toggle implementation

Accessibility Patterns

ARIA patterns, keyboard navigation, screen reader support, and accessible component usage.

See: references/shadcn-accessibility.md

Covers:

• Radix UI accessibility features
• Keyboard navigation patterns
• Focus management
• Screen reader announcements
• Form validation accessibility

Tailwind Utilities

Core utility classes for layout, spacing, typography, colors, borders, and shadows.

See: references/tailwind-utilities.md

Covers:

• Layout utilities (Flexbox, Grid, positioning)
• Spacing system (padding, margin, gap)
• Typography (font sizes, weights, alignment, line height)
• Colors and backgrounds
• Borders and shadows
• Arbitrary values for custom styling

Responsive Design

Mobile-first breakpoints, responsive utilities, and adaptive layouts.

See: references/tailwind-responsive.md

Covers:

• Mobile-first approach
• Breakpoint system (sm, md, lg, xl, 2xl)
• Responsive utility patterns
• Container queries
• Max-width queries
• Custom breakpoints

Tailwind Customization

Config file structure, custom utilities, plugins, and theme extensions.

See: references/tailwind-customization.md

Covers:

• @theme directive for custom tokens
• Custom colors and fonts
• Spacing and breakpoint extensions
• Custom utility creation
• Custom variants
• Layer organization (@layer base, components, utilities)
• Apply directive for component extraction

Visual Design System

Canvas-based design philosophy, visual communication principles, and sophisticated compositions.

See: references/canvas-design-system.md

Covers:

• Design philosophy approach
• Visual communication over text
• Systematic patterns and composition
• Color, form, and spatial design
• Minimal text integration
• Museum-quality execution
• Multi-page design systems

Utility Scripts

Python automation for component installation and configuration generation.

shadcn_add.py

Add shadcn/ui components with dependency handling:

python scripts/shadcn_add.py button card dialog

tailwind_config_gen.py

Generate tailwind.config.js with custom theme:

python scripts/tailwind_config_gen.py --colors brand:blue --fonts display:Inter

Best Practices

1. Component Composition: Build complex UIs from simple, composable primitives
2. Utility-First Styling: Use Tailwind classes directly; extract components only for true repetition
3. Mobile-First Responsive: Start with mobile styles, layer responsive variants
4. Accessibility-First: Leverage Radix UI primitives, add focus states, use semantic HTML
5. Design Tokens: Use consistent spacing scale, color palettes, typography system
6. Dark Mode Consistency: Apply dark variants to all themed elements
7. Performance: Leverage automatic CSS purging, avoid dynamic class names
8. TypeScript: Use full type safety for better DX
9. Visual Hierarchy: Let composition guide attention, use spacing and color intentionally
10. Expert Craftsmanship: Every detail matters - treat UI as a craft

Reference Navigation

Component Library

• references/shadcn-components.md - Complete component catalog
• references/shadcn-theming.md - Theming and customization
• references/shadcn-accessibility.md - Accessibility patterns

Styling System

• references/tailwind-utilities.md - Core utility classes
• references/tailwind-responsive.md - Responsive design
• references/tailwind-customization.md - Configuration and extensions

Visual Design

• references/canvas-design-system.md - Design philosophy and canvas workflows

Automation

• scripts/shadcn_add.py - Component installation
• scripts/tailwind_config_gen.py - Config generation

Common Patterns

Form with validation:

import { useForm } from "react-hook-form"
import { zodResolver } from "@hookform/resolvers/zod"
import * as z from "zod"
import { Form, FormField, FormItem, FormLabel, FormControl, FormMessage } from "@/components/ui/form"
import { Input } from "@/components/ui/input"
import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button"

const schema = z.object({
  email: z.string().email(),
  password: z.string().min(8)
})

export function LoginForm() {
  const form = useForm({
    resolver: zodResolver(schema),
    defaultValues: { email: "", password: "" }
  })

  return (
    <Form {...form}>
      <form onSubmit={form.handleSubmit(console.log)} className="space-y-6">
        <FormField control={form.control} name="email" render={({ field }) => (
          <FormItem>
            <FormLabel>Email</FormLabel>
            <FormControl>
              <Input type="email" {...field} />
            </FormControl>
            <FormMessage />
          </FormItem>
        )} />
        <Button type="submit" className="w-full">Sign In</Button>
      </form>
    </Form>
  )
}

Responsive layout with dark mode:

<div className="min-h-screen bg-white dark:bg-gray-900">
  <div className="container mx-auto px-4 py-8">
    <div className="grid grid-cols-1 md:grid-cols-2 lg:grid-cols-3 gap-6">
      <Card className="bg-white dark:bg-gray-800 border-gray-200 dark:border-gray-700">
        <CardContent className="p-6">
          <h3 className="text-xl font-semibold text-gray-900 dark:text-white">
            Content
          </h3>
        </CardContent>
      </Card>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Resources

• shadcn/ui Docs: https://ui.shadcn.com
• Tailwind CSS Docs: https://tailwindcss.com
• Radix UI: https://radix-ui.com
• Tailwind UI: https://tailwindui.com
• Headless UI: https://headlessui.com
• v0 (AI UI Generator): https://v0.dev

Core Workflow

Follow the primary workflow, commands, and decision points documented in the sections below.

Examples

Use the examples and snippets already present in this document whenever they apply to the task.

References

Use any linked scripts, assets, reference files, and companion resources mentioned in this document.