shadcn/ui Agent Skill

Manages shadcn components and projects — adding, searching, fixing, debugging, styling, and composing UI.

Context cost
16.4k tokensestimated from the bundle, loaded when it triggers
Bundle
11 files · 65.4 kBtext throughout, nothing executable
Licence
not declarednone named by its author
Last change
—no release on file
Servers it uses
Noneruns standalone

What it does

Manages shadcn components and projects — adding, searching, fixing, debugging, styling, and composing UI. Provides project context, component docs, and usage examples. Applies when working with shadcn/ui, component registries, presets, --preset codes, or any project with a components.json file. Also triggers for "shadcn init", "create an app with --preset", or "switch to --preset".

What this skill changes about the agent has not been set out here as a list. Its SKILL.md, shown below, says it in the author’s own words.

debuggingdesign
Filed under

Design & Media

The skill itself

A skill is instructions the model reads, so you can see what you are getting: below is the start of its SKILL.md. The front matter loads with every session, the body loads when the skill triggers, and the whole file comes with the install.

SKILL.md16.4 kB · preview
--- name: shadcn ---
6# shadcn/ui
7
8A framework for building ui, components and design systems. Components are added as source code to the user's project via the CLI.
9
10> **IMPORTANT:** Run all CLI commands using the project's package runner: npx shadcn@latest, pnpm dlx shadcn@latest, or bunx --bun shadcn@latest — based on the project's packageManager. Examples below use npx shadcn@latest but substitute the correct runner for the project.
11
12## Current Project Context
13
14```json
15!npx shadcn@latest info --json 2>/dev/null || echo '{"error": "No shadcn project found. Run shadcn init first."}'
16```
17
18The JSON above contains the project config and installed components. Use npx shadcn@latest docs <component> to get documentation and example URLs for any component.
19
20## Principles
21
221. **Use existing components first.** Use npx shadcn@latest search to check registries before writing custom UI. Check community registries too.
232. **Compose, don't reinvent.** Settings page = Tabs + Card + form controls. Dashboard = Sidebar + Card + Chart + Table.
243. **Use built-in variants before custom styles.** variant="outline", size="sm", etc.
This is a preview of SKILL.md. Download or install the skill to get the whole thing.
In the file
SKILL.md2,033 words
Files11
Licencenot declared
Why you can read it

Nothing in a skill executes. The client loads the text and the model follows it, so a skill can be audited the way a runbook is — by reading it.

What it costs in context

Skills are not billed by the call. They are paid for in context: every token the instructions occupy is a token your code, your diff and your conversation cannot use. Here is what this one takes and when it takes it.

≈100
always loaded
The name and description, so the model knows the skill exists and when to reach for it.
16,250
on trigger
The instruction body and 10 supporting files, read only when the skill fires.
8.2%
of a 200k window
Ten skills this size would take about 82% of the window before you open a file.
050k100k150k200k context window

16.4k tokens, estimated from the bundle at four bytes to the token, held for the rest of the session once it triggers. Heavy. Teams tend to install this one per project rather than globally, and load it only when the job comes up.

Servers bill, skills cost

A server charges by the month. A skill charges once per session, in context, and then keeps charging it for as long as the session lives.

Before and after

The same question, put to the same model twice: once as it comes, and once with these instructions loaded.

No worked example has been published for this skill yet.

The procedure it runs

The procedure has not been set out here step by step. It is in the body of its SKILL.md: the start of it is shown above, and the whole file comes with the install.

Prose, not code

These steps are written for a model to follow, not executed by a runtime. It can still be told to skip one, and it will say so when it does.

Servers it uses

None. This skill calls no MCP servers at all.

Everything it needs is in the instructions, so it works in a project with nothing connected — the model reads the file and changes how it works with what it can already reach.

Its SKILL.md does not declare which tools it asks the agent for, so what it touches is whatever the instructions themselves ask for — read them before you install it.

What it asks for
Writes filesnot declared
Network accessnot declared

This SKILL.md carries no allowed-tools line, so neither is declared. A skill grants no permissions of its own — it can only ask for tools your client already has.

What it will not do

Every skill is narrow, and the useful ones say where they stop. These are the jobs this one is the wrong tool for.

What this skill is not for has not been published here. Nothing is implied by that: it is a section the author has not filled in.

What is in the bundle

11 files, 65.4 kB on disk. A bundle is text throughout: the instructions the model reads, plus the templates it fills in. 2 files of its source are not in the download — listed after these, with why.

  • SKILL.md16.4 kB
  • cli.md15.3 kB
  • customization.md6.0 kB
  • mcp.md2.4 kB
  • agents/openai.yaml0.2 kB
  • evals/evals.json3.1 kB
  • rules/base-vs-radix.md7.0 kB
  • rules/composition.md4.3 kB
  • rules/forms.md4.9 kB
  • rules/icons.md2.0 kB
  • rules/styling.md3.8 kB

Not in the download

Not carried is a type a skill download does not hold. Take them from its source.

  • assets/shadcn.pngnot carried
  • assets/shadcn-small.pngnot carried
What is not in it

No dependencies and nothing executable: a skill is text the agent reads, so the download is 11 files — not the whole of its source: 2 files are left out. They are listed under the files, with why.

Install

Installing copies the bundle into your project. Nothing runs at install time — the files sit on disk until the model reads them.

# shadcn/ui · 16.4k tokens when loaded · macOS, Linux mkdir -p .claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/openai-shadcn-ui/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/shadcn-ui" ] && { [ ! -e .claude/skills/shadcn-ui ] || { mv .claude/skills/shadcn-ui "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/shadcn-ui" .claude/skills/ && echo "Installed .claude/skills/shadcn-ui"
On Windows, or any OS with Node 20+
npx mcprush@latest skill add openai/shadcn-ui

Windows PowerShell says 'running scripts is disabled on this system'? Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned once, or type npx.cmd instead of npx (codex.cmd, gemini.cmd, grok.cmd likewise). PowerShell 7 needs neither. Writes to .claude/skills/shadcn-ui/ in the current project. For every project instead, run mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/openai-shadcn-ui/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/shadcn-ui" ] && { [ ! -e ~/.claude/skills/shadcn-ui ] || { mv ~/.claude/skills/shadcn-ui "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/shadcn-ui" ~/.claude/skills/ && echo "Installed ~/.claude/skills/shadcn-ui" (macOS, Linux) — or add --global to the npx line. The curl line replaces .claude/skills/shadcn-ui/ only after the download succeeds, so files left there by another skill of the same name, or by an older release, do not mix in. A copy already there is moved aside, not deleted, and the line prints where. It appears as shadcn in Gemini CLI, Codex, Copilot and Grok (its own name); Claude Code lists it by the folder name, shadcn-ui. Not in this download: 2 files of its source (the full list, and why). Take them from its source.

Which clients pick it up on their own

A skill is a folder of text. Most of these read a skills folder and pick it up without being told; the rest take the same folder another way — an upload in the app, a parameter on an API call — and then choose it by its description just the same.

Claude Code.claude/skills/
Claude DesktopCustomize › Skills
ChatGPTSkills › Create › Upload
Cursor.cursor/skills/
VS Code.github/skills/
Codex CLI.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI.gemini/skills/
Grok Build.grok/skills/
Microsoft CopilotSkills › Upload a skill
PerplexityComputer › Skills › Upload a skill
DeepSeek Harness.dsh/skills/
Zed.agents/skills/
Devin Desktop.devin/skills/
Windsurf (legacy).windsurf/skills/
OpenAI Agents SDKInstructions or sandbox Skills
HTTP / APIa request parameter
This release
Versionnot versioned
Publishedno release date on file
PriceFree
Referenceopenai/shadcn-ui

Versions

Its author publishes no version number, so there is nothing here to pin to: what you install is the folder as it stands today. Instructions change more often than APIs do — a skill can be rewritten entirely without anything it depends on moving.

Pinning

Nothing to pin to: this skill carries no version number of its own. What you install is what the folder holds on the day you install it.

Reviews

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