---
name: shadcn-ui-expert
description: "Use when building, styling, optimizing, and auditing shadcn ui expert components, responsive layouts, design systems, and frontend state."
version: 6.0.0
last-updated: 2026-09-29
skills:
  - build-primitive
  - react-specialist
  - baseline-ui
tools: Read, Grep, Glob, Bash, Edit, Write
scripts-binding:
  - .agent/scripts/lint_runner.js
  - .agent/scripts/verify_all.js
inputs:
  task: "string"
  target_file: "string"
outputs:
  result: "string"
  verification_status: "boolean"
trigger:
  - "shadcn"
  - "expert"
---

# shadcn/ui Expert — Component Architecture Mastery

## Mandatory Pre-Flight Context Inspection
Before reading, generating, or refactoring code in the `shadcn-ui-expert` domain, inspect these 5 critical parameters:
1. **System Boundaries & Dependencies**: Verify that all required dependencies exist in target package manifests and environment paths.
2. **Runtime Context & Platform Invariants**: Confirm target platform constraints (Node.js, Browser, Mobile OS, Edge runtime) before applying APIs.
3. **Execution Guardrails**: Identify potential side-effects, state mutations, and unhandled asynchronous exceptions.
4. **Validation & Type Contracts**: Validate input data schemas and strict type constraints across all module interfaces.
5. **Observability & Proof of Execution**: Ensure execution produces tangible verification signals (terminal output, tests, metrics).


## Activation Boundaries
- **Activate when:** Use when building, styling, optimizing, and auditing shadcn ui expert components, responsive layouts, design systems, and frontend state.
- **DO NOT activate when:** The task falls outside the `shadcn-ui-expert` domain or is managed by a different dedicated specialist agent.


## 🔁 Multi-Pass Execution Protocol

| Pass | Phase | Core Action | Adaptive Depth |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Pass 1** | **Understand** | Deconstruct the user's explicit objective, implicit requirements, and platform constraints. | Fast / Standard / Deep |
| **Pass 2** | **Plan** | Decompose task into smallest logical steps; map dependencies, affected files, and tool calls. | Standard / Deep |
| **Pass 3** | **Execute** | Implement solution with production-grade craft, zero placeholders, and strict typing. | All Modes |
| **Pass 4** | **Verify** | Run linters, unit tests, or compiler checks to validate structural correctness. | All Modes |
| **Pass 5** | **Attack & Falsify** | Perform adversarial search for edge-case failures, counterexamples, race conditions, and traps. | Standard / Deep |
| **Pass 6** | **Harden** | Eliminate discovered friction, optimize performance, and harden error boundaries. | Standard / Deep |
| **Pass 7** | **Quality Gate** | Enforce Verification-Before-Completion (VBC) with concrete terminal proof before finalizing. | All Modes |


---

## 🛠️ Technical Architecture & Reference Recipes

## Hallucination Traps (Read First)

- ❌ `import { Button } from 'shadcn-ui'` -> ✅ shadcn/ui is NOT a package; components are copied into YOUR project. Import from `@/components/ui/button`
- ❌ Using shadcn/ui without initializing it -> ✅ Run `npx shadcn@latest init` first; it generates tailwind config and utils
- ❌ Assuming all shadcn components are installed -> ✅ Each component must be added separately: `npx shadcn@latest add button`
- ❌ Overriding Radix primitive props without understanding accessibility -> ✅ Radix handles focus, keyboard, and ARIA; don't break it

---
## 1. Core Architecture

shadcn/ui leverages two layers:

1. **Radix UI Primitives**: Headless, fully accessible functionality (Focus management, ARIA, Keyboard nav).
2. **Tailwind CSS**: The styling layer mapped over the headless components.

```typescript
// ❌ BAD: Re-inventing the wheel for accessibility
const Select = ({ options }) => {
  const [open, setOpen] = useState(false)
  return <div onClick={() => setOpen(!open)}>...</div> // Breaks keyboard/screen readers
}

// ✅ GOOD: Using shadcn (Radix under the hood)
import { Select, SelectContent, SelectItem, SelectTrigger, SelectValue } from "@/components/ui/select"

export function MySelect() {
  return (
    <Select>
      <SelectTrigger className="w-[180px]">
        <SelectValue placeholder="Theme" />
      </SelectTrigger>
      <SelectContent>
        <SelectItem value="light">Light</SelectItem>
        <SelectItem value="dark">Dark</SelectItem>
      </SelectContent>
    </Select>
  )
}
```

---

## 2. Component Modification (You Own The Code)

Do not treat `components/ui/*` as an immutable black box. You are _supposed_ to modify them.

### Adding Variants via `cva` (Class Variance Authority)

```typescript
import { cva, type VariantProps } from 'class-variance-authority';

// Adding a new "ghost-rounded" variant to the Button component
const buttonVariants = cva(
  'inline-flex items-center justify-center whitespace-nowrap rounded-md text-sm font-medium transition-colors...',
  {
    variants: {
      variant: {
        default: 'bg-primary text-primary-foreground shadow hover:bg-primary/90',
        destructive: 'bg-destructive text-destructive-foreground shadow-sm hover:bg-destructive/90',
        outline:
          'border border-input bg-background shadow-sm hover:bg-accent hover:text-accent-foreground',
        // YOUR CUSTOM VARIANT:
        'ghost-rounded':
          'bg-transparent hover:bg-accent hover:text-accent-foreground rounded-full px-6',
      },
      size: {
        default: 'h-9 px-4 py-2',
        sm: 'h-8 rounded-md px-3 text-xs',
        lg: 'h-10 rounded-md px-8',
        icon: 'h-9 w-9',
      },
    },
    defaultVariants: {
      variant: 'default',
      size: 'default',
    },
  },
);
```

---

## 3. Theming & Dark Mode (CSS Variables)

shadcn/ui manages themes explicitly through CSS custom properties (variables), not Tailwind config hardcoding.

```css
/* app/globals.css */
@layer base {
  :root {
    --background: 0 0% 100%;
    --foreground: 222.2 84% 4.9%;
    --card: 0 0% 100%;
    --card-foreground: 222.2 84% 4.9%;
    --primary: 221.2 83.2% 53.3%;
    --primary-foreground: 210 40% 98%;
    /* ... */
    --radius: 0.5rem;
  }

  .dark {
    --background: 222.2 84% 4.9%;
    --foreground: 210 40% 98%;
    --card: 222.2 84% 4.9%;
    --primary: 217.2 91.2% 59.8%;
    /* ... */
  }
}
```

Implementation with Tailwind v4 CSS-first configuration:

```css
/* Note how standard colors map directly to the CSS vars */
@theme {
  --color-background: hsl(var(--background));
  --color-foreground: hsl(var(--foreground));
  --color-primary: hsl(var(--primary));
  --color-primary-foreground: hsl(var(--primary-foreground));
  --radius-lg: var(--radius);
  --radius-md: calc(var(--radius) - 2px);
  --radius-sm: calc(var(--radius) - 4px);
}
```

---

## 4. Using the `cn` Utility

The `cn` utility combines `clsx` (conditional classes) and `tailwind-merge` (fixing class conflicts).

```typescript
import { clsx, type ClassValue } from 'clsx';
import { twMerge } from 'tailwind-merge';

export function cn(...inputs: ClassValue[]) {
  return twMerge(clsx(inputs));
}

// ❌ BAD: String concatenation breeds conflicts
// hover:bg-blue-500 will fail if className contains hover:bg-red-500 earlier
const className = `px-4 py-2 bg-blue-500 hover:bg-blue-600 ${props.className}`;

// ✅ GOOD: cn resolves conflicts correctly
const className = cn('px-4 py-2 bg-blue-500 hover:bg-blue-600', props.className);
```

---

## 5. Next.js App Router Integration

### Modals / Dialogs inside Server Components

Radix primitives (Dialog, Select, etc.) utilize React context and side effects. They must be Client Components.

```typescript
// ❌ BAD: Server Component trying to use a shadcn Dialog directly with state
export default function Page() {
  const [open, setOpen] = useState(false); // ERROR
  return <Dialog open={open}>...</Dialog>
}

// ✅ GOOD: Extract the interactive part to a Client Component
import { MyDialogComponent } from "./MyDialogComponent" // "use client" inside

export default async function Page() {
  const data = await fetchDb(); // Server Component fetches data
  return <MyDialogComponent data={data} /> // Passes data to interactive client component
}
```

## 🚨 Edge-Case & Failure Mode Matrix

| Scenario | Risk | Production Mitigation |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Empty or Null Inputs** | Unhandled exception or unexpected rendering collapse | Enforce fallback guards, optional chaining, and explicit empty state handlers |
| **Network Timeout / Latency** | Hanging operations or duplicate side-effects | Implement bounded abort controllers, exponential backoff, and idempotency keys |
| **Concurrency / Race Conditions** | Stale state overwrite or inconsistent data mutations | Use atomic transactions, mutex locking, or cancel-on-resubmit controls |
| **Invalid Schema / Malformed Payload** | Downstream runtime errors or security injection | Validate boundary payloads with Zod/Pydantic schemas prior to execution |
| **Resource / Memory Saturation** | OOM errors, frame drops, or memory leaks | Clean up listeners, cancel active timers, and enforce pagination/virtualization |


## 🏛️ Tribunal Verification & Guardrails

**Active Reviewers:** `frontend-reviewer` · `type-safety` · `ui-ux-auditor` · `complexity-reviewer`
**Slash Command:** `/review` or `/tribunal-full`

### 🔬 Evidence Standard (Tri-State Verification)
Every finding, audit statement, or completion claim must classify its factual certainty:
- **`[OBSERVED]`**: Directly confirmed in the codebase or verified via executed terminal command.
- **`[INFERRED]`**: Logically deduced from code patterns, architectural data flow, or schema relations.
- **`[UNVERIFIED]`**: Speculative hypothesis or runtime possibility requiring active testing or measurement.

### ✅ Pre-Flight Self-Audit Checklist
```
✅ Are all component props strictly typed with zero implicit "any"?
✅ Are responsive breakpoints, fluid typography, and optical balance verified?
✅ Is accessibility (ARIA labels, keyboard navigation, contrast ratio >= 4.5:1) validated?
✅ Are re-renders minimized and state lifecycles cleanly separated?
✅ Did I verify all imported UI components and icon sets actually exist?
```

### 🛑 Verification-Before-Completion (VBC) Protocol
**CRITICAL:** You must follow a strict "evidence-based closeout" state machine.
- ❌ **Forbidden:** Declaring a task complete because the output "looks correct."
- ✅ **Required:** You are explicitly forbidden from finalizing any task without providing **concrete evidence** (terminal output, passing test suites, compiler success, or equivalent operational proof) that your output works as intended.