shadcn/ui and Local UI Adapters

Use the components already provided by the app. Read the app's design-system configuration, Toolkit provider, and local UI components before adding or changing a control. Their exports, variants, and props are the contract; do not guess from upstream examples.

Keep imports behind the local adapter

Product pages and domain components should import standard controls through the app's configured local UI alias. In the Chat starter, that is @/components/ui/*; its app/components/ui/button.tsx is a one-line re-export of @agent-native/toolkit/ui/button. Follow an adjacent local shim when the app needs another Toolkit primitive that is already exported there.

Use the app's configured design system and provider mapping for controls passed to shared Toolkit surfaces. For shared Toolkit feature presentation, use the semantic components exposed by @agent-native/toolkit/design-system; keep the feature behavior in its existing controller and customize only its supported presentation seam.

Compose existing controls

• Prefer a primitive's built-in variant and size. Put page layout on a parent instead of overriding shared component appearance for one screen.
• Use the app's semantic theme tokens for reusable UI, such as bg-background, text-muted-foreground, border-border, and bg-primary. Keep theme values in the app's existing CSS theme file.
• Use the control that matches the choice: Switch for a binary setting, Checkbox for independent multi-select, RadioGroup for one choice from a short set, and Select or the app's combobox for a longer predefined list.
• Compose cards and form fields from the primitives already available. Avoid adding explanatory copy that repeats a visible title or label; see frontend-design for the app's surface-density rules.
• Put selectable items inside their menu or list group primitives. Keep tab triggers inside the tab list. Supply an accessible title to dialog, sheet, drawer, and alert-dialog content.
• Match the trigger API to the actual local component. Toolkit wrappers may expose a different API from the upstream primitive; inspect its props before using options such as asChild or render.

Keep controls operable

Use the app's existing field components and validation pattern. Associate errors with their inputs and expose invalid state to assistive technology. Icon-only actions need an accessible name and a usable focus target. Use the icon package already installed by the app.

Do not recreate menus, popovers, dialogs, or confirmations with absolute positioning and custom click-outside handlers. Never use browser alert, confirm, or prompt; use the app's dialog primitives. Keep overlay focus, keyboard, dismissal, and stacking behavior from the existing primitive.

For small visual refinements, use layout classes and semantic tokens. Avoid raw palette overrides, arbitrary one-off values, and manual overlay z-index unless you are fixing a reproduced bug. Use gap-* for layout spacing and the app's class-merging helper when it has one.

Related skill

• frontend-design — Product UX, density, visual direction, and responsive behavior.