Skein UI

Name: skein
Author: skeinui

Documentation · Get started · Issues

React components built on Base UI, with swappable theme styles, and a CLI that sets up projects AI coding agents work well in.

Components own behaviour, theme styles own the look. Components only write data-* attributes; a theme style (Skein, shadcn/ui, HeroUI, Ant Design, or your own) styles them. The same code looks like any of them.
Data-driven and serializable props. No className / style; variants are values; items, fields, options instead of markup. Easy to write for people and for models.
Built for AI agents. Generated projects carry AGENTS.md, skills and a feedback loop: skein docs (exact props), skein check (types, translations, hard-coded colors), skein preview (opens the page in Chrome), and optionally the same as MCP tools.

Quick start

npm create skein my-app -- --template admin --theme antd
cd my-app && npm install && npm run dev

Templates: basic, admin (layout, menu, tabs, login, CRUD example). See @skeinui/cli for every command and option.

Packages

Path	Package	Description
`packages/ui`	`@skeinui/ui`	The component library (README)
`packages/themes`	`@skeinui/themes`	Theme styles `default` / `shadcn` / `heroui` / `antd`, colour themes, densities, code-block themes
`packages/cli`	`@skeinui/cli`	The `skein` command: create, add pages, themes, docs, check, preview, MCP (README)
`packages/create-skein`	`create-skein`	`npm create skein`, which runs `skein create`
`packages/skeinui`	`skeinui`	`npx skeinui …`: an alias of the `skein` command
`apps/skein-doc`	`skein-doc`	Documentation site: component demos, `llms.txt`

A project imports one theme style (@skeinui/themes/antd/index.css) and only that one is bundled. Admin projects can list several in src/settings.ts for users to switch between; each is loaded only when picked.

Development

Requires Node.js >= 22.18 and Vite+ (vp).

vp install            # install dependencies
vp run skein-doc#dev  # documentation site on http://localhost:5175 (or pnpm dev)
vp check              # format, lint and type check
vp run -r test        # run the tests of every package
vp run -r build       # build every package
pnpm ready            # check + test + build, before merging
pnpm clean            # remove build output and generated files (--deps: node_modules too)

Try the CLI on this checkout: node packages/cli/bin/skein.js create demo --template admin --local (--local links the @skeinui/* packages here; demo/ is gitignored).
vp run e2e in packages/cli: generates every template, installs, builds and drives the apps in Chrome.
In packages/ui (with the documentation site running): vp run snapshot for visual regression and vp run a11y for the axe-core accessibility scan. After changing a component's props or docs, vp run manifest regenerates manifest.json, which skein docs, MCP and llms.txt read.

Contributing

Skein UI is open source and developed in the open. Contributions of every size are welcome.

Star the repository. If Skein UI is useful to you, a ⭐ on GitHub is the simplest way to support it: it helps other developers discover the project and tells us the direction is worth pursuing.
Report bugs and suggest features in Issues. A minimal reproduction, or a link to the relevant page on skeinui.com, helps us respond quickly.
Open a pull request. Fixes, components, theme styles and documentation are all welcome. See Development for the setup, and run pnpm ready before submitting.
Join the core team. We are looking for people who want to help shape the component API, the theme styles and the tooling for AI coding agents over the long term. We would love to work with you.

License

MIT