Shadcn UI Best Practices
shadcnuibest-practicesreacttailwind
Description
This rule provides comprehensive best practices for developing with Shadcn UI, covering code organization, performance, security, and testing.
Globs
**/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}---
description: This rule provides comprehensive best practices for developing with Shadcn UI, covering code organization, performance, security, and testing.
globs: **/*.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}
---
# Shadcn UI Best Practices
This document outlines best practices for developing with Shadcn UI, covering code organization, common patterns, performance considerations, security, testing, common pitfalls, and tooling.
## 1. Code Organization and Structure
- **Directory Structure:**
- Organize components into logical directories based on functionality or domain. For example, place form-related components in a `components/forms` directory.
- Separate components into their own files. Each component should have a dedicated file named after the component (e.g., `Button.tsx`).
- Consider using an `index.ts` file within each directory to export all components from that directory, simplifying imports.
- Structure directories to reflect the UI hierarchy. For example, `/components/layout` for layout related components and `/components/ui` for reusable UI elements.
- **File Naming Conventions:**
- Use PascalCase for component file names (e.g., `MyComponent.tsx`).
- Use camelCase for variable and function names (e.g., `handleClick`).
- Use descriptive names that clearly indicate the purpose of the component or function.
- **Module Organization:**
- Break down complex components into smaller, reusable modules.
- Keep components focused on a single responsibility.
- Utilize shared utility functions and constants to avoid code duplication. Create a `utils` directory for helper functions.
- Use `components` directory to store UI components.
- **Component Architecture:**
- Favor composition over inheritance. Create flexible components that can be customized through props.
- Design components with clear separation of concerns: presentational components (UI) and container components (logic).
- Use functional components with hooks for managing state and side effects.
- **Code Splitting Strategies:**
- Implement lazy loading for non-critical components to improve initial load time.
- Utilize React.lazy and Suspense for code splitting at the component level.
- Configure your bundler (e.g., Webpack, Parcel) to automatically split code into smaller chunks.
- Consider route-based code splitting for larger applications.
## 2. Common Patterns and Anti-patterns
- **Design Patterns Specific to Shadcn UI:**
- Leverage the existing components provided by Shadcn UI whenever possible.
- Customize components using styling solutions like Tailwind CSS's utility classes or CSS variables.
- Create compound components by combining existing Shadcn UI components to build more complex UI elements.
- **Recommended Approaches for Common Tasks:**
- Use Shadcn UI's form components (e.g., `Input`, `Select`) for handling user input.
- Implement accessible components by following ARIA guidelines and using appropriate HTML semantics.
- Use the `cn` utility (classnames library) provided by Shadcn UI to manage CSS class names effectively.
- **Anti-patterns and Code Smells to Avoid:**
- Directly modifying the Shadcn UI component code.
- Overusing custom CSS, as Shadcn UI is built with Tailwind CSS.
- Neglecting accessibility considerations.
- Creating overly complex components with too many responsibilities.
- **State Management Best Practices:**
- Use React's built-in `useState` hook for simple component-level state.
- Consider using a state management library like Zustand, Redux, or Recoil for more complex application state.
- Avoid mutating state directly; always use the setState function or a state management library's update methods.
- **Error Handling Patterns:**
- Implement error boundaries to catch errors in components and prevent the entire application from crashing.
- Use try-catch blocks to handle errors in asynchronous operations and API calls.
- Provide informative error messages to users.
- Log errors to a monitoring service for debugging and analysis.
## 3. Performance Considerations
- **Optimization Techniques:**
- Minimize re-renders by using `React.memo` for functional components and `shouldComponentUpdate` for class components.
- Optimize event handlers by using useCallback to prevent unnecessary re-creation of functions.
- Debounce or throttle expensive operations to reduce the frequency of execution.
- **Memory Management:**
- Avoid memory leaks by properly cleaning up event listeners and timers in the `useEffect` hook.
- Release unused resources, such as large data structures, when they are no longer needed.
- **Rendering Optimization:**
- Use virtualized lists or grids for rendering large datasets.
- Batch DOM updates to minimize reflows and repaints.
- Use CSS containment to isolate rendering changes to specific parts of the DOM.
- **Bundle Size Optimization:**
- Remove unused code and dependencies using tree shaking.
- Minify JavaScript and CSS files to reduce their size.
- Compress images using tools like ImageOptim or TinyPNG.
- **Lazy Loading Strategies:**
- Implement lazy loading for images and other media assets.
- Use the Intersection Observer API to detect when elements are visible in the viewport and load them on demand.
## 4. Security Best Practices
- **Common Vulnerabilities and How to Prevent Them:**
- Prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks by sanitizing user input and escaping HTML entities.
- Protect against cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks by using anti-CSRF tokens.
- Avoid storing sensitive information, such as API keys or passwords, in client-side code.
- **Input Validation:**
- Validate user input on both the client-side and server-side.
- Use a validation library like Zod or Yup to define data schemas and enforce validation rules.
- Sanitize user input to remove potentially harmful characters or code.
- **Authentication and Authorization Patterns:**
- Use a secure authentication protocol, such as OAuth 2.0 or OpenID Connect.
- Implement role-based access control (RBAC) to restrict access to sensitive resources.
- Store user credentials securely using hashing and salting.
- **Data Protection Strategies:**
- Encrypt sensitive data at rest and in transit.
- Use HTTPS to protect data transmitted between the client and server.
- Implement data masking to hide sensitive information from unauthorized users.
- **Secure API Communication:**
- Use HTTPS for all API requests.
- Implement rate limiting to prevent abuse and denial-of-service attacks.
- Validate API responses to ensure data integrity.
## 5. Testing Approaches
- **Unit Testing Strategies:**
- Write unit tests for individual components and functions.
- Use a testing framework like Jest or Mocha.
- Test component behavior with different props and inputs.
- **Integration Testing:**
- Write integration tests to verify that components work together correctly.
- Test the interaction between components and APIs.
- **End-to-End Testing:**
- Write end-to-end tests to simulate user interactions and verify that the application functions as expected.
- Use a testing framework like Cypress or Playwright.
- **Test Organization:**
- Organize tests into separate files based on the component or feature being tested.
- Use descriptive test names that clearly indicate the purpose of the test.
- **Mocking and Stubbing:**
- Use mocking and stubbing to isolate components and functions during testing.
- Mock external dependencies, such as APIs or third-party libraries.
## 6. Common Pitfalls and Gotchas
- **Frequent Mistakes Developers Make:**
- Forgetting to handle edge cases.
- Overcomplicating components.
- Neglecting accessibility.
- Ignoring performance considerations.
- **Edge Cases to Be Aware Of:**
- Handling different screen sizes and devices.
- Dealing with slow network connections.
- Handling invalid or unexpected user input.
- **Version-Specific Issues:**
- Be aware of breaking changes between Shadcn UI versions.
- Consult the Shadcn UI changelog for migration instructions.
- **Compatibility Concerns:**
- Ensure that your application is compatible with the target browsers and devices.
- Test your application on different browsers and devices.
- **Debugging Strategies:**
- Use browser developer tools to inspect the DOM and debug JavaScript code.
- Use console logging to track the flow of execution and identify errors.
- Use a debugger to step through code and inspect variables.
## 7. Tooling and Environment
- **Recommended Development Tools:**
- Visual Studio Code (VS Code) with extensions for React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS.
- A browser with developer tools (e.g., Chrome DevTools, Firefox Developer Tools).
- A terminal for running commands and scripts.
- **Build Configuration:**
- Use a build tool like Webpack, Parcel, or Rollup to bundle your application.
- Configure your build tool to optimize code for production.
- **Linting and Formatting:**
- Use ESLint to enforce code style and identify potential errors.
- Use Prettier to automatically format code.
- Configure your editor to automatically lint and format code on save.
- **Deployment Best Practices:**
- Deploy your application to a reliable hosting provider.
- Use a content delivery network (CDN) to serve static assets.
- Configure your server to serve compressed files.
- **CI/CD Integration:**
- Use a continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline to automate the build, test, and deployment process.
- Integrate your CI/CD pipeline with your version control system.