shadcn-svelte-usage

Bias every Svelte/SvelteKit UI task toward the shadcn-svelte registry. Hand-roll only as last resort.

Heuristic

1. Check registry first — https://www.shadcn-svelte.com/llms.txt enumerates every component. If a primitive matches the user's request, install it.
2. Install via CLI (preferred — sidesteps a bunx cache bug on Windows + Bun with shadcn-svelte's esrap/@jridgewell/sourcemap-codec deps):

   bun add -D shadcn-svelte
   bun x shadcn-svelte add <component> --yes
   

   bunx shadcn-svelte@latest add <component> works on most setups but currently throws Cannot find package '@jridgewell/sourcemap-codec' on Bun + Windows. Local install + bun x works everywhere.
3. Compose — primitives drop into $lib/components/ui/<component>/. Re-export aggregated index from $lib/components/ui/<component>/index.ts (CLI does this).
4. Extend, don't fork — wrap shadcn-svelte components in $lib/components/<feature>/ with project-specific props rather than editing the generated files.
5. Hand-roll only when no registry match (bespoke charts beyond shadcn-svelte chart, business-specific composites).

Init in fresh SvelteKit project