AI-Powered Design Starter

A comprehensive, interactive component showcase and design system starter for Next.js projects optimized for AI-assisted development workflows.

What Is This?

The AI-Powered Design Starter is a specialized Next.js template designed to accelerate UI development with a focus on AI-assisted workflows. Unlike typical component libraries or design systems, this project provides:

1. Live Component Registry - An interactive showcase of all shadcn/ui components with real-time theme reflection
2. AI-Optimized Structure - Organized specifically for effective interaction with AI coding assistants like Cursor
3. Practical Implementation Path - Direct bridge between choosing themes on shadcn/ui's themes page and implementing them
4. Development-Time Resource - Serves as both documentation and playground during development

This project is specifically designed to complement the shadcn/ui themes page, providing a working environment where those themes can be directly applied and tested.

Project Structure

├── src/
│   ├── app/                    # Next.js App Router structure
│   │   ├── page.tsx            # Landing page explaining the starter
│   │   ├── layout.tsx          # Root layout with theme provider
│   │   ├── globals.css         # Global styles and Tailwind directives
│   │   └── registry/           # Component registry (development only)
│   │       └── page.tsx        # Interactive component showcase
│   │
│   ├── components/             # React components
│   │   ├── ui/                 # shadcn/ui components
│   │   │   ├── button.tsx      # UI components from shadcn/ui
│   │   │   ├── card.tsx
│   │   │   └── ... (many more)
│   │   │
│   │   ├── theme-provider.tsx  # Theme provider wrapper
│   │   ├── theme-toggle.tsx    # Theme switching component
│   │   ├── styles-showcase.tsx # Theme visualization components
│   │   └── *-examples.tsx      # Category-specific example components
│   │
│   └── lib/                    # Utility functions
│       └── utils.ts            # Common utility functions
│
├── public/                     # Static assets
├── components.json             # shadcn/ui configuration
├── next.config.ts              # Next.js configuration
└── tailwind.config.js          # Tailwind CSS configuration

Technical Details

Core Technologies

• Next.js 15+ - React framework with App Router
• React 18 - UI library
• TypeScript - Type-safe JavaScript
• Tailwind CSS - Utility-first CSS framework
• shadcn/ui - Component collection built on Radix UI
• Radix UI - Headless UI primitives
• Sonner - Toast notifications
• Lucide React - Icon library

Key Features

1. Component Registry - Organized by category:

   • Styles (colors, typography, UI styling)
   • Layout components
   • Forms & inputs
   • Feedback components
   • Navigation components
   • Data display components
   • Overlays
   • Date & time components

2. Theme System:

   • Light/dark mode toggle
   • System preference detection
   • CSS variables for all theme values
   • Real-time theme preview

3. AI-Assisted Customization:

   • Instructions for modifying with AI tools
   • Clear file structure for AI context
   • Component examples optimized for prompting

How to Use This Project

For Development

1. Explore Components: Browse the Registry to see available components and how they look with current theme settings
2. Observe Theme Effects: See how changing theme variables impacts components across the system
3. Modify with AI: Use AI assistants (like Cursor) to customize theme variables in tailwind.config.js
4. Build Your App: Use the components and themes to build your actual application

For Production

Before deploying to production, you should remove the development-only registry:

• Use the build:prod script to automatically exclude registry components:

  npm run build:prod
  

• This uses environment variables to modify the Next.js configuration during build
• Registry pages will not be included in the production build, reducing bundle size

Design Decisions & Rationale

This project makes several intentional design decisions:

1. Registry as Development Resource: Unlike traditional component libraries, the registry exists primarily as a development-time resource rather than being included in production.

2. Live Theme Preview: Instead of static style guides, all components reflect the actual theme in real-time, allowing for immediate visual feedback during customization.

3. AI-Assisted Workflow: The project structure and documentation are specifically optimized for AI-assisted development, with clear patterns and consistency.

4. shadcn/ui Integration: Rather than creating a new component system, this builds on shadcn/ui's established patterns while adding the missing link between their themes showcase and practical implementation.

5. KISS Principle: The project follows the "Keep It Simple, Stupid" principle throughout, avoiding unnecessary abstractions or complexity.

Working with AI Assistants

This project is specifically designed to work well with AI coding assistants. When using tools like Cursor:

1. Theme Customization: Ask the AI to help modify theme variables in tailwind.config.js based on visual preferences
2. Component Usage: Request code examples for specific components, using the registry as reference
3. Layout Creation: Ask for assistance in building page layouts using the available components
4. Troubleshooting: Share both the component registry and your implementation for context when debugging

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request to improve the project.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• shadcn/ui for the component collection
• Radix UI for the accessible primitives
• Tailwind CSS for the styling system
• Next.js for the React framework