Description
21st.dev is an open registry for React components in the Tailwind CSS style, built on the model of shadcn/ui. Designers and developers publish finished components and full templates, others browse the catalog, check a live preview, and pull the code straight into their own project. Every component is available as source code, not as an imported dependency: the code lands in your own repository and stays freely editable there. Installation works either through a classic shadcn CLI command or through a so called copy prompt, which can be pasted into tools such as Cursor, Claude Code, v0, or Lovable and is automatically adapted to the existing stack there. According to the provider, over 700,000 developers use the platform.
A project needs to be built on React 18 or later, ideally with Tailwind CSS version 4 and a shadcn/ui compatible base structure. If a project still runs on Tailwind v3, some components require an adjustment to the theme configuration or the utility classes. Licensing is not uniform but set per component by the publishing author: the large majority is under the MIT license, while some components are paid. It is therefore worth checking the license note on each component before adopting it.
Unlike a classic component library with one consistent design, 21st.dev offers many styles side by side, curated through a review by the operators and visible quality signals such as views or author reputation. That makes the platform a central stop when whole sections are needed, such as hero areas, pricing tables, feature grids, testimonials, or dashboard modules, rather than individual small UI elements. Anyone looking for a pure utility library with a stable, unified design system, or working outside the React, Tailwind, and shadcn ecosystem, is better served by a dedicated component library.
