A Developer's Guide to Mastering Shad CN UI |

Your site's UI is everything. It's what users interact with and how they judge your entire project. And even with AI tools like Cursor, you still need to know how to build proper UI if you want something that looks professional. Shad CN components are some of the most popular React components out there and for good reason. But here's the thing, you're probably using them wrong. I used to just tell an AI, "build this with Shad CN," and hope for the best. But the AI consistently messes up the implementation, leaving you with broken components and styling issues. So today I'll show you how to implement these components properly and style them so your site actually looks unique instead of like every other Shadcen site out there.

The Proper Workflow

To get this right, you need the proper workflow. And I found something that's completely changed how I work with Shad CN. This MCP server built specifically for Shad Cn UI. This MCP server has transformed my development process. It provides proper context and implementation patterns ensuring everything works correctly from the start. There's one tool in this MCP server that's been a total game-changer for me. Let me show you the GitHub repo and walk you through how this works.

There are basically two ways to use it: 1. Without your GitHub personal access token. 2. With your GitHub personal access token, which gives you 5,000 requests per hour.

I definitely recommend getting your token. I'll even show you how to install and set it up. In my setup, I have the Shad CN UI MCP server ready to go.

Let me guide you through the workflow I've developed using the Shad CN UI MCP server and show you how this has completely transformed the way I approach building frontends.

The UI/UX Implementation Plan

First, let me show you this MCP store.md file. What you're looking at here is a complete UI/UX implementation for a demo MCP store, and it includes not just the structure but the entire user journey as well. The way this came about was pretty simple. I went to an AI, brainstormed my idea, and asked it to generate the whole implementation plan for me, and this is what it came up with. Now, what's important to understand here is that this is purely the UI and UX implementation. It doesn't contain any code implementations or anything like that at this stage.

The Game-Changing Tool

So now let me take you back to the MCP tools and I'll show you the tool that I mentioned was the real game-changer.

list_components tool: This returns all of the available components. We're talking about 46 total components.
get_component tool: This does exactly what you'd expect. It gets information about a single component.
get_component_demo tool: And this is the game-changer I mentioned earlier. This tool has honestly been revolutionary for my workflow and has solved so many errors for me.

Let me show you a demonstration of how this works. I asked it to use the demo tool for a component and explain how it was used simply because I was curious about it, and it went ahead and listed all the components for me. Then retrieved the component demos, which is where the magic happens.

Take the button component. That one's pretty simple to implement, so you might not need the demo tool as much there.

But then take the dialog component, and this is where it really shines. You'll see there's a specific way it needs to be implemented. And here's what makes this so powerful: The component demos show you exactly how it's used in real code. So there's virtually no chance of making errors because you have the exact usage patterns right there.

Understanding Blocks

Coming back to the other tools, we also have something called blocks. Now, blocks are quite different. They're combinations of components used together. So for example, a login block isn't just a single component; it's actually a mix of multiple components working together. The list_blocks and get_blocks tools are designed specifically to handle these more complex elements.

My Day-to-Day Workflow

So those were the main tools. Now, let me show you how I actually use the Shad CN UI MCP in my day-to-day workflow. The key is that I use rule files because they're essentially a way to program your AI agent, right?

Here are my rules: 1. Whenever it's asked to work with Shad CN UI components, the system should automatically use the MCP server. 2. During the planning phase for anything related to Shad CN, it should apply existing components wherever possible. If blocks can be used instead, it should prioritize those because blocks are already pre-made and the MCP already has full context for them. 3. When actually building the components, it should call the get_component_demo tool first. It needs to check how the component is properly used and then use that information in the actual code.

So that's the foundation I set up. And then I referenced this rule file and asked the AI to look at the MCP store.md file. This is the complete implementation plan that the AI generated for me.

What I specifically asked it to do was create a UI implementation using Shad CN UI that would tell us exactly what components will be used in the UI structure and precisely where they'll be placed. I wanted it to only mention the appropriate component names. No actual code at this stage because this part isn't about coding yet. In a way, we're returning to the concept of context engineering, but this time it's specifically optimized for front-end development.

So, the AI went ahead and listed components, listed blocks, and retrieved all the different pieces we needed. Then, once all of that groundwork was complete, I asked it to compile everything into this implementation plan.

Now, if we look at what's actually being built, you'll see that I referenced the rule file again and told the AI to implement this plan inside the Shad CN app. As the system works through the process, it's adding all the components step by step, building everything methodically.

Here's what's fascinating: Once it finishes with a specific set of blocks and components, it calls the tools again. And this happens because that's exactly how it's programmed in the rule file. Because of that programming, it never strays from the process. It consistently fetches the context first. And this is the crucial part we've been exploring with context engineering.

The result looks really professional, and all the components have been implemented perfectly. This was done in one single try. I just had to go back once because of some configuration issues. But if I had done this without the MCP server, there would have been so many component issues and responsive issues that I'd have to go back and deal with them again and again.

For example, the login page is a single block, and the dashboard is also a single block that's been modified to add many more components. So using the MCP server and the workflow of already making a plan for how the implementation should be done with the Shad CN UI components is what makes the whole process so effective.

Customizing Your Site

So, I just showed you how you can create a better structure for your sites using the MCP server. Now, let's talk about how you can customize your site using the Shad CN UI components. For that, we're going to be using this site called Tweak CN.

It's essentially a customizer for the base Shad CN UI components. You can switch things up, change the designs, and whichever one you like, you can go ahead and implement. And these aren't just pre-made designs; you can fully customize them however you want. All the settings are right there. So, just go ahead and tweak them however you like so that your site or web app gets a unified look that's truly your own. Because, you know, a lot of websites built with Shad CN tend to look really similar. There's not much visual customization out of the box. But with this, you can actually design something that feels unique.

Once you land on something you really like, just go into the code option, copy the command, and give it to your AI to install the theme. Now, I've seen that sometimes the AI isn't able to fully install it automatically. If that happens, just copy the code shown below. These are all the small settings you'll need to change to match the theme you created. You can give this to the AI and it will modify the files directly, and then you'll have the exact theme you customized.

So, first you build your entire structure, perfecting it using the MCP server, and that part doesn't take much time. Then once that's done, you use Tweak CN to make everything look great.

Installation Guide

The installation is actually pretty easy. Back in the GitHub repository, if you scroll down, you'll find the MCP configuration. They have different ways of testing and also running the MCP server. For running it with an AI code assistant, you're going to need to use the desktop configuration.

Just go ahead and copy it.
Then head back into your AI assistant, open up the settings, and go inside tools and integrations.
When it's not added yet, you're going to go in and just add the MCP server.

As you can see, I've added the MCP server without the GitHub personal access token, but you definitely want the increased user limit. So, I highly recommend that you go ahead and get your personal access token. It's really easy to get. Once you get your token, make sure to copy it because you won't be able to see it again. Then, go back, paste it into your MCP file, save it, and you're ready to go.