Introduction

Huge thanks to shadcn and the registry layout that inspired this project, and to the Vercel team, especially Hayden Bleasel, both of them are the reason which inspired me to create this, also thanks to his teachings. Also a huge thanks to the AI SDK team for making modern AI interfaces possible.

Sidekick follows the same principles as shadcn/ui, but focused entirely on AI components and chat experiences.

This is not a component library. It is how you build your AI component library.

Sidekick is built around the same principles as shadcn/ui:

• Open Code: The top layer of your component code is open for modification.
• Composition: Every component uses a common, composable interface, making them predictable.
• Distribution: A flat-file schema and command-line tool make it easy to distribute components.
• Beautiful Defaults: Carefully chosen default styles, so you get great design out-of-the-box.
• AI-Ready: Open code for LLMs to read, understand, and improve.

Open Code

Sidekick hands you the actual component code. You have full control to customize and extend the components to your needs. This means:

• Full Transparency: You see exactly how each component is built.
• Easy Customization: Modify any part of a component to fit your design and functionality requirements.
• AI Integration: Access to the code makes it straightforward for LLMs to read, understand, and even improve your components.

Composition

Every component in Sidekick shares a common, composable interface.

All components are built on top of shadcn, and sync well with AISDK and AI elements. This makes it easy to work with multiple pre-existing amazing AI components and build new ones.

Distribution

Sidekick uses shadcn/ui registry distribution system. It defines a schema for components and uses shadcn CLI to distribute them.

Beautiful Defaults

Sidekick comes with a collection of AI-first components that have carefully chosen default styles. They are designed to look good on their own and to work well together as a consistent system:

• Good Out-of-the-Box: Your UI has a clean and minimal look without extra work.
• Unified Design: Components naturally fit with one another. Each component is built to match the others, keeping your UI consistent.
• Easily Customizable: If you want to change something, it's simple to override and extend the defaults.

AI-Ready

The design of Sidekick makes it easy for AI tools to work with your code. Its open code and consistent API allow AI models to read, understand, and even generate new components.

An AI model can learn how your components work and suggest improvements or even create new components that integrate with your existing design.