create-elses-react-ui-lib-starter

Usage

npm create elses-react-ui-lib-starter
# or
npx create-elses-react-ui-lib-starter

A CLI tool to quickly scaffold a modern React UI library starter.

This starter helps developers create reusable component libraries, design systems, or shared UI packages without spending hours configuring project structure, build tools, and styling systems.

Instead of manually setting up TypeScript, exports, theming, and styling pipelines, this CLI generates a clean, ready-to-extend foundation in seconds.

Author

Portfolio: Groot

Why This Exists

Creating a React UI library often requires repetitive setup such as:

• configuring TypeScript
• structuring component exports
• handling styles inside the package
• creating a theme/token system
• ensuring the library bundles correctly for npm

Many templates available online are either:

• overly complex
• too opinionated
• or too minimal to scale

This starter aims to provide a balanced foundation:

• minimal but structured
• flexible but scalable
• ready for real-world UI libraries

What This Starter Includes

The generated project comes with a clean architecture designed for building UI libraries.

React + TypeScript

Strong typing for components and props from the start.

Tailwind CSS v4

Tailwind is preconfigured and compiled into the library bundle so users do not need to import CSS manually.

Token-Based Theming System

A simple theme system using tokens and context.

Supports things like:

• light mode
• dark mode
• customizable theme tokens

Modular Component Structure

Each component follows a scalable folder pattern.

components/
Button/
Button.tsx
index.ts

This keeps imports clean and makes scaling the library easier.

Central Export System

All components are exported through a single entry file.

src/index.ts

This ensures consumers can import components easily.

Who This Starter Is For

This starter is ideal for developers who want to build:

• personal component libraries
• reusable UI packages
• internal design systems
• npm UI component libraries
• shared components across multiple projects

If you want to publish your own UI package to npm, this starter provides a solid base.

Installation

Run the CLI with:

npx create-elses-react-ui-lib-starter

The CLI will ask for some basic information.

Example prompts:

package name
version
description
author

Once completed, your project folder will be generated automatically.

Getting Started

After the project is created:

1. Navigate into the project

cd your-library-name

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Build the library

npm run build

The build output will be generated inside the dist folder.

Basic Usage Example

After publishing your library, it can be used like this:

import { Theme, Button } from "your-library";

function App() {
  return (
    <Theme mode="light">
      <Button variant="solid">Hello</Button>
    </Theme>
  );
}

The Theme provider supplies tokens used by the components.

Project Philosophy

This starter follows a few simple principles:

Keep things simple

Avoid unnecessary complexity while maintaining a scalable structure.

Encourage modular components

Each component should live inside its own folder.

Bundle styles automatically

Consumers should not need to import CSS manually.

Make publishing easy

The generated project is already structured for npm publishing.

When To Use This Starter

Use this starter if you want to:

• build your own React component library
• create reusable UI components across projects
• publish a UI package to npm
• experiment with design system architecture

License

MIT