Installation

Learn how to install the @shadcn/designer package and get started with the designer.

License Required

You will need a license key to install the package. You can learn more about the pricing and purchase a business license here.

See Pricing

Create Project

First, let's setup a new Vite + Tailwind project.

Note: You can use any React framework with the designer. This guide uses Vite + React + Tailwind. The only requirement is that you have Tailwind installed.


npx create-vite@latest my-designer --template react-ts

Configure Tailwind

The @shadcn/designer package is built with Tailwind CSS. You will need to install Tailwind and configure it in your project.

Install Tailwind

Add the following dependencies to your project.


npm install tailwindcss @tailwindcss/vite

Configure the Vite plugin

Import the Tailwind Vite plugin in your vite.config.ts file.

vite.config.ts

import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import react from "@vitejs/plugin-react";
import tailwindcss from "@tailwindcss/vite";
 
export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [react(), tailwindcss()],
});

Import Tailwind CSS

Replace the content of your src/index.css file with the following.

src/index.css

@import "tailwindcss";

Install Package

Next, let's install the package. You will need a license key to install the package. You can purchase a business license here.


npm install https://ds.shadcn.com/registry\?license\=YOUR_LICENSE_KEY

Import the Designer component from @shadcn/designer and the styles from @shadcn/designer/styles.css.

src/App.tsx

import { Designer } from "@shadcn/designer";
import "@shadcn/designer/styles.css";
 
export default function App() {
  return <Designer className="h-svh" />;
}

Make sure you also import the styles from @shadcn/designer/styles.css. This should be imported after your own styles.

Note: The Designer will take up the height of its container. The h-svh class is used to make the designer take up the full height of the viewport.

Components

The Designer is built to be composable. You build your custom designer by composing the components that you need.

The following will setup a basic designer with a canvas and a frame. The default frame size is 1024x1024.

src/App.tsx

import {
  Designer,
  DesignerContent,
  DesignerCanvas,
  DesignerFrame,
} from "@shadcn/designer";
import "@shadcn/designer/styles.css";
 
export default function App() {
  return (
    <Designer className="h-svh">
      <DesignerContent>
        <DesignerCanvas>
          <DesignerFrame />
        </DesignerCanvas>
      </DesignerContent>
    </Designer>
  );
}

Layers

Now that your designer is setup, you can add layers to it. Press T on your keyboard to add a new text layer.

You will see a new text layer added to the canvas. You can drag the text layer around the canvas and use the handles to resize it.

The designer comes with the following layer types by default: frame, text and image.

You can extend the designer by adding your own layer types. See the Custom Layer example for more information.

Let's place a toolbar with buttons to add layers to the canvas.

src/App.tsx

import {
  Designer,
  DesignerContent,
  DesignerCanvas,
  DesignerFrame,
  DesignerToolbar,
  DesignerToolbarGroup,
  ActionToolbarAddLayer,
} from "@shadcn/designer";
import "@shadcn/designer/styles.css";
 
export default function App() {
  return (
    <Designer className="h-svh">
      <DesignerContent>
        <DesignerCanvas>
          <DesignerFrame />
        </DesignerCanvas>
      </DesignerContent>
      <DesignerToolbar>
        <DesignerToolbarGroup>
          <ActionToolbarAddLayer />
        </DesignerToolbarGroup>
      </DesignerToolbar>
    </Designer>
  );
}

You should see a new toolbar at the bottom of the canvas. The toolbar has one action to add a new layer.

Panels

Now that we have a canvas and we can add layers to it, let's add a <DesignerPanel /> to display layer controls.

src/App.tsx

import {
  Designer,
  DesignerContent,
  DesignerCanvas,
  DesignerFrame,
  DesignerToolbar,
  DesignerToolbarGroup,
  ActionToolbarAddLayer,
  DesignerPanel,
} from "@shadcn/designer";
import "@shadcn/designer/styles.css";
 
export default function App() {
  return (
    <Designer className="h-svh">
      <DesignerContent>
        <DesignerCanvas>
          <DesignerFrame />
        </DesignerCanvas>
        <DesignerPanel />
      </DesignerContent>
      <DesignerToolbar>
        <DesignerToolbarGroup>
          <ActionToolbarAddLayer />
        </DesignerToolbarGroup>
      </DesignerToolbar>
    </Designer>
  );
}

This will place a panel on the right side of the canvas. We can have multiple panels in the designer. Let's add a panel to the left side of the canvas.

src/App.tsx

import {
  Designer,
  DesignerContent,
  DesignerCanvas,
  DesignerFrame,
  DesignerToolbar,
  DesignerToolbarGroup,
  ActionToolbarAddLayer,
  DesignerPanel,
} from "@shadcn/designer";
import "@shadcn/designer/styles.css";
 
export default function App() {
  return (
    <Designer className="h-svh">
      <DesignerContent>
        <DesignerPanel />
        <DesignerCanvas>
          <DesignerFrame />
        </DesignerCanvas>
        <DesignerPanel />
      </DesignerContent>
      <DesignerToolbar>
        <DesignerToolbarGroup>
          <ActionToolbarAddLayer />
        </DesignerToolbarGroup>
      </DesignerToolbar>
    </Designer>
  );
}

Panes

We use <DesignerPane /> to display and group controls. Let's add a new pane to the right panel.

src/App.tsx

import {
  Designer,
  DesignerContent,
  DesignerCanvas,
  DesignerFrame,
  DesignerToolbar,
  DesignerToolbarGroup,
  ActionToolbarAddLayer,
  DesignerPanel,
  DesignerPane,
  DesignerPaneTitle,
  DesignerPaneContent,
} from "@shadcn/designer";
import "@shadcn/designer/styles.css";
 
export default function App() {
  return (
    <Designer className="h-svh">
      <DesignerContent>
        <DesignerPanel />
        <DesignerCanvas>
          <DesignerFrame />
        </DesignerCanvas>
        <DesignerPanel>
          <DesignerPane>
            <DesignerPaneTitle>Layers</DesignerPaneTitle>
            <DesignerPaneContent>Hello World</DesignerPaneContent>
          </DesignerPane>
        </DesignerPanel>
      </DesignerContent>
      <DesignerToolbar>
        <DesignerToolbarGroup>
          <ActionToolbarAddLayer />
        </DesignerToolbarGroup>
      </DesignerToolbar>
    </Designer>
  );
}

You should see a new pane with the title "Layers" and the content "Hello World" in the right panel.

Actions and Controls

To display and control the properties of a layer, we use <Action /> components.

The @shadcn/designer package ships with several actions out of the box. We provide the necessary API and components to create your own custom actions.

Let's add a <ActionPosition /> to the right panel to display the position of the layer.

src/App.tsx

import {
  Designer,
  DesignerContent,
  DesignerCanvas,
  DesignerFrame,
  DesignerToolbar,
  DesignerToolbarGroup,
  ActionPosition,
  ActionToolbarAddLayer,
  DesignerPanel,
  DesignerPane,
  DesignerPaneTitle,
  DesignerPaneContent,
} from "@shadcn/designer";
import "@shadcn/designer/styles.css";
 
export default function App() {
  return (
    <Designer className="h-svh">
      <DesignerContent>
        <DesignerPanel />
        <DesignerCanvas>
          <DesignerFrame />
        </DesignerCanvas>
        <DesignerPanel>
          <DesignerPane>
            <DesignerPaneTitle>Layers</DesignerPaneTitle>
            <DesignerPaneContent>
              <ActionPosition />
            </DesignerPaneContent>
          </DesignerPane>
        </DesignerPanel>
      </DesignerContent>
      <DesignerToolbar>
        <DesignerToolbarGroup>
          <ActionToolbarAddLayer />
        </DesignerToolbarGroup>
      </DesignerToolbar>
    </Designer>
  );
}

You should see a new Position action in the right panel. It comes with X and Y inputs to control the position of the layer. If you click and drag a layer you should see the X and Y values change.

More Actions

Let's build a custom panel with more actions and import it into our designer.

Create a new file called src/panel-right.tsx and add the following code.

src/panel-right.tsx

import {
  ActionFill,
  ActionPadding,
  ActionBoxShadow,
  DesignerPanel,
  DesignerPane,
  DesignerPaneTitle,
  DesignerPaneContent,
  ActionPosition,
  ActionSize,
  ActionCorner,
  ActionBorder,
  ActionRotate,
  ActionDirection,
  ActionTextValue,
  ActionImageFit,
  ActionImageFilter,
  ActionFont,
  ActionColor,
  ActionFontSize,
  ActionLineHeight,
  ActionLetterSpacing,
  ActionTextAlign,
  ActionAlignItems,
  ActionFontStyle,
  ActionTextDecoration,
  ActionTextTransform,
  ActionTextShadow,
  ActionTextStroke,
} from "@shadcn/designer";
 
export function PanelRight() {
  return (
    <DesignerPanel>
      <DesignerPane>
        <DesignerPaneTitle>Layer</DesignerPaneTitle>
        <DesignerPaneContent>
          <ActionPosition />
          <ActionSize />
        </DesignerPaneContent>
      </DesignerPane>
      <DesignerPane>
        <DesignerPaneTitle>Styles</DesignerPaneTitle>
        <DesignerPaneContent>
          <ActionCorner />
          <ActionBorder />
          <ActionBoxShadow />
          <ActionPadding />
          <ActionFill />
        </DesignerPaneContent>
      </DesignerPane>
      <DesignerPane>
        <DesignerPaneTitle>Transforms</DesignerPaneTitle>
        <DesignerPaneContent>
          <ActionRotate />
          <ActionDirection />
        </DesignerPaneContent>
      </DesignerPane>
      <DesignerPane showForLayerTypes={["text"]}>
        <DesignerPaneContent>
          <ActionTextValue />
        </DesignerPaneContent>
      </DesignerPane>
      <DesignerPane showForLayerTypes={["image"]}>
        <DesignerPaneTitle>Image</DesignerPaneTitle>
        <DesignerPaneContent>
          <ActionImageFit />
        </DesignerPaneContent>
      </DesignerPane>
      <DesignerPane showForLayerTypes={["image"]}>
        <DesignerPaneTitle>Filters</DesignerPaneTitle>
        <DesignerPaneContent>
          <ActionImageFilter />
        </DesignerPaneContent>
      </DesignerPane>
      <DesignerPane showForLayerTypes={["text", "icon"]}>
        <DesignerPaneTitle>Text</DesignerPaneTitle>
        <DesignerPaneContent>
          <ActionColor />
          <ActionFontSize />
          <ActionLineHeight />
          <ActionLetterSpacing />
          <ActionTextAlign />
          <ActionAlignItems />
          <ActionFontStyle />
          <ActionTextDecoration />
          <ActionTextTransform />
          <ActionTextShadow />
          <ActionTextStroke />
        </DesignerPaneContent>
      </DesignerPane>
    </DesignerPanel>
  );
}

Then import the PanelRight component into your src/App.tsx file.

src/App.tsx

import {
  Designer,
  DesignerContent,
  DesignerCanvas,
  DesignerFrame,
  DesignerToolbar,
  DesignerToolbarGroup,
  ActionToolbarAddLayer,
  DesignerPanel,
} from "@shadcn/designer";
import "@shadcn/designer/styles.css";
 
import { PanelRight } from "./panel-right";
 
export default function App() {
  return (
    <Designer className="h-svh">
      <DesignerContent>
        <DesignerPanel />
        <DesignerCanvas>
          <DesignerFrame />
        </DesignerCanvas>
        <PanelRight />
      </DesignerContent>
      <DesignerToolbar>
        <DesignerToolbarGroup>
          <ActionToolbarAddLayer />
        </DesignerToolbarGroup>
      </DesignerToolbar>
    </Designer>
  );
}

You should see a new panel on the right side of the canvas. The panel has the actions to control the layer.

See the Actions section for more information on available actions.

Next Steps

Layers

On This Page

License Required Create Project Configure Tailwind Install Tailwind Configure the Vite plugin Import Tailwind CSS Install Package Components Layers Toolbar Panels Panes Actions and Controls More Actions Next Steps