Show HN: Basecoat – shadcn/UI components, no React required
Basecoat ports the upcoming shadcn/ui v4 [1] to plain HTML + Tailwind (no React):
- Live demo & documentation: https://basecoatui.com
- MIT‑licensed and free: https://github.com/hunvreus/basecoat/
- Works with any backend (Flask, Django, Rails, PHP, etc.) or static site.
- Fully theme‑compatible with shadcn/ui [2].
- Uses a sliver of Alpine.js only for a few interactive bits (e.g. combobox). Swap in your own JS if you prefer.
- Dead simple to use, just drop in a class here and there:
<button class="btn" data-tooltip="This is a tooltip text">Click me</button>
Feedback is most welcome: bugs, requests for components, criticism.
[2]: https://basecoatui.com/installation/#install-theming
[3]: https://pagescms.org
> Why I built it: after moving from a Next.js stack back to Flask + Tailwind + HTMX, I missed shadcn/ui and didn’t want walls of Tailwind classes (like Flowbite or Preline).
I understand that Next.js can feel bloated, especially when used as a static site generator or within a classic JAMStack setup.
Basecoatui reminds me a bit of Bootstrap during the golden era of Ruby on Rails.
I took a look at the Git repository and tried to find an automated solution to convert shadcn to plain HTML but didn't find anything suitable. Is there a script available for this, or was this done manually?
Very cool! Are you manually porting all components or are you using some sort of automated process?
Looks nice! Can you add a CDN option? Would be nice for a quick start to play around.
Also, reminds me of https://franken-ui.dev
Yep, I've been considering adding a CDN option.
I think it may be on the heavier side though (~100k).
Looks great!
One suggestion would be adding a focus trap, such as when a Dialog opens. It's nice to use the tab key to move around the Dialog (inputs and buttons). Currently focus leaves to the page behind. It might be as simple as adding https://alpinejs.dev/plugins/focus#x-trap
Really great! A major downside of moving from SPA's back to vanilla JS is how much you lose in terms of UI components.
I've normally done DaisyUI + Tailwind + Rails but it never feels quite right. Basecoat is a really nice step forward.
I have to imagine the author is planning to charge for a premium package at some point, but given that a huge % of development is spent on UI design, I'd be more than happy to pay for a year of updates.
There’s a huge need for this, thank you! I build server-rendered marketing sites and there’s a huge gulf between the jQuery and React era.
Awesome. Using Vue/Tailwind, I'm definitely interested in this. Maybe you could try to add examples of integrations with others frameworks? I'll play with it and give you my 2 cents.
Not sure if you're aware, but there's a well-supported Vue ShadCN library: https://www.shadcn-vue.com/
Hello there Ben. Sure thing, I'll try and expand the docs.
Absolutely love this. Wanted to do this myself but never enough to get started. You're a legend.
Would you be interested in getting rid of Tailwind and have the styling strictly with SASS mixins?
This is great! The HTMX community needs more friendly UI kits like this.
Why did you decide going old school using Alpine.js instead of using plain vanilla web components?
Alpine is old school now?
I'd say anything new in 2025 that involves working with the DOM that doesn't use web component is a waste. Lately I have been porting some old JS libraries (7+ years old) that still are visually impressive to web components, and in my experience after porting some libraries there is about 30% fewer lines of code. Before web components there was so much work to get things up and running in the DOM. Alpine.js does this behind the scenes, but there isn't really a need for it anymore.
This is awesome. I did the same and have been using AlpineJS Pines UI library. Been pretty happy with it! But will take a look at this
So if I understand correctly all JS is custom-written Alpine JS components.
And all CSS is custom classes that use Tailwind @apply, I'm not sure why, can someone elaborate.
FYI I don't think all of your styles are loading on the page. Tried safari and firefox and it doesn't look right.
Glad you shared this. Looks nice!
This is great! Thanks for implementing this!
Thank you! I was searching for this exact thing the other week.
Can someone eli5 how this is different from something like bootstrap?
Bootstrap is a completely different framework with a different design language (one that many may precieve as out of fashion). This library/framework allows folks to use ShadCN (a component library) similar to Bootstrap which is only available through React/Vue/Svelte, etc.. with vanilla HTML.
So it's different in visual design, but the goal here is actually to make shadcn more like bootstrap? Hmm.. I think I like that.
crayons vs colored pencils
This looks great. I've never used React so had never heard of shadcn, and annoyingly I've just got to the point in a side project where pulling out DaisyUI and replacing it with this might be a bit of a chore.
Now you just need to remove Tailwind
If I offer a CDN version, it will be Tailwind-free.
Yes please! Even if we have to add the tailwind as a CDN, this would be useful — as we don't have to use npm / yarn to build the project anymore.
(I like building pure html files in alpine)
And then ?
and then... that solves the issue of a Tailwind dep
If deps are a problem for you, don't use basecoat.
this is awesome, thanks for creating it
I dig it. Love this
>> Works with any backend
Have you fully tested it with Solaris or AIX? /s