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Radix to Base UI Migration

Free

Seamlessly migrate React components from Radix UI to Base UI.

by shadcn121k stars on shadcn/ui
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Updated Aug 10, 2026
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Free · Opens the source repo

What Radix to Base UI Migration does

The Radix to Base UI Migration skill provides a structured approach for developers looking to transition their React projects from Radix UI to Base UI. This skill is particularly useful for teams using shadcn wrappers or hand-rolled Radix compositions, ensuring that the migration process keeps the project buildable at every step. By following the outlined procedures, developers can migrate single components or entire projects without losing functionality or introducing errors.

The migration process begins with a preflight checklist that includes gathering project information and ensuring a clean git state. The skill emphasizes the importance of using the shadcn CLI for executing migrations, allowing for a systematic classification of UI wrappers. Developers can choose between a progressive migration approach, which allows for incremental updates, or a whole-project migration when necessary. Each component is handled individually, ensuring that dependencies are respected and that the original code remains intact until the migration is complete.

In addition to the migration mechanics, the skill provides detailed reporting on the migration status of each component. This includes a breakdown of changes made, files left untouched, and any behavioral changes that may arise from the migration. By maintaining rigorous documentation, developers can track the migration progress and ensure that all components are accounted for. The skill also includes a verification process to ensure that the migrated components function as expected, with manual QA checklists tailored for each primitive family.

This skill is aimed at developers and teams who are currently using Radix UI and are planning to switch to Base UI, particularly those who have existing projects that require careful handling of customizations and dependencies. It is designed to facilitate a smooth transition while minimizing disruptions to ongoing development.

When to use it

Use this skill when you need to migrate existing React components from Radix UI to Base UI, especially in shadcn projects.

When not to use it

This skill is not suitable for projects that do not use Radix UI or for migrating non-Radix libraries and components.

What you can build with it

Migrating a Single Component

Use the skill to migrate a specific component, such as an accordion, ensuring it remains functional during the transition.

Whole Project Migration

When tasked with moving an entire project from Radix UI to Base UI, utilize the skill to systematically update all components.

Handling Customizations

If your project has custom Radix UI components, this skill allows you to preserve those customizations while migrating to Base UI.

How to install Radix to Base UI Migration

View source

1. Install with the skills CLI

npx skills add shadcn/ui/migrate-radix-to-base --agent claude-code

2. Or install it manually

Download the skill folder and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or .claude/skills/ to scope it to one repo. Restart Claude Code so it picks up the new skill.

Anthropic's agentic coding CLI, and the reference implementation of Agent Skills. Drop a skill folder into ~/.claude/skills and Claude Code loads it automatically whenever a task matches the skill's description. Claude Code docs

Inside SKILL.md

Written by shadcn

Radix UI -> Base UI migration

You migrate shadcn wrappers, hand-rolled radix compositions, and their consumers to @base-ui/react, keeping the project buildable at every step. Be precise; never guess a mapping. When a prop or part is not in these reference files, check node_modules/@base-ui/react/**/*.d.ts before transforming, and record gaps in the report.

Preflight (always)

  1. npx shadcn@latest info --json (or the project's runner): gives the current base, STYLE (e.g. radix-lyra), tailwind version, aliases, installed components, and package manager. Trust it over inference.
  2. Detect the package manager (packageManager field / lockfile: pnpm-lock.yaml, bun.lock, yarn.lock, package-lock.json) and use IT for every install. Never leave a stale lockfile.
  3. Require a clean git tree; work on a branch; one commit per component.
  4. Baseline check BEFORE touching dependencies: run the project's typecheck/build so pre-existing failures are never attributed to you.
  5. Install @base-ui/react alongside radix. Radix packages are removed only after the LAST component is migrated (both coexist fine).

Strategy: golden pair first, transformation engine second

  • Golden pair via the CLI (preferred). If the project is shadcn with a known style (radix-<style>), the shadcn CLI itself is the golden-pair executor:
    1. Classify each ui wrapper FIRST: diff the user's file against its stock origin, using the components.json style VERBATIM in the URL (https://ui.shadcn.com/r/styles/<style>/<component>.json, files[0].content). This works for prefixed styles (radix-nova) AND legacy unprefixed ones (new-york, new-york-v4, default), which are all still served.
    2. WHOLE-PROJECT mode: flip components.json style radix-<style> -> base-<style> now. PROGRESSIVE mode: do NOT flip yet (the project is still mostly radix; the flip happens once, after the last component); fetch base variants directly by URL instead (https://ui.shadcn.com/r/styles/base-<style>/<component>.json).
    3. PRISTINE wrappers, whole-project mode: shadcn add <component> --overwrite delivers the base variant with the project's exact icon/font/preset resolution. Never bulk --all --overwrite; go component by component, or you drown in unrelated registry version drift. PROGRESSIVE mode: never use --overwrite (it destroys the original that consumers still import); write the fetched base variant content to <component>-base.tsx instead.
    4. CUSTOMIZED wrappers: fetch the base variant and replay the user's diff onto it (their customizations must SURVIVE; --overwrite would destroy them). Mechanical implementation that works at scale: git merge-file user.tsx radix-golden.tsx base-golden.tsx (three-way merge, radix golden as ancestor) auto-resolves most files; hand-resolve conflicts with the reference tables.
    5. MANDATORY leftover sweep on EVERY golden-pair file, including ones that merged "clean": grep -n "radix-ui\|@radix-ui\|IconPlaceholder" per file. The registry sometimes reorders functions between variants, which makes three-way merges report zero conflicts while leaving stale radix hunks in place. A clean merge is NOT proof of a clean file. This is more reliable than reconstructing transforms; use it whenever the pair exists. Consumer/app code has no CLI mechanism: always hand-migrate it against consumer-props.md.
  • Legacy styles (new-york, new-york-v4, default): classification only, no replay. These have no base counterpart (there is no base-new-york), and retargeting onto a base-<style> variant would restyle the user's app. Use the radix golden ONLY to detect customizations, then run the transformation engine on the user's OWN file: rewire primitives, keep their exact classes, apply class-mapping renames. Their look stays theirs. At the end of a legacy whole-project migration, FLAG (do not fix): the style name still reads as radix to the CLI, so future shadcn add will deliver radix variants; the user decides whether to switch style or add manually.
  • Transformation engine (fallback). Hand-rolled radix code, non-shadcn projects, unknown styles: transform using universal-patterns.md (imports in BOTH forms: radix-ui and @radix-ui/react-*; asChild->render with the worked example; Portal>Positioner>Popup; the positioner FORWARD rule; part renames), the per-family props tables (overlays.md, menus.md, form-controls.md, disclosure.md, display-misc.md), class-mapping.md for data-attribute/CSS-var rewrites, and wrapper-shapes.md for exact target shapes (tooltip arrow, SubContent defaults, select anatomy).

Modes

Progressive (default). "Migrate accordion" = one component, strangler-fig:

  1. Detect in-progress state first: an existing <component>-base.tsx, consumers split between old/new imports. The files ARE the state; resume, never restart.
  2. If the component imports other ui wrappers still on radix (select -> button), STOP and recommend migrating those first, bottom-up.
  3. Write the migrated version to <component>-base.tsx (original untouched; golden-pair content fetched by URL, or transformed by hand, per the strategy above); typecheck. Repoint consumers ONE AT A TIME (imports + the call-site props in consumer-props.md); typecheck each. When no consumer imports the original: delete it, rename -base -> original, flip imports back, final check, commit. When the LAST radix wrapper in the project is finalized, flip components.json to base-<style> and remove radix deps.

Whole project (only when explicitly asked): same per-component work in dependency order (leaf/shared wrappers like button and label first). After wrappers, sweep ALL app code against consumer-props.md — the call-site break surface is much larger than asChild. Then remove radix deps, install, full build.

Hard rules

  • NEVER touch non-radix libraries or their wrappers: cmdk (command), vaul (drawer), sonner, input-otp, react-day-picker (calendar), recharts (chart). Report them as intentionally untouched.
  • No Base UI counterpart: AspectRatio -> CSS aspect-ratio div; Label -> native <label>; VisuallyHidden -> sr-only; Direction -> Direction Provider (direction prop, not dir). Popover Anchor and NavigationMenu Indicator have no equivalent: inert passthrough + flag.
  • button.tsx migrates to the REAL @base-ui/react/button primitive, never a hand-rolled useRender wrapper.
  • Behavior deltas are FLAGGED, never silently patched (tabs manual activation, menu items not closing on click, nav-menu 50ms delay). The target is idiomatic Base UI matching the shadcn base registry.
  • Honest reporting: skipped/reverted files are listed as flagged, never as migrated. Pre-existing failures are named as pre-existing.

Verify and report

Typecheck per file, build per batch, full build at the end vs the baseline.

Reports live in a .migration/ directory at the project root, ONE FILE PER COMPONENT: .migration/<component>.md (e.g. .migration/accordion.md). Rules:

  • Each run writes (or fully overwrites) the file for each component it migrated. Re-running a component replaces its report; never touch other components' files.
  • A multi-component run ("migrate alert-dialog and dropdown-menu") writes one file per component, each self-contained; shared consumer-sweep notes are repeated in every affected file.
  • Whole-project mode writes the per-component files plus .migration/project.md (dependency swap, app-code sweep summary, final build result).
  • There is NO index file. Migration status is derived from disk, not maintained: scan the project's ui directory (the ui alias from shadcn info, e.g. components/ui or src/components/ui) for remaining radix imports when asked "what's left". End every run's summary with that derived count ("N wrappers remain on Radix").

Each .migration/<component>.md uses EXACTLY this structure (it is documented publicly; reports must match it):

# <component>

<date, strategy used (golden pair via CLI / merge / engine), one-line verdict>

## Changed

<every file touched, with what changed and why; include file:line for
anything notable. Confirm the leftover scan is clean:
grep -n "radix-ui\|@radix-ui" on this component's files>

## Left alone

<files that look related but were intentionally not touched, with the reason
(cmdk/vaul/sonner are not radix; unrelated drift; etc.)>

## Behavior changes

<differences that compile fine but act differently; flagged, never patched
(tabs activation, menu close-on-click, delays...). Empty section if none>

## Verify by hand

<short manual QA checklist for this primitive family: focus return on
dialogs, keyboard nav + typeahead on menus/select, tooltip delay feel,
slider commit events. Concrete steps, one minute of clicking>

Frequently asked questions about Radix to Base UI Migration

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