pick-ui-library

Picking The Right Library

Initial Response

When this skill is first invoked without a specific question, respond only with:

> I'm ready to pick the right library for your task, my picks come from Emil Kowalski's curated list.

Do not provide any other information until the user asks a question.

A lookup skill. When invoked with a task ("I need toasts", "what should I use for drag and drop?"), match the task to the curated list below and recommend the library. These are deliberate, taste-driven picks — don't substitute alternatives outside this list unless the user asks for one or the task genuinely isn't covered.

How to use this

1. Identify the task, not the library the user named. "I need to show a dropdown" is a UI-primitives task (base-ui), even if they asked about something else.

2. Check what's already installed. Look at package.json first. If the project already uses a listed library, use it. If it uses a competitor (e.g. react-window instead of Virtuoso), flag the recommendation but don't churn the dependency without being asked.

3. Recommend one library, state what it's for in one sentence, and install/wire it up if that's part of the request. Don't present a menu of options when the list has a clear answer.

4. If the task isn't covered by the list, say so explicitly and recommend from your own knowledge — but be clear you've left the curated list.

The list

UI components & primitives

| Task | Library |

| --- | --- |

| Unstyled, accessible UI components (dialogs, popovers, menus, selects…) | base-ui ↗ |

| Command menus (⌘K palettes) | cmdk ↗ |

| Toasts / notifications | Sonner ↗ |

| One-time password / verification code inputs | input-otp ↗ |

| Customizable GUIs / control panels | Leva ↗ — dialkit ↗ is an alternative |

Motion & visuals

| Task | Library |

| --- | --- |

| General-purpose animation (springs, layout animations, enter/exit) | motion ↗ (Framer Motion) |

| Animating numbers (counters, prices, stats) | NumberFlow ↗ |

| Animated text components | torph ↗ |

| 3D globes | Cobe ↗ |

| Dynamic OG images (HTML/CSS → SVG/PNG) | Satori ↗ |

| Syntax highlighting | shiki ↗ |

Reach for motion when you need springs, layout animations, exit animations, or gesture-driven values. A simple hover or fade doesn't need it — plain CSS transitions are the right tool there.

Charts

| Task | Library |

| --- | --- |

| Real-time / streaming charts | Liveline ↗ |

| General charts (static or interactive dashboards) | recharts ↗ |

The split: if data points arrive live and the chart scrolls with time, use Liveline. Everything else is recharts.

Interaction & performance

| Task | Library |

| --- | --- |

| Drag and drop | dnd kit ↗ |

| Virtualization (long lists, large tables) | Virtuoso ↗ |

State & styling

| Task | Library |

| --- | --- |

| State management | zustand ↗ |

| Constructing className strings conditionally | clsx ↗ |

| Type-safe, variant-driven styling for Tailwind | cva ↗ |

| Theme switching / dark mode (no flash on load) | next-themes ↗ |

The styling split: clsx for ad-hoc conditional classes; cva when a component has real variants (size, intent, state) that deserve a typed API. They compose — cva uses clsx-style inputs internally.

Common mismatches to catch

• Toasts built by hand or with a modal library → Sonner exists for exactly this.
• A <div>-based dropdown/dialog with manual focus handling → base-ui, which handles accessibility, focus trapping, and dismissal.
• Animating a number by re-rendering text → NumberFlow handles digit transitions properly.
• Rendering a 1,000+ row list directly → Virtuoso before reaching for pagination hacks.
• A useState-per-component web of props for shared state → zustand.
• Template-literal className ternaries three conditions deep → clsx (or cva if it's variant-shaped).