Migrate Radix To Base
Migrates React projects and components from Radix UI to Base UI. Use when asked to migrate from radix, move to base-ui, convert radix primitives, or switch a shadcn project's base library. Handles single components ("migrate accordion") and whole projects.
- Skill ID
- shadcn-ui/ui/migrate-radix-to-base
- Publisher
- shadcn-ui
- Repository
- ui
- Installs
- 447
- Files
- 10
- Synced
- Sep 16, 2026
Open any RiverX project, open the Skills panel in the chat, and search for this identifier. The files are fetched from the source repository at install time.
shadcn-ui/ui/migrate-radix-to-baseInstalls these files- SKILL.md
- class-mapping.md
- consumer-props.md
- disclosure.md
- display-misc.md
- form-controls.md
- menus.md
- overlays.md
- universal-patterns.md
- wrapper-shapes.md
What this skill tells the agent
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)
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.- 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.
- Require a clean git tree; work on a branch; one commit per component.
- Baseline check BEFORE touching dependencies: run the project's typecheck/build so pre-existing failures are never attributed to you.
- Install
@base-ui/reactalongside 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:
- 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. - WHOLE-PROJECT mode: flip
components.jsonstyleradix-<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). - PRISTINE wrappers, whole-project mode:
shadcn add <component> --overwritedelivers 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.tsxinstead. - CUSTOMIZED wrappers: fetch the base variant and replay the user's diff onto it (their customizations must SURVIVE;
--overwritewould 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. - 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 againstconsumer-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 addwill 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-uiand@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.mdfor data-attribute/CSS-var rewrites, andwrapper-shapes.mdfor exact target shapes (tooltip arrow, SubContent defaults, select anatomy).
Modes
Progressive (default). "Migrate accordion" = one component, strangler-fig:
- Detect in-progress state first: an existing
<component>-base.tsx, consumers split between old/new imports. The files ARE the state; resume, never restart. - If the component imports other ui wrappers still on radix (select -> button), STOP and recommend migrating those first, bottom-up.
- 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 inconsumer-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, flipcomponents.jsontobase-<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 (directionprop, notdir). Popover Anchor and NavigationMenu Indicator have no equivalent: inert passthrough + flag. button.tsxmigrates to the REAL@base-ui/react/buttonprimitive, 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
uialias from shadcn info, e.g. components/ui or src/components/ui) for remaining radix imports
