Build a Custom React Component Library with Theme UI

Unlock the Power of Custom React Components with Theme UI

What is Theme UI?

Theme UI is a revolutionary library that empowers developers to create bespoke, themeable user interfaces using constraint-based design concepts. With its extensive API, Theme UI offers unparalleled developer ergonomics, making it an ideal choice for building custom component libraries, design systems, web applications, Gatsby themes, and more.

Building a Custom Component Library with Theme UI and TypeScript

In this hands-on tutorial, we’ll explore the process of creating and publishing a custom React component library using Theme UI and TypeScript. To get started, ensure you have Node.js installed, along with your preferred OS (Ubuntu 20.04 or similar) and IDE (VS Code or similar).

Project Setup

Create a new folder for your project and initialize a React project using the npm init command. Install React and TypeScript with the following command:

npm install react typescript --save-dev

Organize your project structure as follows:


themecomponentui
src
components
Button
Input


Configuring TypeScript

Configure TypeScript by creating a tsconfig.json file and updating it with the following snippet:

json
{
"jsx": "react",
"skipLibCheck": true,
"module": "ESNext",
"declarationDir": "types",
"sourceMap": true,
"outDir": "dist",
"moduleResolution": "node",
"emitDeclarationOnly": true
}


Configuring Rollup

Install Rollup and its plugins using the following commands:

npm install rollup @rollup/plugin-node-resolve @rollup/plugin-typescript @rollup/plugin-commonjs @rollup-plugin-dts @types/rollup-plugin-peer-deps-external @rollup-plugin-terser --save-dev

Configure Rollup by creating a rollup.config.js file and specifying the path to the CommonJS files and ES modules in the package.json file.

Creating Custom Components

Install Theme UI and create your custom components using the sx prop. For this tutorial, we’ll create a Button component and an Input component.

Button Component

Create a Button.tsx file and add the following snippet:

“`tsx
/** @jsxImportSource theme-ui */
import React from ‘eact’;
import { MouseEventHandler } from ‘eact’;

interface ButtonProps {
color?: string;
onClick?: MouseEventHandler;
}

const Button: React.FC = ({ color, onClick, children }) => {
return (

);
};

export default Button;
“`

Input Component

Create an Input.tsx file and add the following snippet:

“`tsx
/** @jsxImportSource theme-ui */
import React from ‘eact’;

interface InputProps {
value: string;
onChange?: (value: string) => void;
}

const Input: React.FC = ({ value, onChange }) => {
return (

);
};

export default Input;
“`

Publishing to npm

Publish your custom component library to npm by running the following command:

npm publish

You’ve successfully published a React custom component library to npm!