The UI Framework for Perfectionists

[!WARNING] NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PRODUCTION USE

The current version of LiftKit was developed by a designer without consulting professional developers, and you can tell. Thanks to community feedback, the project is currently being rewritten to satisfy modern best practices. The new components will wrap around Base UI primitives. The updated docs will include live component demos, copy-pastable code samples, and more. As of March 4, 2026, this initiative is about 50% complete.

Thank you for your patience. To receive an email when new versions come out, visit chainlift.io/liftkit and input your email underneath "Get Notified About Updates" in the hero section.

LiftKit is a UI framework that makes you a better designer without even realizing it. At its core, it's a platform-agnostic system of formulas for scaling, spacing, and color that automatically enforce design best practices such as optical symmetry, balanced proportions, and smooth color ramps.

• The following instructions are easier to read on our website: See Documentation

This is the official repository. Currently, it only has support for Next.js without Tailwind. The project is maintained by Chainlift, which is itself maintained entirely by part-time contributors. So while we do plan to expand support to every framework imaginable, we are currently limited by time and availability.

Community contributors are responsible for their own forks. However, we help out however we can by adding serious contributors to our internal Slack, where they can communicate and collaborate with everyone else working on the project.

Not officially supported by Chainlift, but we do communicate with the owners. Contact each project's owner for support.

• liftkit-tailwind

We strongly prefer that contributors work with us directly to maintain the system's integrity.

If interested in contributing and being listed on our site and this readme, contact info@chainlift.io with a brief introduction and description of how you'd like to help.

This documentation assumes the following:

• You already have Node.js, npm, and Git installed on your local machine
• You’re familiar with basic terminal commands like cd

1. Paste the following command into your terminal to clone the template:

   git clone https://github.com/Chainlift/liftkit-template.git

2. cd into the newly-created project.

   • If you get an error that says direnv: error, just ignore it. It's a bug we'll fix soon.

3. Run:

   npm install

4. Install the components you need (see section 2 below).

5. Import LiftKit’s CSS into your app’s globals.css:

   @import url("@/lib/css/index.css");

A blank Next.js project with LiftKit Core’s config files pre-installed—fastest way to get up and running.

1. cd into your project’s root directory.

2. Install LiftKit CLI as a dev dependency:

   npm install @chainlift/liftkit --save-dev

3. Initialize LiftKit:

   npx liftkit init

   • If prompted to add an add script to package.json, say yes.
   • If prompted to install shadcn as a devDependency, say yes.

4. Install the components you need (see section 2 below).

5. Import LiftKit’s CSS into your app’s globals.css:

   @import url("@/lib/css/index.css");

It adds two files to your project root:

• components.json
• tailwind.config.ts

You do not need Tailwind itself to use LiftKit—just the config file for now.

LiftKit Core is just the base config. LiftKit Components are the actual UI components (with their CSS). At build time, unused CSS is tree-shaken away.

If warned about React 19 compatibility, add --force and proceed.

• I only installed one component, but it installed multiple. Why? Some components import others. E.g., installing Badge also brings in Icon.
• Why did it install CSS for components I’m not using? By design—to let you play freely. Unused styles are removed at build time.
• How can I get rid of unused CSS? It’s automatically removed at build time.
• Does LiftKit require Tailwind? No—only a tailwind.config.ts file is needed (a requirement of the current registry). Tailwind itself is not a dependency.

Warning: It’s currently a dumpster fire. We’re working on improvements—contributors welcome!

• View File on Figma (opens in new tab)

• We know. We’ll fix it soon.

  • Buttons adjust padding based on icon presence, and padding values aren’t controllable via props.
  • Our only option was to list everything explicitly—clearly a bad idea in hindsight.

• Figma doesn’t support margins or em units, so we converted everything to pixels (assuming 1rem = 16px).

• Variables are organized into collections:

  • Global collection = base LkSizeUnit variables
  • Text Spacing Vals = subsets per LkFontClass, simulating spacing props like .m-bottom-xs

• View on Made in Webflow (opens in new tab)