duck/ui vs Kibo UI
A trusted shadcn registry shipping the components teams would otherwise build from scratch — Gantt charts, Kanban boards, a code editor, AI chat elements, colour pickers, file dropzones.
Short answer
Kibo UI solves hard behaviour and duck/ui solves visual identity. They are not substitutes: a Kanban board is weeks of work you should not repeat, and a token set is a look you cannot get from a Kanban board. The realistic answer for a project that needs both is to install both, because both ride the same CLI.
Kibo UI is best described as: complex stateful component registry. Compared against its publicly documented positioning as of 2026-07-31.
What Kibo UI does well
Stated first, because a comparison that skips this is not worth reading.
- Genuinely complex, stateful components — the expensive kind to build correctly.
- MIT, free, and a trusted shadcn registry with the same install path.
- AI chat elements and editor primitives that few others attempt.
- Saves weeks on exactly the components duck/ui has no intention of shipping.
Where they differ
| Kibo UI | duck/ui | |
|---|---|---|
| Problem solved | Behaviour that is expensive to build | A look that is expensive to design |
| Component complexity | High — Gantt, Kanban, editor, chat | Low to medium — controls, surfaces, feedback, three blocks |
| Visual stance | Neutral, follows your shadcn tokens | Ships the tokens the rest follows |
| Overlap | Almost none with duck/ui | Almost none with Kibo UI |
Which to pick
Pick Kibo UI
Pick Kibo UI when the requirement is a board, a chart, an editor or a chat surface. Nothing in duck/ui replaces those.
Visit Kibo UIPick duck/ui
Pick duck/ui when the requirement is that all of it — including the Kibo components — should look like it was designed by one person.
Read the install guideUsing both
The cleanest pairing on this list. Kibo components are written against the shadcn variable contract, which is the same contract @duck/theme implements, so they inherit the duck tokens with no edits. Install @duck/theme first, then add Kibo components as needed.
FAQ
Do Kibo UI components work with the duck/ui theme?
Yes, and with no changes in the usual case. Kibo UI styles against shadcn's CSS variables and @duck/theme ships the full set of them, so installing the theme retunes Kibo components along with everything else.
Does duck/ui have a Kanban board or a data table?
No. duck/ui is additive and stops at controls, surfaces, feedback and three composed blocks. For boards, editors and tables use Kibo UI or standard shadcn — the theme styles both.