nuxt-ui

name	nuxt-ui
description	Build UIs with @nuxt/ui v4 — 125+ accessible Vue components with Tailwind CSS theming. Use when creating interfaces, customizing themes to match a brand, building forms, or composing layouts like dashboards, docs sites, and chat interfaces.

Nuxt UI

Vue component library built on Reka UI + Tailwind CSS + Tailwind Variants. Works with Nuxt, Vue (Vite), Laravel (Inertia), and AdonisJS (Inertia).

Installation

Nuxt

pnpm add @nuxt/ui tailwindcss

// nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  modules: ["@nuxt/ui"],
  css: ["~/assets/css/main.css"],
});

/* app/assets/css/main.css */
@import "tailwindcss";
@import "@nuxt/ui";

<!-- app.vue -->
<template>
  <UApp>
    <NuxtPage />
  </UApp>
</template>

Vue (Vite)

pnpm add @nuxt/ui tailwindcss

// vite.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import vue from "@vitejs/plugin-vue";
import ui from "@nuxt/ui/vite";

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [vue(), ui()],
});

// src/main.ts
import "./assets/main.css";
import { createApp } from "vue";
import { createRouter, createWebHistory } from "vue-router";
import ui from "@nuxt/ui/vue-plugin";
import App from "./App.vue";

const app = createApp(App);

const router = createRouter({
  routes: [],
  history: createWebHistory(),
});

app.use(router);
app.use(ui);
app.mount("#app");

/* assets/main.css */
@import "tailwindcss";
@import "@nuxt/ui";

<!-- src/App.vue -->
<template>
  <UApp>
    <RouterView />
  </UApp>
</template>

Vue: Add class="isolate" to your root <div id="app"> in index.html.

Vue + Inertia: Use ui({ router: 'inertia' }) in vite.config.ts.

UApp

Wrapping your app in UApp is required — it provides global config for toasts, tooltips, and programmatic overlays. It also accepts a locale prop for i18n (see composables reference).

Icons

Nuxt UI uses Iconify for 200,000+ icons. In Nuxt, @nuxt/icon is auto-registered. In Vue, icons work out of the box via the Vite plugin.

Naming convention

Icons use the format i-{collection}-{name}:

<UIcon name="i-lucide-sun" class="size-5" />
<UButton icon="i-lucide-plus" label="Add" />
<UAlert icon="i-lucide-info" title="Heads up" />

Browse all icons at icones.js.org. The lucide collection is used throughout Nuxt UI defaults.

Install icon collections locally

pnpm i @iconify-json/lucide
pnpm i @iconify-json/simple-icons

Custom local collections (Nuxt)

// nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  icon: {
    customCollections: [
      {
        prefix: "custom",
        dir: "./app/assets/icons",
      },
    ],
  },
});

<UIcon name="i-custom-my-icon" />

Theming & Branding

Nuxt UI ships with a default look. The goal is to adapt it to your brand so every app looks unique.

Always use semantic utilities (text-default, bg-elevated, border-muted), never raw Tailwind palette colors. See references/theming.md for the full list.

Colors

7 semantic colors (primary, secondary, success, info, warning, error, neutral) configurable at runtime:

// Nuxt — app.config.ts
export default defineAppConfig({
  ui: { colors: { primary: "indigo", neutral: "zinc" } },
});

// Vue — vite.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import vue from "@vitejs/plugin-vue";
import ui from "@nuxt/ui/vite";

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    vue(),
    ui({
      ui: { colors: { primary: "indigo", neutral: "zinc" } },
    }),
  ],
});

Customizing components

Override priority (highest wins): ui prop / class prop > global config > theme defaults.

The ui prop overrides a component's slots after variants are computed — it wins over everything:

<UButton :ui="{ base: 'rounded-none', trailingIcon: 'size-3 rotate-90' }" />
<UCard :ui="{ header: 'bg-muted', body: 'p-8' }" />

Read the generated theme file to find slot names for any component:

• Nuxt: .nuxt/ui/<component>.ts
• Vue: node_modules/.nuxt-ui/ui/<component>.ts

For CSS variables, custom colors, global config, compound variants, and a full brand customization playbook, see references/theming.md

Composables

// Notifications
const toast = useToast();
toast.add({ title: "Saved", color: "success", icon: "i-lucide-check" });

// Programmatic overlays
const overlay = useOverlay();
const modal = overlay.create(MyModal);
const { result } = modal.open({ title: "Confirm" });
await result;

// Keyboard shortcuts
defineShortcuts({
  meta_k: () => openSearch(),
  escape: () => close(),
});

For full composable reference, see references/composables.md

Form validation

Uses Standard Schema — works with Zod, Valibot, Yup, or Joi.

<script setup lang="ts">
import { z } from "zod";

const schema = z.object({
  email: z.string().email("Invalid email"),
  password: z.string().min(8, "Min 8 characters"),
});

type Schema = z.output<typeof schema>;
const state = reactive<Partial<Schema>>({ email: "", password: "" });

function onSubmit() {
  // UForm validates before emitting @submit — state is valid here
}
</script>

<template>
  <UForm :schema="schema" :state="state" @submit="onSubmit">
    <UFormField name="email" label="Email" required>
      <UInput v-model="state.email" type="email" />
    </UFormField>

    <UFormField name="password" label="Password" required>
      <UInput v-model="state.password" type="password" />
    </UFormField>

    <UButton type="submit">Sign in</UButton>
  </UForm>
</template>

For all form components and validation patterns, see references/components.md

Overlays

<!-- Modal -->
<UModal v-model:open="isOpen" title="Edit" description="Edit your profile">
  <template #body>Content</template>
  <template #footer>
    <UButton variant="ghost" @click="isOpen = false">Cancel</UButton>
    <UButton @click="save">Save</UButton>
  </template>
</UModal>

<!-- Slideover (side panel) -->
<USlideover v-model:open="isOpen" title="Settings" side="right">
  <template #body>Content</template>
</USlideover>

<!-- Dropdown menu (flat array) -->
<UDropdownMenu
  :items="[
    { label: 'Edit', icon: 'i-lucide-pencil' },
    { type: 'separator' },
    { label: 'Delete', icon: 'i-lucide-trash', color: 'error' },
  ]"
>
  <UButton icon="i-lucide-ellipsis-vertical" variant="ghost" />
</UDropdownMenu>

<!-- Dropdown menu (nested array — groups with automatic separators) -->
<UDropdownMenu
  :items="[
    [
      { label: 'Edit', icon: 'i-lucide-pencil' },
      { label: 'Duplicate', icon: 'i-lucide-copy' },
    ],
    [{ label: 'Delete', icon: 'i-lucide-trash', color: 'error' }],
  ]"
>
  <UButton icon="i-lucide-ellipsis-vertical" variant="ghost" />
</UDropdownMenu>

For all overlay components, see references/components.md

Layouts

Nuxt UI provides components to compose full page layouts. Load the reference matching your use case:

Layout	Description	Reference
Page	Landing, blog, changelog, pricing — public-facing pages	layouts/page.md
Dashboard	Admin UI with resizable sidebar and panels	layouts/dashboard.md
Docs	Documentation with sidebar nav and TOC	layouts/docs.md
Chat	AI chat with messages and prompt	layouts/chat.md
Editor	Rich text editor with toolbars	layouts/editor.md

Templates

Official starter templates at github.com/nuxt-ui-templates:

Template	Framework	GitHub
Starter	Nuxt	nuxt-ui-templates/starter
Starter	Vue	nuxt-ui-templates/starter-vue
Dashboard	Nuxt	nuxt-ui-templates/dashboard
Dashboard	Vue	nuxt-ui-templates/dashboard-vue
SaaS	Nuxt	nuxt-ui-templates/saas
Landing	Nuxt	nuxt-ui-templates/landing
Docs	Nuxt	nuxt-ui-templates/docs
Portfolio	Nuxt	nuxt-ui-templates/portfolio
Chat	Nuxt	nuxt-ui-templates/chat
Editor	Nuxt	nuxt-ui-templates/editor
Changelog	Nuxt	nuxt-ui-templates/changelog
Starter	Laravel	nuxt-ui-templates/starter-laravel
Starter	AdonisJS	nuxt-ui-templates/starter-adonis

When starting a new project, clone the matching template instead of setting up from scratch.

Additional references

Load based on your task — do not load all at once:

• references/theming.md — CSS variables, custom colors, component theme overrides
• references/components.md — all 125+ components by category with props and usage
• references/composables.md — useToast, useOverlay, defineShortcuts
• Generated theme files — all slots, variants, and default classes for any component (Nuxt: .nuxt/ui/<component>.ts, Vue: node_modules/.nuxt-ui/ui/<component>.ts)