Problem Statement
Teams need a component library that is accessible by default, easy to theme, and consistent — but most hand-rolled libraries skip accessibility, hard-code styles (so variants explode into one-off components), and lack docs/tests, so they rot. Building one properly means solving variants, a11y, theming, documentation, and testing together.
Proposed Solution
Cockroach UI is a modern, accessible, highly customizable React component library. It uses Class Variance Authority (CVA) so a single component declares its variants/sizes/states declaratively (no component-per-variant sprawl), bakes in WCAG-compliant ARIA and keyboard support, supports light/dark themes, documents everything in Storybook, and is covered by Vitest + Testing Library. A companion package, cockroach-cards-ui, provides a focused collection of reusable card components.
Full Solution Details
- Design system — clean, consistent components with a coherent visual language.
- Accessibility-first — WCAG-compliant components with proper ARIA attributes and keyboard interaction.
- Highly customizable — CVA manages variants and styles, so consumers compose looks via props instead of forking components.
- Responsive — mobile-first breakpoints.
- Dark-mode ready — light/dark theming support.
- Storybook — interactive documentation and a development/testing surface for every component.
- Tested — unit tests with Vitest + Testing Library.
- Typed — full TypeScript types and IntelliSense.
- Cards package — a separate library of card components for consistent, drop-in cards.
Technical Documentation
React + TypeScript, styled with Tailwind CSS and variant-managed by class-variance-authority (the now-standard pattern for typed, composable component variants). Accessibility is treated as a baseline requirement (ARIA + keyboard), not an add-on. Storybook doubles as living documentation and an isolated dev environment; Vitest + React Testing Library provide the test harness. Distributed as an installable package (npm install cockroach-ui), with the card components split into their own package for separation of concerns.
Tech Stack
React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, class-variance-authority (CVA), Storybook, Vitest, React Testing Library; npm distribution.
System Design
cockroach-ui (core)
├── components (CVA-managed variants/sizes/states)
├── ARIA + keyboard (WCAG) baked into each component
├── Tailwind tokens · light/dark theme
├── Storybook (docs + dev surface)
└── Vitest + Testing Library (coverage)
cockroach-cards-ui (companion)
└── reusable card components
installable via npm · full TypeScript types
Smart Architectural Decisions
- CVA for variants. Declaring variants/sizes/states with class-variance-authority (instead of a component per permutation or prop-driven
if-soup) keeps the API typed, composable, and DRY — the modern best practice, applied correctly. - Accessibility as a baseline, not a feature. Building ARIA + keyboard support into every component means consumers inherit a11y for free, which is the single biggest thing hand-rolled libraries get wrong.
- Storybook as docs + dev env. Using Storybook for both interactive docs and isolated component development is the right workflow for a library and drives adoption.
- Cards split into their own package keeps concerns separated and lets consumers take only what they need.
- Tested + typed (Vitest/RTL + full TS) signals it's meant to be depended on.
Impacts
A reusable, accessible, themeable React component library with first-class docs and tests — the kind of foundation that standardizes UI and a11y across projects, and a concrete demonstration of design-system engineering separate from his enterprise Kamona work.
Demonstrated Skills
Component-library/design-system engineering; variant API design with CVA; accessibility engineering (WCAG, ARIA, keyboard); Tailwind theming + dark mode; Storybook-driven documentation and isolated development; component testing (Vitest + Testing Library); TypeScript typing; npm package distribution and multi-package separation.