Starwind UI 2.0: New Components, Improved CLI, and Starwind Skills

Starwind UI v2.0 is here, and it is one of the largest releases for the library so far.

This release adds new primitives, improves the overlay system, updates every component for better reuse across Astro projects and client islands, and gives the CLI new ways to search and fetch docs without leaving your terminal.

It also introduces Starwind Skills, a new set of agent instructions that help AI coding assistants work with Starwind UI and Starwind Pro from current docs and project-local source instead of guessing.

Four New Components

Starwind UI v2.0 adds four new components, bringing the total to 49 components in the open-source library:

• Color Picker: A Starwind-native color selection primitive for theme tools, design panels, and any workflow where users need to choose exact colors.
• Context Menu: Right-click and contextual action menus built on the same interaction patterns as the improved dropdown system.
• Hover Card: Lightweight hover-triggered previews for profiles, metadata, definitions, and rich inline context.
• Scroll Area: Styled scroll containers for navigation panels, menus, code panes, and dense UI surfaces.

Better Overlays

Dropdown and Popover both received important interaction upgrades.

Dropdown and Popover content can now be used inside Dialog and Sheet elements more reliably, which makes common product UI patterns easier to build: account menus in modal flows, nested controls in settings panels, and action menus inside sheet-based navigation.

Dropdown also has much improved positioning logic with portaling and obstacle avoidance. In practice, menus are better at staying visible, escaping clipped containers, and behaving correctly in more complex layouts.

CLI Search And Docs Commands

The Starwind CLI now does more than initialize projects and add components. It can help you find what you need and pull documentation references into your workflow.

Use the new search command to search Starwind UI components and Starwind Pro blocks from the terminal:

npx starwind@latest search hero --json

You can also narrow Pro block searches by plan, category, and limit:

npx starwind@latest search pricing --plan free --category pricing --limit 10 --json

Use the new docs command when you want component documentation references without opening the browser:

npx starwind@latest docs button dialog select --json

That gives agents and developers a simpler path to the same current documentation context used by the MCP server.

Read the updated CLI docs for details.

Starwind Skills For AI Agents

Starwind Skills are installed instructions that help compatible AI coding agents work with Starwind UI and Starwind Pro more reliably.

Install them with:

npx skills@latest add starwind-ui/skills

Once installed, the skills teach agents how to:

• Initialize Starwind UI projects with the documented CLI commands.
• Add and compose Starwind components using Astro and Tailwind CSS v4 conventions.
• Use current docs, Markdown pages, CLI output, or MCP tools before generating code.
• Customize themes through Starwind CSS variables instead of ad hoc overrides.
• Search and use Starwind Pro blocks.
• Prefer project-local component source when it is already installed.

The goal is simple: agents should use the same Starwind-specific context you would use manually. They should search before inventing, read local source before assuming APIs, and install Pro blocks with the exact command returned by the docs, CLI, or MCP.

Skills And MCP Work Together

Skills and MCP solve different parts of the agent workflow.

Skills give agents persistent Starwind behavior: how to think about Astro syntax, component composition, Starwind theming, Pro blocks, and CLI usage.

The Starwind MCP server gives agents live tools for docs lookup, validated install commands, project context, customization guidance, and Starwind Pro block search.

If your assistant supports both, use both. Skills teach the behavior. MCP supplies current data and actions.

You can read the full Skills guide and MCP setup guide in the docs.

Every Component Was Updated

Every component has been refactored to enable reuse of Tailwind variant functions within Astro client islands, including React components. Existing component import patterns continue to work as before. Under the hood, this was accomplished by moving the variant functions to a separate variants.ts file.

That means you can keep the same Starwind source-owned workflow while reaching for the same styling logic from a smaller interactive island when you need one.

Get Started

Update your components, try the new primitives, and install the skills in any AI-assisted Starwind workflow.

As always, let me know what works well, what feels rough, and what you want Starwind to make easier next.