Building a UI component library at a startup is challenging due to constant iteration and shifting priorities. This post covers the journey of creating Ramp's component library 'Ryu', including the decision to build from scratch vs. porting existing components, the importance of semantic design tokens (colors, sizes) over magic numbers, maintaining a hard boundary between the library and the main codebase, driving adoption, and the value of thorough documentation. Key lessons include constraining consumer choices to enforce consistency, using TypeScript for interface safety, treating the library like an open-source project with changelogs and versioning, and prioritizing adoption over completeness in early stages.
Table of contents
What does a component library consist of?IsolationConsumptionArchitectureSynergyAdoptionClosing11 Impressions