The #1 React Component for 2026

By Tobi Mey

Categories: Design, Product

Summary

Base UI's new Drawer component is the must-have React component for 2026, outpacing Shadcn due to superior composability architecture and native mobile feel. Its nested drawer stacks, snap points, and smooth animations make it essential for modern web apps targeting mobile-first experiences.

Key Takeaways

  1. Composable component architecture enables true reusability—Base UI uses a provider pattern with modular sub-components (trigger, content, viewport, popup) that can be mixed and matched for different use cases.
  2. Nested drawers create seamless UX through drawer stacks—multiple drawers can layer on top of each other with fluid animations, letting users drill down into settings without losing context or smoothness.
  3. Snap points for mobile create app-like UX—drawers can snap between predefined positions (50% → full-screen), mimicking native iOS/Android behavior and significantly improving mobile engagement.
  4. Indent effect and non-modal options add polish—the indent effect on surrounding content and ability to disable click-outside-to-close (modal: false) provide fine-grained UX control that competitors lack.
  5. Base UI's default animations across all variants solve a common pain point—unlike Shadcn (which uses aging Radix primitives), every interaction is smoothly animated by default, reducing developer friction.

Topics

Transcript Excerpt

base UI. My favorite UI library just dropped a new component, a drawer. And no, not Rex [clears throat] UI. I talk about base UI. Also a component library, but way better maintained. This draw component is long awaited, and so far I can say that this is my favorite React component of 2026. You probably know Shhatzian. Shhatzen has also a draw, but this one is kind of like a little bit aged. Like it's still using the VO by Imu Kowalsski. And don't get me wrong, I immoves awesome and all he does i...