Plate UI Installation

How to set up Plate UI in your project.

This guide details how to install Plate UI, the component layer for Plate. Choose the method that suits your project:

  • CLI Installation (Recommended): Quick setup using the shadcn CLI.
  • Manual Installation: For more control over the setup process.

CLI Installation (Recommended)

This is the fastest way to integrate Plate UI's core dependencies and base styles.

Install Plate UI

If you are not using Next.js, refer to the official shadcn/ui installation guides for your specific framework before proceeding.

pnpm dlx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/plate-ui

Basic Usage

With Plate UI's core installed, proceed to the guide specific to your framework:

  • Next.js Guide - For server-side rendered applications (Next, Remix, etc.)
  • React Guide - For single-page applications (Vite, React Router, etc.)

Manual Installation

If you prefer a step-by-step approach or are not using the shadcn CLI, follow these steps:

Install Plate

pnpm add platejs

Plugin Dependencies

When manually installing Plate, you'll need to add the specific packages for each plugin you want to use. For example, if you want to use the AIMenu component, you would need @platejs/ai and its dependencies. Check each component's documentation for its required packages, or use the CLI to automatically install the required packages.

Configure CSS Variables

Add the following CSS variables to your global stylesheet:

app/globals.css
:root {
  /* Base brand color for Plate UI components */
  --brand: oklch(0.623 0.214 259.815);
}
 
.dark {
  --brand: oklch(0.707 0.165 254.624);
}

Add Components

With Plate UI's core installed, you can now add individual Plate UI components to build your editor interface. For example, to add the FixedToolbar and a MarkToolbarButton:

pnpm dlx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/fixed-toolbar https://platejs.org/r/mark-toolbar-button

Import and use them in your editor:

components/editor.tsx
import { Plate } from "platejs/react";
import { FixedToolbar } from "@/components/ui/fixed-toolbar";
import { MarkToolbarButton } from "@/components/ui/mark-toolbar-button";
// ... other imports
 
export function MyEditor() {
  // ... editor setup
  return (
    <Plate editor={editor}>
      <FixedToolbar>
        <MarkToolbarButton nodeType="bold" tooltip="Bold">B</MarkToolbarButton>
        {/* ... other toolbar buttons ... */}
      </FixedToolbar>
      {/* ... Editor component ... */}
    </Plate>
  );
}

Explore the available UI Components and Plugin Components to customize your editor nodes (like paragraphs, headings, etc.) and build a feature-rich editing experience.

Basic Usage

With Plate UI's core installed, proceed to the guide specific to your framework:

  • Next.js Guide - For server-side rendered applications (Next, Remix, etc.)
  • React Guide - For single-page applications (Vite, React Router, etc.)

Component Types

When installing Plate UI components, you'll encounter different types of components with consistent naming patterns. Here's what they mean:

Feature Kits

Feature kits are the easiest way to add complete functionality to your editor. They bundle all necessary plugin configurations, UI components (including node renderers and toolbar items), and their underlying npm dependencies for a specific feature.

# Install the complete AI feature suite, including configuration and UI
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/ai-kit
 
# Install drag and drop functionality with all its parts
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/dnd-kit

When in doubt about what individual components you need, start with a feature kit. It's designed to provide a working feature out-of-the-box. You can always customize or remove parts later.

Components

Node Components

These components are responsible for rendering specific types of content (elements or leaves) in your editor. If you need to create your own or customize existing ones, see the Plugin Components guide.

# Install the component for rendering blockquotes
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/blockquote-node
 
# Install the component for rendering code text
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/code-node

Toolbar Components

Toolbar components add interactive controls like buttons and dropdowns to your editor's toolbar.

# Add an alignment dropdown for your toolbar
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/align-toolbar-button
 
# Add a toolbar button for AI features
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/ai-toolbar-button
 
# Add a color picker dropdown for your toolbar
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/font-color-toolbar-button

Other Components

Finally, Plate UI includes more advanced editor components as overlays, menus, block wrappers, etc.

# Install a menu for AI features
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/ai-menu
 
# Install a draggable component for reordering blocks
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/block-draggable

These components are typically included as part of their respective Feature Kits but can be installed individually for custom setups.

Editor Templates

These are pre-configured editor setups, often tailored for specific use cases or as a comprehensive starting point. You can explore all available Editor Templates.

# Install an AI-enabled editor template
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/editor-ai
 
# Install a basic editor template
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/editor-basic

API Routes

These items provide server-side components or API route handlers necessary for certain features.

# Install AI-related API routes
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/ai-api
 
# Install file upload API routes (e.g., for UploadThing)
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/media-uploadthing-api

Documentation

Documentation files for various Plate features, guides, and API references can also be added to your local project. This is especially useful for keeping version-specific documentation alongside your code and for providing context to AI tools through MCP. Learn more about setting up local documentation.

# Add AI documentation
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/ai-docs
 
# Add Plate Plugin documentation
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/plugin-docs

These items consists of Markdown files, which can be integrated into your own documentation system or made available for local search and AI consumption.