Building a Reusable React Component Library

August 22, 2025
6 min read
ReactUI ComponentsAccessibility

Introduction

At Kin+Carta, I had the opportunity to lead the development of a reusable React component library called Dry-UI. This library was adopted by over 50 internal teams and reduced development time by 75%. Here's how we did it.

The Problem

Before Dry-UI, each team was building their own UI components, leading to:

  • Inconsistent user experiences across applications
  • Duplicated effort and wasted development time
  • Accessibility issues that were being solved multiple times
  • Difficulty maintaining and updating components across projects

The Solution

We created Dry-UI, a comprehensive component library with:

  • 50+ reusable, well-tested components
  • Comprehensive documentation and usage examples
  • Accessibility built in from the start
  • Theming support for different brand requirements

Technology Stack

We chose a modern stack that would provide the best developer experience:

  • React - For building the components
  • Vite - For fast development and build times
  • Playwright - For end-to-end testing
  • Jest - For unit testing
  • Jest-axe - For accessibility testing

Development Process

Our development process was designed to ensure quality and consistency:

  1. Design First - We worked closely with designers to create a design system before writing any code
  2. Component API Design - We carefully designed the API for each component to be intuitive and flexible
  3. Test Driven Development - We wrote tests before implementing components
  4. Accessibility First - We used jest-axe to ensure all components met WCAG standards
  5. Documentation - We created comprehensive documentation with live examples

Results

The impact of Dry-UI was significant:

  • 75% reduction in development time - Teams could focus on business logic rather than UI implementation
  • Consistent user experience - All applications had a consistent look and feel
  • Improved accessibility - All components met WCAG standards out of the box
  • Easier maintenance - Bug fixes and improvements could be rolled out to all teams at once

Lessons Learned

Here are some key lessons from this experience:

  1. Start with the most commonly used components - Buttons, inputs, cards, etc.
  2. Make it easy to adopt - Provide migration guides and support for teams
  3. Listen to feedback - Regularly collect feedback from consuming teams
  4. Don't try to solve every use case - Focus on the 80% of cases that will be used most often

Conclusion

Building a component library is a significant investment, but the returns can be tremendous. Dry-UI not only saved development time but also improved the quality and consistency of our applications. If you're considering building a component library, I highly recommend it!

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