TL;DR

Run npx shadcn@latest mcp init --client claude to add the shadcn MCP server to .mcp.json, install the shadcn skill with npx skills add shadcn/ui, and list every extra registry in components.json. Then add a short block to CLAUDE.md that says which registry owns which folder and which CLI installs and updates it, and name the registry in every prompt. The server finds components, the skill and the rules steer Claude, and the CLI writes the files.

Claude Code already knows shadcn/ui from its training data, and that is the problem. It writes the API it remembers, which may not match the files in your components/ui , and it has never seen the registries you added to components.json last month. A Claude Code shadcn setup that holds up has five parts: the shadcn MCP server so Claude can search real registries, the shadcn skill for project context, the registry list in components.json , a short rules file that says which registry owns which folder, and a CLI that writes the files.…