Chat & Messaging

Components for conversation and chat UI. Compose these instead of hand-rolling bubbles, scroll containers, dividers, or attachment cards.

Install: npx shadcn@latest add message-scroller message bubble attachment marker

The same component names and props ship for both base and radix; only composition differs (render vs asChild). See base-vs-radix.md.

Contents

• Scrollable threads use MessageScroller
• Message rows use Message
• Message surfaces use Bubble
• Attachments use Attachment
• System notes and dividers use Marker
• Streaming, anchoring, and jump-to-latest are built in
• Escape hatch: the scroller hooks

Scrollable threads use MessageScroller

A conversation that scrolls, follows new messages, restores position, or jumps to a message uses MessageScroller. Don't build a raw overflow container with manual scroll wiring, and don't reach for ScrollArea.

The parts nest in a fixed order. Every direct child of the content is wrapped in a MessageScrollerItem so the scroller can measure, anchor, preserve position, track visibility, and jump to it. MessageScrollerButton sits inside MessageScroller, after the viewport.

Incorrect:

// Hand-rolled scroll container with manual stick-to-bottom logic.
<div ref={scrollRef} onScroll={handleScroll} className="flex-1 overflow-y-auto">
  <div className="flex flex-col gap-6 p-4">
    {messages.map((m) => (
      <ChatMessage key={m.id} message={m} />
    ))}
  </div>
</div>

Correct:

<MessageScrollerProvider autoScroll>
  <MessageScroller>
    <MessageScrollerViewport>
      <MessageScrollerContent>
        {messages.map((message) => (
          <MessageScrollerItem
            key={message.id}
            messageId={message.id}
            scrollAnchor={message.role === "user"}
          >
            <Message align={message.role === "user" ? "end" : "start"}>
            </Message>
          </MessageScrollerItem>
        ))}
      </MessageScrollerContent>
    </MessageScrollerViewport>
    <MessageScrollerButton />
  </MessageScroller>
</MessageScrollerProvider>

Message rows use Message

Message lays out a single row: avatar, header, content, footer, with alignment. Group consecutive rows from one sender with MessageGroup. Don't rebuild the row from flex divs.

align="end" is the current user's side; align="start" is everyone else.

<Message align="start">
  <MessageAvatar>
    <Avatar>
      <AvatarImage src={sender.avatar} alt={sender.name} />
      <AvatarFallback>{initials}</AvatarFallback>
    </Avatar>
  </MessageAvatar>
  <MessageContent>
    <MessageHeader>{sender.name}</MessageHeader>
    <Bubble>
      <BubbleContent>{text}</BubbleContent>
    </Bubble>
    <MessageFooter>{time}</MessageFooter>
  </MessageContent>
</Message>

Message surfaces use Bubble

The colored message surface is Bubble + BubbleContent, never a styled div with bg-muted / bg-primary and hand-managed corners.

• variant: default, secondary, muted, tinted, outline, ghost, destructive.
• align: start or end (matches the Message side).

BubbleReactions renders the reaction cluster. side (top | bottom) and align (start | end) position it against the bubble. Don't lay reactions out with absolutely-positioned Badges.

Incorrect:

<div className="w-fit rounded-2xl bg-primary px-3 py-2 text-primary-foreground">
  {text}
</div>

Correct:

<Bubble variant="default" align="end">
  <BubbleContent>{text}</BubbleContent>
  <BubbleReactions side="bottom" align="end">
    <Badge variant="secondary">👍 2</Badge>
  </BubbleReactions>
</Bubble>

Attachments use Attachment

File and image attachments use Attachment, not Item or a custom card. It carries upload state, so wire state to the real status rather than rendering a separate spinner.

• state: idle, uploading, processing, error, done. uploading and processing apply the shimmer animation to the title automatically.
• size: default, sm, xs. orientation: horizontal, vertical.
• Use AttachmentGroup to lay out several attachments in a scrolling row.

<Attachment state="done">
  <AttachmentMedia variant="icon">
    <FileTextIcon />
  </AttachmentMedia>
  <AttachmentContent>
    <AttachmentTitle>homepage-feedback.pdf</AttachmentTitle>
    <AttachmentDescription>PDF · 2.4 MB</AttachmentDescription>
  </AttachmentContent>
  <AttachmentActions>
    <AttachmentAction>
      <DownloadIcon />
    </AttachmentAction>
  </AttachmentActions>
</Attachment>

For an image, use <AttachmentMedia variant="image"> with an img child.

System notes and dividers use Marker

Status lines ("Sarah joined the conversation"), date dividers ("Today"), and labeled separators are Marker, not a Separator plus a centered span.

• variant: default (plain row), separator (centered label with rules on each side), border (bottom-bordered row).
• MarkerIcon holds a leading icon; MarkerContent holds the label.

Incorrect:

<div className="flex items-center gap-3 py-2">
  <Separator className="flex-1" />
  <span className="text-xs text-muted-foreground">Today</span>
  <Separator className="flex-1" />
</div>

Correct:

<Marker variant="separator">
  <MarkerContent>Today</MarkerContent>
</Marker>

Streaming, anchoring, and jump-to-latest are built in

MessageScroller handles the behavior that chat UIs usually reinvent. Don't write a useStickToBottom hook, a ResizeObserver, or manual scrollTop math.

• Follow the live edge while streaming. MessageScrollerProvider with autoScroll keeps the view pinned to new content and yields the moment the user scrolls up. Streaming token updates that grow the last message are followed automatically.
• Anchor a turn. scrollAnchor on a MessageScrollerItem marks the row to hold in view (typically the user's message that started the turn).
• Jump to latest. MessageScrollerButton appears when the user scrolls away and scrolls back on click. direction="end" (default) or direction="start". It is a self-managing control, so don't gate it behind your own scroll-position state.

For a "thinking…" indicator while the model generates, apply the shimmer utility to text. Don't author a custom keyframe animation. See styling.md.

Escape hatch: the scroller hooks

For behavior the parts don't expose, read state from the hooks rather than re-implementing the scroller: useMessageScroller, useMessageScrollerVisibility, and useMessageScrollerScrollable. They come from the auto-installed @shadcn/react dependency, so there's nothing extra to install. Reach for them only when composition can't express what you need.