Features
- Develop components in isolation from application logic
- Visual testing and interaction testing built-in
- Auto-generated documentation from component code
- Addons for accessibility, viewports, and design tokens
Pros
- Speeds up UI development with isolated component work
- Serves as living documentation for design systems
- Extensive addon ecosystem for testing and tooling
Cons
- Adds build complexity and maintenance overhead
- Configuration can become complex for large projects
- Can be overkill for small applications
Overview
Storybook is a frontend workshop for building UI components and pages in isolation. It lets developers render components in different states (“stories”) without needing to spin up the full application, wire up backends, or navigate to specific pages.
Each story captures a specific component state with its props, making it easy to visually verify edge cases, loading states, error states, and responsive layouts. Storybook also auto-generates documentation from your component code and stories, serving as a living style guide for your design system.
Storybook supports React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, Web Components, and other frameworks. Its addon ecosystem provides capabilities like accessibility checking, visual regression testing, and design tool integration.
When to Use
Use Storybook when building a design system or component library that multiple teams consume. It is also valuable for applications with complex UI states that benefit from isolated development and visual testing.
Getting Started
npx storybook@latest init
npm run storybook