Shoogle: The Search Engine for shadcn/ui Blocks & Components

What is Shoogle?

Shoogle (a clever portmanteau of "shadcn" and "Google") is a specialized search engine created by Ali Hussein that aggregates UI components and blocks from the entire shadcn/ui ecosystem. Think of it as Google, but exclusively for shadcn blocks.

Instead of manually navigating dozens of different component libraries, registry sites, and GitHub repositories, Shoogle provides a single, unified search interface. You type what you need — "calendar", "pricing card", "kanban board" — and it instantly surfaces the best matching blocks from across the web.

2,750+ — Indexed Pages
110+ — Libraries
Free — To Use

The Problem Shoogle Solves

The shadcn/ui ecosystem has exploded. What started as a brilliant component distribution system by @shadcn has sparked a massive wave of community-built block libraries: shadcnblocks.com, magicui.design, aceternity.com, Retro UI, and many more.

The problem? These blocks are scattered everywhere. When you need a specific component — say a voice recorder widget or an AI chat interface — you end up:

Opening 10+ browser tabs with different component libraries
Forgetting which library had that one perfect card you saw last week
Spending 30+ minutes browsing when building should take 5
Missing out on great blocks simply because you didn't know the library existed

Shoogle collapses all of that into one search bar.

Core Features

Unified Search

The heart of Shoogle. Type any component name — "calendar", "hero", "pricing", "voice picker" — and get instant results from 110+ shadcn libraries. The search indexes over 2,750 pages and returns results ranked by relevance, showing you exactly where each block comes from.

Auto-suggestions appear as you type, helping you discover components you didn't even know existed. It's fast, responsive, and feels like a dedicated Google for UI development.

Explore Categories

Don't know exactly what you need? The Explore tab organizes the entire shadcn ecosystem into logical categories, making it easy to browse and discover:

🤖 AI Blocks (Audio, Chat, Code)
📣 Marketing (Hero, CTA)
🛒 Ecommerce (Cart, Product)
📊 Application UI (Kanban)
💰 Pricing Sections
📅 Calendars & Date Pickers

Fresh Feed

The Fresh tab is a curated, handpicked feed of the newest and most interesting shadcn blocks being added to the ecosystem. Unlike an algorithmic feed, it's subjectively curated — giving you a human-picked selection of what's fresh and worth knowing about. Perfect for staying ahead of the curve and discovering new component libraries before everyone else.

Live Preview & Code

Clicking any result opens a split-pane view where you can interact with a live, rendered preview of the component on one side, and switch to the Code tab on the other to inspect and copy the source code directly. No need to visit external sites — the entire search-preview-copy loop happens within Shoogle.

// The typical Shoogle workflow:
// 1. Search → "pricing card"
// 2. Browse → See results from 10+ libraries
// 3. Preview → Interact with the live component
// 4. Code → Copy the source into your project
// 5. Ship → 🚀

Bookmarks (Synced via GitHub)

Found a block you love but aren't ready to use it yet? Save it to your Bookmarks. Sign in with your GitHub account and your bookmarks sync across devices. Build your own curated library of go-to components that you can always come back to.

The MCP Server: AI-Powered Component Search 🧠

This is where Shoogle gets really interesting. Shoogle offers an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server — an open-source integration that connects Shoogle directly to AI-powered code editors like Cursor and Windsurf.

What does this mean in practice? You can search for and discover shadcn blocks using natural language, without ever leaving your IDE.

Example: Using Shoogle MCP in Cursor

# In your Cursor AI chat:
> "Find me a modern pricing table with toggle
   for monthly/yearly billing"

# Shoogle MCP → searches 110+ libraries
# → returns the best matching blocks
# → you preview and insert directly into your code

The MCP server is open source and available on GitHub at sk-alibey/shoogle-mcp. This means anyone can contribute, extend, or integrate it into their own tools.

Step 1 — Install the Shoogle MCP server in your IDE (Cursor, Windsurf, etc.)
Step 2 — Ask your AI assistant for any shadcn component using natural language
Step 3 — The AI queries Shoogle's index, finds the best match, and presents it right in your editor
Step 4 — Preview, accept, and the component code is inserted into your project. Ship it! 🚀

How Shoogle Works Under the Hood

While the exact implementation details are proprietary, we can understand the architecture based on how Shoogle functions:

Web Crawler & Indexer — Continuously crawls known shadcn component libraries, registries, and community sites to index new blocks and keep the database fresh.
Categorization Engine — Each indexed block is categorized into groups (AI, Marketing, Ecommerce, etc.) based on its content, tags, and component type for easy exploration.
Iframe Preview Renderer — When you click a result, Shoogle loads the original component page in an iframe, giving you a fully interactive, live-rendered preview without leaving the site.
MCP API Layer — Exposes the search index via the Model Context Protocol so AI tools can query Shoogle programmatically and return results directly inside your code editor.

Design & User Experience

Shoogle's UI is, fittingly, built in the shadcn aesthetic. It features a minimalist, clean design with a sidebar for navigation and results. Some UX highlights:

Dark & Light mode — toggle between themes seamlessly
Split-pane layout — sidebar for results, main area for preview and code
Instant search — results appear as you type with smart auto-suggestions
Developer-centric flow — the entire "search → preview → copy" loop takes seconds

Business Model & Sponsorship

Shoogle is completely free for users. There's no freemium gate, no premium tier, and no paid features. Instead, it operates on a sponsorship model through Polar.sh.

🥇 Gold Tier — Premium placement
🥈 Silver Tier — Logo & visibility
🥉 Bronze Tier — Community support

Notable sponsors include Shadcnblocks.com and Retro UI — both popular shadcn component libraries themselves.

Who Should Use Shoogle?

React/Next.js developers who use shadcn/ui in their projects and want to find blocks faster.
UI/UX designers who want to explore what's possible with shadcn-style components before designing.
AI-powered developers using Cursor or Windsurf who want to leverage the MCP server for in-editor component search.
Indie hackers & startups who need to ship fast and don't want to reinvent UI components from scratch.

Getting Started with Shoogle

Getting started is as simple as visiting the website. No sign-up required for searching.

# Visit Shoogle
https://shoogle.dev

# For MCP Server integration (Cursor/Windsurf):
# 1. Clone the MCP server repo
git clone https://github.com/sk-alibey/shoogle-mcp.git

# 2. Follow the setup instructions in the README‎
# 3. Connect it to your IDE
# 4. Start searching with natural language!

Try Shoogle · MCP Server on GitHub

Final Thoughts

Shoogle is one of those tools that once you start using, you wonder how you ever lived without. The shadcn ecosystem is growing exponentially, and having a dedicated search engine that indexes everything in one place is invaluable.

The MCP server integration is particularly exciting — it represents a future where you don't even need to leave your IDE to discover and insert production-ready UI components. It's a glimpse of what AI-assisted UI development will look like.

Whether you're a seasoned shadcn user or just getting started with the ecosystem, bookmark shoogle.dev — it's about to become your most-used developer tool.

"Shoogle turns the scattered shadcn ecosystem into a single, searchable, AI-connected library. It's Google for UI blocks."