One dough, countless fillings — one design language, countless interfaces.
Manti UI is a design system and UI kit named after mantı, the beloved Turkish dumpling. That's not just a cute name; it's the whole philosophy of the project.
A mantı is deceptively simple: a thin, carefully folded wrapper around a filling, served in something warm. Yet from that simple idea, an entire family of dishes spread across half the world — each culture keeping the essence while adapting the shape, the filling, and the way it's served.
Manti UI tries to be exactly that kind of thing:
- A thin, careful wrapper. Components stay light and unobtrusive. They wrap your content without smothering it — the filling is always the star.
- Welcoming to different fillings. The same component should feel at home whether it holds a form, a dashboard, or a marketing page. Nothing inside is assumed; everything inside is accommodated.
- Adaptable in form. Just as mantı changes shape from one kitchen to the next, Manti UI is built to be adapted — to different frameworks, brands, and contexts — without losing its identity.
- Smooth above all. Good mantı is pillowy and comforting. Manti UI speaks one language across every component: calm motion, soft surfaces, gentle color, and an experience that never startles you.
The palette is warm-tinted from the dinner table, exposed under plain, universally understood names: gray, orange, green, amber, red, and blue.
Mantı didn't stay in one place, and neither did its name. As the dish traveled along the Silk Road, every culture folded it a little differently and called it something of its own:
| Where | What it's called | The local twist |
|---|---|---|
| 🇹🇷 Türkiye ⭐ | mantı | Tiny parcels under garlicky yogurt and chili-butter |
| 🇰🇿 🇰🇬 Central Asia | manti / manty (манты) | Large steamed dumplings, often with lamb and onion |
| 🇦🇫 Afghanistan | mantu | Steamed, topped with yogurt and split-pea sauce |
| 🇨🇳 China | mantou (饅頭) | The likely ancestor — today a plain steamed bun, once filled |
| 🇰🇷 Korea | mandu (만두) | Steamed, boiled, or pan-fried; a whole cuisine of its own |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | manjū (饅頭) | Evolved into a sweet — a soft bun with red bean filling |
| 🇦🇲 Armenia | manti | Baked open-faced boats, served swimming in broth |
| 🇧🇦 Balkans | mantije | Baked and clustered, brushed with butter and yogurt |
(And yes — Japan's savory dumpling is gyoza, but that word comes from a different family: Chinese jiaozi (餃子). The table above follows the name — the "man-" root that traveled from mantou — which in Japan became the sweet manjū. Cousins by dish but not by name, like gyoza, Georgian khinkali, or Himalayan momo, get an honorable mention here instead.)
Same idea, different hands, different tables — and it works everywhere. That's the bar this project sets for itself: a core idea simple enough to travel, and flexible enough to feel native wherever it lands.
We picked the smallest dumpling with the widest reach. Manti UI wants to be small enough to fold into any project, and universal enough that — like its namesake — it needs no translation.
Curious how it's all made? The recipe lives in
docs/design-system.md.