Desiderio: shadcn/ui as a TYPO3 v14 Modular Toolkit

Desiderio is a TYPO3 v14.3 theme featuring a shadcn/ui-inspired Fluid 5 component library, 255 Content Blocks, runtime theming, and optional integrations for Blog, News, Solr, Powermail, Friendly Captcha, and Brevo.

Overview

  • Desiderio is an independent TYPO3 v14.3 theme featuring a shadcn/ui-inspired Fluid 5 component library.
  • 255 Content Blocks cover Hero, Feature, Data, Conversion, Editorial, Media, Form, and Footer patterns.
  • The theme uses 17 atoms, 28 molecules, and 4 layout primitives (49 typed Fluid components) as its foundation.
  • Blog, News, Solr, Powermail, Friendly Captcha, and Brevo are activated via optional Site Sets when the respective extensions are installed.

Desiderio is a theme and component package for TYPO3 v14.3. It translates the mindset of shadcn/ui into native Fluid 5 templates, Content Blocks, and TYPO3 Site Settings. The result is not a separate frontend framework, but a TYPO3-native modular toolkit: 255 editorial Content Blocks, typed components, page templates, optional integrations, and a runtime-capable theming system.

The current version is tailored for real-world TYPO3 projects: editors get ready-made content patterns, while development teams maintain full control over templates, tokens, accessibility, search, blog, news, and form integrations.


Table of Contents  

Overview

What Desiderio delivers today and which TYPO3 version it requires.

Architecture

Components, Content Blocks, and Theme as separate layers.

Integrations

Blog, News, Solr, Forms, Friendly Captcha, and Brevo.

Installation

Composer, Site Sets, and typical configuration.


Overview  

Desiderio is a TYPO3 v14.3 theme for Composer-based installations. The foundation consists of Content Blocks, Fluid 5, committed CSS/JavaScript assets, and TYPO3 Site Settings. The goal is pragmatic: no separate frontend build should be necessary on the target system, yet shadcn tokens, Dark Mode, icon libraries, layout density, and container widths remain fully configurable.

Versions and Prerequisites

Desiderio requires TYPO3 CMS ^14.3, PHP ^8.3, and friendsoftypo3/content-blocks ^2.2. Optional integrations only work when the corresponding extensions are installed. TYPO3 v14 LTS was released on 21 April 2026.

The extension delivers 255 Content Blocks for typical marketing, editorial, data, conversion, media, social proof, form, navigation, and footer scenarios. In addition, page templates are included for the homepage, content page, sidebar page, style guide, blog, news, extension pages, and a default fallback.


Architecture  

Desiderio separates components, editorial Content Blocks, and theme configuration.

The lowest layer consists of typed Fluid 5 components. Currently, these are 17 atoms, 28 molecules, and 4 layout primitives, making a total of 49 components. The Content Blocks build on top of these, using TYPO3 Content Blocks as an editor-friendly structure. The theme layer controls page templates, backend layouts, header/footer, CSS variables, and JavaScript interactions.

Visually, Desiderio stays close to the shadcn/ui model: components use semantic variants, tokens, and primitives instead of project-specific custom classes. The current shadcn default is radix-lyra with the b6G5977cw mono-olive preset and Tabler Icons. The runtime preset selector also includes four additional ui.shadcn.com/create presets, ten bundled in-house presets, and a custom option.

AreaCurrent Status
Components17 atoms, 28 molecules, 4 layout primitives (49 typed Fluid components).
Content Blocks255 editorial elements for Hero, Features, Data, Conversion, Editorial, Media, Social Proof, Navigation, Forms, and Footer.
ThemingPreset, style, icon library, density, container, radius, font, and dark mode via Site Settings.
Frontend AssetsCommitted Tailwind v4/shadcn CSS, Alpine, Astro-style interactions, chart helpers, and prism-lite syntax highlighting.
Page TemplatesStartpage, Contentpage, Sidebar, Styleguide, Blog, News, Extension, and Default.

Integrations  

Desiderio is intentionally modular. The base set remains functional without the Blog, News, Solr, or Powermail extensions. The respective template overrides and configurations are activated via separate Site Sets.

Blog  

If t3g/blog is installed, webconsulting/desiderio-blog adds shadcn-styled blog templates. These cover list and detail views, sidebar widgets, comments, author blocks, related posts, category and tag badges, metadata, and RSS feeds with appropriate HTTP headers.

News  

If georgringer/news is installed, webconsulting/desiderio-news provides list and detail templates for news. The templates use existing news images, category and tag badges, responsive grids, metadata, a DesiderioNews backend layout, and NewsArticle structured data.

Search with Solr  

The DesiderioSolr set includes shadcn-styled search templates, result cards, facets, and a suggest endpoint. The header search can be activated via Site Settings and linked to an existing search results page.

Forms, Friendly Captcha, and Brevo  

The TYPO3 Form Framework and Powermail use a shared shadcn-like FormRenderer. Input fields use neutral theme borders; only invalid fields switch to destructive/red. Friendly Captcha can run locally in a development context with test mode. Brevo is integrated via its own finisher, utilizing BREVO_API_KEY plus Site Settings for lists and events.


Installation  


FAQ  


Conclusion  

Desiderio has evolved beyond a mere theme prototype. It is a TYPO3 v14 modular site builder with typed Fluid components, 255 Content Blocks, runtime-capable shadcn theming, and optional integrations for editorial and conversion-oriented projects. The most critical decision remains the architecture: components, Content Blocks, and the theme are separated enough to remain maintainable, yet integrated closely enough to let editors work productively right away.

Open Source

Desiderio is oriented towards shadcn/ui and is built on TYPO3 Content Blocks, Fluid 5, and TYPO3 v14. The theme is released under the GPL-2.0-or-later.

Let's talk about your project

Locations

  • Mattersburg
    Johann Nepomuk Bergerstraße 7/2/14
    7210 Mattersburg, Austria
  • Vienna
    Ungargasse 64-66/3/404
    1030 Wien, Austria

Parts of this content were created with the assistance of AI.