Addons extend Storybook with features and integrations that are not built into the core. Most Storybook features are implemented as addons. For instance: documentation, accessibility testing, interactive controls, among others. The addon API makes it easy for you to configure and customize Storybook in new ways. There are countless addons made by the community that unlock time-saving workflows.
Browse our addon catalog to install an existing addon or as inspiration for your own addon.
Before writing your first addon, letโs take a look at the basics of Storybookโs architecture. While Storybook presents a unified user interface, under the hood itโs divided down the middle into Manager and Preview.
The Manager is the UI responsible for rendering the:
The Preview area is an iframe
where your stories are rendered.
Because both elements run in their own separate iframes
, they use a communication channel to keep in synch. For example when you select a story in the Manager a event is dispatched across the channel notifying the Preview to render the story.
Storybook addons allow you to extend what's already possible with Storybook, everything from the user interface to the API. Each one classified into two broader categories.
UI-based addons focus on customizing Storybook's user interface to extend your development workflow. Examples of UI-based addons include: Controls, Docs and Accessibility.
Learn how to write an addon ยป
Preset addons help you integrate Storybook with other technologies and libraries. Examples of preset addons are: preset-scss and preset-create-react-app.