Different shapes of the same thing

shadcn <Sheet> and swipe-bar look similar on the screen, a panel slides in from a side, but they solve different problems.

shadcn Sheet is a modal dialog wrapped in a slide-in animation. It's Radix Dialog under the hood. You open it, you do the thing, you close it. Open or closed is the entire state space. Accessibility, focus trap, and dismissal come from the Radix contract.

swipe-bar is a gesture drawer. Users drag to peek, release to commit, flick to dismiss. The panel is part of the layout grammar of the app, not a modal interruption. Multi instance on the same edge and mid anchor bottom sheets are the shape.

When to pick shadcn sheet

When to pick swipe-bar

Looking for a gesture peer?

If you've already decided you want a gesture driven drawer and you're comparing swipe-bar to something in the same category, the more relevant peer is Vaul, not shadcn Sheet. Head to the swipe-bar vs Vaul comparison for a detailed matrix.

Next steps

• vs Vaul — the same-category gesture drawer comparison
• Getting started — install and wire up a sidebar
• Bottom sheets — mid anchor and full sheet patterns