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Tactile UI

Tactile UI is open: seats, prices, refunds and what's free

I'm Ciprian, and I make Tactile UI. Founder seats go on sale today, Tuesday 27 October 2026, at 09:00 UK time. This post says what it is, who it's for, what's free, what it costs, how refunds work and how to try it in a minute. The pitch is in the middle, and I'll flag it when I get there. If something here is wrong, email me and I'll fix it.

What it is

Tactile UI is a library of interface parts that behave like hardware. A pin screen whose pins sink under your pointer. A Chladni plate where sand runs onto the still lines. An odometer that carries the way a real one does. Dials that click at each notch.

There are 30+ objects, 50+ page sections, a UI kit of 190+ parts and 25 templates. They're all in one visual language: twelve finishes in six families, each with a light and a dark. Every object is a plain class with no dependencies, with small React, Vue and Svelte wrappers and a custom element for Angular, Astro or a plain page.

It's for products where the control is the product: instruments, device apps, anything where people already know the physical thing. It isn't for dense text screens or forms that people fill in all day. The style costs contrast there, and I'd rather tell you that than sell you a pin screen for a tax return.

What's free

Six pieces are MIT. No account, no card, copy them, change them, ship them:

  • the Odometer
  • the Compass
  • the Pull-cord Bulb
  • Client Plates
  • the Machined Footer
  • the FAQ Index

They're in one repo, tactile-ui-free, and the Odometer is also on npm as tactile-odometer. The Tactile Modernism agent skill, the rules an agent reads before it builds in this style, is MIT too: github.com/cipriantitire/tactile-modernism.

A free Google or GitHub account also gets you the everyday parts of the kit, one template and the Cloth-lit Cubes, for your own and client projects under the licence. Free to use lists them all.

Try it in a minute

Signed out, the home page, the shelves and the six free pieces play live. Every other piece plays with a free Google or GitHub sign-in. Tuning, code and prompts come with the Pass.

To install a free piece, the shadcn directory has it:

npx shadcn add @tactile/odometer

That has worked since 16 October. The shadcn CLI needs a components.json in your project, and if you don't have one, the install page gives you the whole file. The other five install the same way: @tactile/compass, @tactile/pull-cord, @tactile/client-plates, @tactile/machined-footer and @tactile/faq-drawer (that one is the FAQ Index). The docs are also an MCP server at https://tactileui.dev/mcp, so an agent can search them without a token (an MCP client connects to it; a browser won't show anything there).

Now the pitch

The Founder Pass is every object, every block and the Tactile UI Kit, for the life of the product, including everything I make later. It's one payment, not a subscription. There are a hundred founder seats in two steps:

  • The first 50 seats are $99.
  • The next 50 seats are $129.
  • After that, the Pass is $199. It covers the objects and the blocks. The kit is then sold on its own, from a date and at a price announced on the pricing page.

A seat counts when it's paid for and kept. A refunded seat goes back on sale at its own step's price, so the counter on the pricing page is the real number. Prices are set in US dollars and include tax. Stripe sells the Pass as merchant of record, shows you the exact amount in your own currency before you pay, and handles VAT and sales tax.

You can use the code in unlimited personal and client projects, for as long as you like. You can't resell the pieces themselves as a kit, a library or a template. A Pass is for one person, the account that bought it. If Tactile UI ever closes, you keep what you downloaded and the licence to use it.

Refunds

These differ by price, so here they are exactly.

The $99 Founder Pass has 30 days. Within 30 days of buying, you get a full refund for any reason, even if you've downloaded or opened the code. That's once per person.

Every other Pass (a Founder Pass at $129, and the Pass) has 14 days. Within 14 days of buying, you get a full refund if you haven't downloaded or opened the code with your account. Downloading or opening it ends the right to a refund, and checkout asks you to agree to that before you pay.

A refund ends the licence, so you stop using the code and delete your copies. To ask, reply to the receipt email or write to the address in the licence. The terms of sale say it in full.

What the seats are for

Every week, people who own a Pass or the kit vote on up to four things I could make next, and I make the winner that week. Each owner gets one vote, and they can move it until the round closes. The winner is the piece with the biggest share of the people who could vote for it, so the kit's smaller crowd isn't drowned out by the Pass's. Founder seats decide only the big jobs, the ones that take weeks or cost me money, never a single piece. The roadmap has the rules, the backlog and the tallies.

How I'd start

Open the Odometer or the Compass signed out, and see whether the way they move is what you want in your product. If it is, install one. If you like it, sign in free and play the rest. Buy the Pass when you want the code and the tuning for the pieces that aren't free, and not before.

Tactile UI: UI components that work like real hardware.