--overwrite does not update existing components when using pnpm dlx shadcn@latest add ...

[hadikman]

Hi, I’m having an issue updating existing shadcn components with pnpm.
When I run the add command with --overwrite, the CLI still skips the files instead of replacing them.

Command
pnpm dlx shadcn@latest add input-group --overwrite

Output

✔ Checking registry.
ℹ Skipped 4 files: (files might be identical, use --overwrite to overwrite)
  - src\components\ui\button.tsx
  - src\components\ui\input.tsx
  - src\components\ui\textarea.tsx
  - src\components\ui\input-group.tsx

What I expected
I expected --overwrite to replace the existing component files with the latest registry versions.

[TizianoGreco]

This is working as intended — the CLI message is just worded in a confusing way.

There are two separate skip paths in update-files.ts, and --overwrite only affects the second one:

1. Content is identical → the file is skipped unconditionally, before --overwrite is even consulted:

   // Skip the file if it already exists and the content is the same.
   if (existingFile && !isEnvFile(filePath)) {
     // ...registry content is run through the project transformers,
     // then compared against the local file
     if (isContentSame(existingFileContent, resolvedContent, { ... })) {
       filesSkipped.push(...)
       continue
     }
   }

2. Content differs → only here does the flag matter: without --overwrite you get a prompt (or a skip), with it the file is replaced:

   if (existingFile && !options.overwrite && !isEnvFile(filePath)) { ... }

The summary line lumps both cases together — Skipped 4 files: (files might be identical, use --overwrite to overwrite) — so when every skipped file falls into case 1, it looks like the flag was ignored. It wasn't: your four files already match the latest registry versions (after the CLI applies your project's transforms — import aliases, RSC directives, etc.), so there is simply nothing to write.

You can verify this by making a small edit to e.g. src/components/ui/input.tsx and re-running the same command — the modified file will now be overwritten while the untouched ones keep being skipped.

If the intent was to force a clean re-install regardless, delete the component files first and run add again.