Building Admin Panels in Blazor: Component Libraries vs AI Scaffolding

It's a common pattern in the .NET world. You need an admin panel, so you evaluate component libraries - LumexUI, MudBlazor, Radzen, Syncfusion - pick one, then wire everything together: layouts, navigation, data grids, forms, authentication.

But there's a different approach emerging: instead of assembling admin panels from component libraries, let AI scaffold the entire interface from your database schema.

The Traditional Approach: Component Library Assembly

Building an admin panel with a Blazor component library typically goes like this:

1. Choose a library - Research, compare, hope it covers your needs
2. Set up layout - Sidebar navigation, header, content area
3. Build data views - Wire up DataGrid components to your entities
4. Create forms - Input validation, error handling, CRUD operations
5. Add auth - Integrate identity provider, role-based access
6. Style everything - Themes, responsive design, dark mode

Each step involves decisions, configuration, and debugging. A basic admin panel with 5-10 entities easily takes weeks.

The AI Scaffolding Approach

Ivy takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of picking components and wiring them together, you describe what you need and the AI generates it.

Point Ivy at your database and run:

ivy db generate

It reads your schema and scaffolds complete CRUD interfaces - DataTables with sorting and filtering, forms with validation, navigation between entities. You get a working admin panel in minutes, not weeks.

Here's what the generated code looks like for an entity management view:

var db = UseService<AppDbContext>();
var selected = UseState<int?>(() => null);

return Layout.Vertical()
    | Text.H1("Server Management")
    | db.Servers.ToDataTable(s => s.Id)
        .Header(s => s.Hostname, "Host")
        .Header(s => s.Status, "Status")
        .Header(s => s.LastChecked, "Last Check")
        .RowActions(
            MenuItem.Default(Icons.Pencil, "edit").Label("Edit"),
            MenuItem.Default(Icons.RotateCw, "restart").Label("Restart")
        )
        .HandleRowAction(async (evt) => {
            selected.Set((int)evt.Value.Id);
            await ValueTask.CompletedTask;
        })
        .Config(c => {
            c.AllowSorting = true;
            c.AllowFiltering = true;
        });

Pure C#. No Razor templates. No JavaScript. The UseState hook manages selection state, the DataTable handles sorting and filtering, and row actions are wired up with type-safe event handlers.

What You Skip

With AI scaffolding, several time-consuming steps disappear:

Step	Library Approach	AI Scaffolding
Component selection	Days of research	Not needed
Layout setup	Manual configuration	Generated
Data grid wiring	Per-entity setup	Schema-driven
Form creation	Manual per entity	Generated
Auth integration	External package	Built-in

Ivy includes authentication providers out of the box - Microsoft Entra ID, Auth0, Clerk, Supabase. Adding auth to your admin panel is one line:

server.UseAuth<MicrosoftEntraAuthProvider>();

No NuGet packages to evaluate. No middleware to configure. No identity tables to manage.

When Each Approach Makes Sense

Component libraries shine when you need pixel-perfect custom UIs - marketing dashboards, customer-facing tools, or anything where design differentiation matters.

AI scaffolding makes more sense for internal tools - admin panels, back-office CRUD, data management interfaces. These tools need to work reliably, not win design awards. Speed to deployment matters more than custom styling.

The cPanel-like admin panel from the original post is a perfect example: it needs data grids, forms, navigation, and auth. That's exactly the kind of tool where scaffolding from your database schema saves weeks of assembly time.

Getting Started

If you're building an admin panel and want to try the scaffolding approach:

1. Install Ivy: dotnet tool install -g Ivy.Tool
2. Point at your database: ivy db generate
3. Customize the generated code (it's all plain C#)

The generated code is yours to modify - it's not locked behind an abstraction. You get a working starting point and full control from there.

Explore the Ivy documentation or check out the GitHub repository to see examples.