diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e0e6280a..d759d043 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -147,6 +147,10 @@ frontend/yarn-error.log*
 frontend/pnpm-debug.log*
 frontend/lerna-debug.log*
 
+# Keep frontend utility helpers tracked (overrides global lib/ ignore)
+!frontend/src/lib/
+!frontend/src/lib/**
+
 frontend/node_modules
 frontend/dist
 frontend/dist-ssr
diff --git a/frontend/package-lock.json b/frontend/package-lock.json
index 586c8978..929cb014 100644
--- a/frontend/package-lock.json
+++ b/frontend/package-lock.json
@@ -3406,6 +3406,7 @@
       "version": "19.2.2",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/react/-/react-19.2.2.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-6mDvHUFSjyT2B2yeNx2nUgMxh9LtOWvkhIU3uePn2I2oyNymUAX1NIsdgviM4CH+JSrp2D2hsMvJOkxY+0wNRA==",
+      "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "csstype": "^3.0.2"
@@ -3415,7 +3416,7 @@
       "version": "19.2.2",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/react-dom/-/react-dom-19.2.2.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-9KQPoO6mZCi7jcIStSnlOWn2nEF3mNmyr3rIAsGnAbQKYbRLyqmeSc39EVgtxXVia+LMT8j3knZLAZAh+xLmrw==",
-      "devOptional": true,
+      "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "peerDependencies": {
         "@types/react": "^19.2.0"
@@ -4849,6 +4850,7 @@
       "version": "3.1.3",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/csstype/-/csstype-3.1.3.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-M1uQkMl8rQK/szD0LNhtqxIPLpimGm8sOBwU7lLnCpSbTyY3yeU1Vc7l4KT5zT4s/yOxHH5O7tIuuLOCnLADRw==",
+      "dev": true,
       "license": "MIT"
     },
     "node_modules/cytoscape": {
@@ -12153,7 +12155,7 @@
       "version": "5.9.3",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/typescript/-/typescript-5.9.3.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha512-jl1vZzPDinLr9eUt3J/t7V6FgNEw9QjvBPdysz9KfQDD41fQrC2Y4vKQdiaUpFT4bXlb1RHhLpp8wtm6M5TgSw==",
-      "devOptional": true,
+      "dev": true,
       "license": "Apache-2.0",
       "bin": {
         "tsc": "bin/tsc",
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/utils.ts b/frontend/src/lib/utils.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9ad0df42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/utils.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+import { type ClassValue, clsx } from 'clsx';
+import { twMerge } from 'tailwind-merge';
+
+export function cn(...inputs: ClassValue[]) {
+  return twMerge(clsx(inputs));
+}