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NavList

Use a nav list to render a vertical list of navigation links.
  • Alpha
  • Not reviewed for accessibility
On this page
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import {NavList} from '@primer/react'

Examples

Simple

With leading icons

With other leading visuals

With trailing visuals

With a heading

With aria-label

With groups

With sub-items

If a NavList.Item contains a NavList.SubNav, the NavList.Item will render as a <button> and the as prop and href prop will be ignored.

With nested sub-items

We only allow for up to 4 levels of nested subnavs. If more than 4 levels is required, it's a good sign that the navigation design needs to be rethought.

With a divider

With React Router

import {Link, useMatch, useResolvedPath} from 'react-router-dom'
import {NavList} from '@primer/react'


function NavItem({to, children}) {
  const resolved = useResolvedPath(to)
  const isCurrent = useMatch({path: resolved.pathname, end: true})
  return (
    <NavList.Item as={Link} to={to} aria-current={isCurrent ? 'page' : undefined}>
      {children}
    </NavList.Item>
  )
}


function App() {
  return (
    <NavList>
      <NavItem to="/">Dashboard</NavItem>
      <NavItem to="/pulls">Pull requests</NavItem>
      <NavItem to="/issues">Issues</NavItem>
    </NavList>
  )
}

With Next.js

import {NavList} from '@primer/react'
import {useRouter} from 'next/router'
import Link from 'next/link'
import React from 'react'


function NavItem({href, children}) {
  const router = useRouter()
  const isCurrent = typeof href === 'string' ? router.asPath === href : router.pathname === href.pathname
  return (
    <NavList.Item as={Link} href={href} aria-current={isCurrent ? 'page' : false}>
      {children}
    </NavList.Item>
  )
}


export default function IndexPage() {
  return (
    <NavList>
      <NavItem href="/">Dashboard</NavItem>
      <NavItem href="/pulls">Pull requests</NavItem>
      <NavItem href="/issues">Issues</NavItem>
      <NavItem
        href={{
          pathname: '/[owner]/[repo]',
          query: {owner: 'test', repo: 'test'},
        }}
      >
        Summary
      </NavItem>
    </NavList>
  )
}

Props

NavList

NameTypeDefaultDescription
aria-label
string
aria-labelledby
string
ref
React.RefObject<HTMLElement>
as
React.ElementType
"nav"

The underlying element to render — either a HTML element name or a React component.

sx
SystemStyleObject

NavList.Item

NameTypeDefaultDescription
href
string

The URL that the item navigates to. href is passed to the underlying <a> element. If as is specified, the component may need different props. If the item contains a sub-nav, the item is rendered as a <button> and href is ignored.

aria-current
| 'page' | 'step' | 'location' | 'date' | 'time' | true | false
false

Set aria-current to "page" to indicate that the item represents the current page. Set aria-current to "location" to indicate that the item represents the current location on a page. For more information about aria-current, see MDN.

defaultOpen
boolean

The open state of the item when it is initially rendered if the item has a SubNav.

ref
React.RefObject<HTMLAnchorElement>
as
React.ElementType
"a"

The underlying element to render — either a HTML element name or a React component.

sx
SystemStyleObject
Additional props are passed to the <a> element. See a docs for a list of props accepted by the <a> element.

NavList.LeadingVisual

NameTypeDefaultDescription
sx
SystemStyleObject
ref
React.RefObject<HTMLElement>

A ref to the element rendered by this component.

NavList.TrailingVisual

NameTypeDefaultDescription
sx
SystemStyleObject
ref
React.RefObject<HTMLElement>

A ref to the element rendered by this component.

NavList.SubNav

NameTypeDefaultDescription
sx
SystemStyleObject
ref
React.RefObject<HTMLElement>

A ref to the element rendered by this component.

NavList.Group

NameTypeDefaultDescription
sx
SystemStyleObject
ref
React.RefObject<HTMLElement>

A ref to the element rendered by this component.

NavList.Divider

NameTypeDefaultDescription
sx
SystemStyleObject
ref
React.RefObject<HTMLElement>

A ref to the element rendered by this component.

NavList.TrailingAction

NameTypeDefaultDescription
as
React.ElementType
button

HTML element to render as.

label Required
string

Acccessible name for the control.

icon Required
string

Octicon to pass into IconButton. When this is not set, TrailingAction renders as a Button instead of an IconButton.

href
string

href when the TrailingAction is rendered as a link.

Status

Alpha

  • Component props and basic example usage of the component are documented on primer.style/react.
  • Component does not have any unnecessary third-party dependencies.
  • Component can adapt to different themes.
  • Component can adapt to different screen sizes.
  • Component has robust unit test coverage (100% where achievable).
  • Component has visual regression coverage of its default and interactive states.
  • Component does not introduce any axe violations.
  • Component has been manually reviewed by the accessibility team and any resulting issues have been addressed.

Beta

  • Component is used in a production application.
  • Common usage examples are documented on primer.style/react.
  • Common usage examples are documented in storybook stories.
  • Component has been reviewed by a systems designer and any resulting issues have been addressed.
  • Component does not introduce any performance regressions.

Stable

  • Component API has been stable with no breaking changes for at least one month.
  • Feedback on API usability has been sought from developers using the component and any resulting issues have been addressed.
  • Component has corresponding design guidelines documented in the interface guidelines.
  • Component has corresponding Figma component in the Primer Web library.
  • Tooling (such as linters, codemods, etc.) exists to prevent further use of alternatives.