Dynamic Island Nav

Playground

Tune the props live — the code snippet updates as you go, so you can dial in the look you want before copying it.

<DynamicIslandNav />

Installation

Usage

Wrap a set of <DynamicIslandNavItem> elements in <DynamicIslandNav>. Each item only needs value, icon, and label; if you provide children, that item can be clicked once more after being selected to expand the island panel downward.

import { Bell, Home, Search } from "lucide-react";
import {
  DynamicIslandNav,
  DynamicIslandNavItem,
} from "@/components/ui/dynamic-island-nav";

<DynamicIslandNav defaultValue="home">
  <DynamicIslandNavItem value="home" icon={<Home aria-hidden />} label="Home" />
  <DynamicIslandNavItem
    value="search"
    icon={<Search aria-hidden />}
    label="Search"
  />
  <DynamicIslandNavItem value="alerts" icon={<Bell aria-hidden />} label="Alerts">
    <p>You have 3 new notifications</p>
  </DynamicIslandNavItem>
</DynamicIslandNav>

controlled mode

Passing value and onValueChange puts it in controlled mode, so the selection state is managed from the outside:

const [value, setValue] = React.useState("home");

<DynamicIslandNav value={value} onValueChange={setValue}>
  {/* …items… */}
</DynamicIslandNav>

Fixed to the bottom

position="fixed-bottom" fixes the whole island centered at the bottom of the window (z-50), with the outer corridor not taking pointer events — a good fit for app-level floating navigation:

<DynamicIslandNav position="fixed-bottom" defaultValue="home">
  {/* …items… */}
</DynamicIslandNav>

Props

DynamicIslandNav

DynamicIslandNavItem

DynamicIslandNavItem is a declarative configuration component and renders no node of its own; the buttons and the expanding panel are all rendered by DynamicIslandNav, which reads its props — so always use it as a direct child of DynamicIslandNav.

How it works

• The selected pill slides: the selected background is a motion.span carrying a shared layoutId; when you switch items, the old one unmounts and the new one mounts with the same layoutId, so Motion springs it between buttons while morphing its width in sync.
• Name expansion: only the selected item renders its name, animating width from 0 to auto (AnimatePresence), which morphs the whole pill left and right; unselected items keep just their icon.
• Island expansion: click again once an item "with children" is selected and the panel height morphs from 0 to auto, the parent pill grows naturally with the content, and the arrow on the right rotates 180° to signal the expanded state; when you switch to a different item, the key bound to the selected value replays the panel's reveal.
• Expansion rules: switching to a new item expands it automatically if it has a panel and collapses if it does not; clicking the current item again toggles its expanded state.

Accessibility

• The pill row is role="tablist" and each item is role="tab" with aria-selected; expandable items carry aria-expanded and aria-controls, and the expanded panel is role="region" pointing back at its item with aria-labelledby.
• It uses a roving tabindex: only the selected item has tabIndex=0, ← / → move focus between items and select them, Home / End jump to the first and last, and disabled items are skipped automatically.
• Every item carries an aria-label (even when unselected and its name is not expanded), so screen readers can still read the full name; animated nodes are always aria-hidden, and a separate role="status" plain-text region announces the selected and expanded state.
• When the user has "reduce motion" enabled at the system level, the pill slide, name expansion, and panel morph all go to zero, degrading to instant switching with a brief fade in and out and no sense of displacement.