AppShell
Responsive shell for your application with header, navbar, aside and footer
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Docs
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Examples
This page includes only documentation. All associated AppShell components have a fixed
position; examples are included in a separate documentation section.
Usage
AppShell is a layout component that can be used to implement a common Header / Navbar / Footer / Aside
layout pattern. All AppShell components have position: fixed style, so they do not scroll with
the page.
Basic AppShell example with header and navbar. The navbar is hidden on mobile by default and toggled with the burger button.
AppShell components
AppShell– root component that wraps all other sections and configures the overall layout.AppShell.Header– fixed header at the top, controlled by theheaderprop.AppShell.Navbar– fixed navbar on the left, controlled by thenavbarprop.AppShell.Aside– fixed aside on the right, controlled by theasideprop.AppShell.Footer– fixed footer at the bottom, controlled by thefooterprop.AppShell.Main– main content area, statically positioned and offset by the other sections.AppShell.Section– utility for grouping content insideAppShell.NavbarorAppShell.Aside, useful for scrollable areas.
Configuration
The AppShell component accepts header, footer, navbar, and aside props to configure the corresponding sections.
You must set these props if you want to use the associated components.
For example, to use the AppShell.Header component, you need to set the header prop on the AppShell component.
header and footer configuration objects share the same type:
navbar and aside configuration objects type:
layout prop
layout prop controls how AppShell.Header/AppShell.Footer and AppShell.Navbar/AppShell.Aside
are positioned relative to each other. It accepts alt and default values:
alt–AppShell.Navbar/AppShell.Asideextends the full viewport height, whileAppShell.Header/AppShell.Footerwidth equals the viewport width minus the width ofAppShell.NavbarandAppShell.Aside(example)default–AppShell.Navbar/AppShell.Asideheight equals the viewport height minusAppShell.Header/AppShell.Footerheight, andAppShell.Header/AppShell.Footerspans the full viewport width (example)
Height configuration
height property in header and footer configuration objects works the following way:
- If you pass a number, the value will be converted to rem and used as height at all viewport sizes.
- To change height based on viewport width, use an object with breakpoints as keys and height as values. This works the same way as style props.
Example with height as a number: height is converted to rem,
height is the same at all viewport sizes:
Example with height as an object with breakpoints:
heightis 48 when viewport width is <theme.breakpoints.smheightis 60 when viewport width is >=theme.breakpoints.smand <theme.breakpoints.lgheightis 76 when viewport width is >=theme.breakpoints.lg
Width configuration
width property in navbar and aside configuration objects works the following way:
- If you pass a number, the value will be converted to rem and used as
width when the viewport is larger than
breakpoint. - To change width based on viewport width, use an object with breakpoints as keys and width as
values. This works the same way as style props.
Note that width is always 100% when the viewport is smaller than
breakpoint.
Example with width as a number: width is converted to rem,
width is the same at viewport sizes larger than breakpoint,
width is 100% when viewport width is less than breakpoint:
Example with width as an object with breakpoints:
widthis 100% when viewport width is <theme.breakpoints.smwidthis 200 when viewport width is >=theme.breakpoints.smand <theme.breakpoints.lgwidthis 300 when viewport width is >=theme.breakpoints.lg
padding prop
The padding prop controls the padding of the AppShell.Main component. It's important to use this prop
instead of setting padding directly on AppShell.Main because this padding is also used to offset
the AppShell.Header, AppShell.Navbar, AppShell.Aside, and AppShell.Footer components.
The padding prop works the same way as style props and
accepts numbers, strings, and objects with breakpoints as keys and padding values. You can
reference theme.spacing values or use any valid CSS values.
Example with static padding prop:
Example with responsive padding prop:
paddingis 10 when viewport width is <theme.breakpoints.smpaddingis 15 when viewport width is >=theme.breakpoints.smand <theme.breakpoints.lgpaddingistheme.spacing.xlwhen viewport width is >=theme.breakpoints.lg
Header offset configuration
The header prop includes an offset property that allows you to control
whether the AppShell.Main component is offset by the header's height.
This is particularly useful when you want to collapse the AppShell.Header
based on scroll position. For example, you can use the use-headroom
hook to hide the header when the user scrolls down and show it when
scrolling up (example).
Collapsed navbar/aside configuration
The navbar and aside props include a collapsed property that accepts an object with the format { mobile: boolean; desktop: boolean }.
This allows you to configure the collapsed state differently based on viewport width.
Example with separate collapsed states for mobile and desktop:
withBorder prop
The withBorder prop is available on AppShell and associated sections: AppShell.Header, AppShell.Navbar, AppShell.Aside and AppShell.Footer.
By default, withBorder prop is true – all components have a border on the side that is adjacent to the AppShell.Main component.
For example, AppShell.Header is located at the top of the page – it has a border on the bottom side,
AppShell.Navbar is located on the left side of the page – it has a border on the right side.
To remove the border from all components, set withBorder={false} on the AppShell:
To remove the border from a specific component, set withBorder={false} on that component:
zIndex prop
The zIndex prop is available on AppShell and its associated sections: AppShell.Header, AppShell.Navbar, AppShell.Aside, and AppShell.Footer.
By default, all sections have a z-index of 100.
To change the z-index of all sections, set the zIndex prop on the AppShell component:
To change z-index of a specific section, set zIndex prop on that section:
Control transitions
Use the transitionDuration and transitionTimingFunction props on the AppShell component to control section animations:
disabled prop
Set the disabled prop on the AppShell component to prevent all sections except AppShell.Main from rendering.
This is useful when you want to hide the shell on certain pages of your application.
AppShell.Section component
AppShell.Section is used to create organized areas within AppShell.Navbar and AppShell.Aside.
Since these components are flexbox containers with flex-direction: column, the AppShell.Section
component with the grow prop will expand to fill available space and can be made scrollable by setting
component={ScrollArea}.
In the following example:
- The first and last sections (header and footer) take only the space needed for their content
- The middle section with
growtakes all remaining space and becomes scrollable when content exceeds the available height
Semantic elements
Important: do not use <main> inside AppShell.Main, it is allowed
to use only one <main> element per page.
CSS variables
Example of using CSS variables in styles: