React Menu component

The Menu component provide end users with a list of options on temporary surfaces.

'use client';

import * as React from 'react';
import { Menu, MenuItems, MenuItem, MenuTrigger } from './Menu';

export default function MenuIntroduction() {
  const createHandleMenuClick = (menuItem: string) => {
    return () => {
      console.log(`Clicked on ${menuItem}`);
    };
  };

  return (
    <Menu>
      <MenuTrigger>My account</MenuTrigger>

      <MenuItems>
        <MenuItem onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Profile')}>Profile</MenuItem>
        <MenuItem onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Language settings')}>
          Language settings
        </MenuItem>
        <MenuItem onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Log out')}>Log out</MenuItem>
      </MenuItems>
    </Menu>
  );
}

Installation

Base UI components are all available as a single package.

npm install @base_ui/react

Once you have the package installed, import the component.

import * as Menu from '@base_ui/react/Menu';

Anatomy

Menus are implemented using a collection of related components:

<Menu.Root /> is a top-level component that facilitates communication between other components. It does not render to the DOM.
<Menu.Trigger /> is an optional component (a button by default) that, when clicked, shows the menu. When not used, menu can be shown programmatically using the open prop.
<Menu.Positioner /> renders the element responsible for positioning the popup.
<Menu.Popup /> is the menu popup.
<Menu.Item /> is the menu item.
<Menu.Arrow /> renders an optional pointing arrow, placed inside the popup.
<Menu.SubmenuTrigger /> is a menu item that opens a submenu. See Nested menu for more details.

<Menu.Root>
  <Menu.Trigger />
 
  <Menu.Positioner>
    <Menu.Popup>
      <Menu.Item />
      <Menu.Item />
 
      <Menu.Root>
        <Menu.SubmenuTrigger />
 
        <Menu.Positioner>
          <Menu.Popup>
            <Menu.Arrow />
            <Menu.Item />
            <Menu.Item />
          </Menu.Popup>
        </Menu.Positioner>
      </Menu.Root>
    </Menu.Popup>
  </Menu.Positioner>
</Menu.Root>

Placement

By default, the menu is placed on the bottom side of its trigger, the default anchor. To change this, use the side prop:

<Menu.Root>
  <Menu.Trigger />
  <Menu.Positioner side="right">
    <Menu.Popup>
      <Menu.Item>Item 1</Menu.Item>
    </Menu.Popup>
  </Menu.Positioner>
</Menu.Root>

You can also change the alignment of the menu in relation to its anchor. By default, aligned to the leading edge of an anchor, but it can be configured otherwise using the alignment prop:

<Menu.Root>
  <Menu.Trigger />
  <Menu.Positioner side="right" alignment="end">
    <Menu.Popup>
      <Menu.Item>Item 1</Menu.Item>
    </Menu.Popup>
  </Menu.Positioner>
</Menu.Root>

Due to collision detection, the menu may change its placement to avoid overflow. Therefore, your explicitly specified side and alignment props act as "ideal", or preferred, values.

To access the true rendered values, which may change as the result of a collision, the menu element receives data attributes:

// Rendered HTML (simplified)
<div>
  <div data-side="left" data-alignment="end">
    <div>Item 1</div>
  </div>
</div>

This allows you to conditionally style the menu based on its rendered side or alignment.

Offset

The sideOffset prop creates a gap between the anchor and menu popup, while alignmentOffset slides the menu popup from its alignment, acting logically for start and end alignments.

<Menu.Positioner sideOffset={10} alignmentOffset={10}>

Orientation

By default, menus are vertical, so the up/down arrow keys navigate through options and left/right keys open and close submenus. You can change this with the orientation prop"

<Menu.Root orientation="horizontal">
  <Menu.Trigger />
  <Menu.Positioner>
    <Menu.Popup>
      <Menu.Item>Item 1</Menu.Item>
    </Menu.Popup>
  </Menu.Positioner>
</Menu.Root>

Hover

To open the Menu on hover, add the openOnHover prop:

<Menu.Root openOnHover>

By default submenus are opened on hover, but top-level menus aren't.

To change how long the menu waits until it opens or closes when openOnHover is enabled, use the delay prop, which represent how long the Menu waits after the cursor enters the trigger, in milliseconds:

<Menu.Root openOnHover delay={200}>

Menu items can open submenus. To make this happen, place the <Menu.Root> with all its required children where a submenu trigger has to be placed, but instead of <Menu.Trigger>, use <Menu.SubitemTrigger>, as on the demo below.

'use client';

import * as React from 'react';
import * as Menu from '@base_ui/react/Menu';
import { styled } from '@mui/system';

export default function NestedMenu() {
  const createHandleMenuClick = (menuItem: string) => {
    return () => {
      console.log(`Clicked on ${menuItem}`);
    };
  };

  return (
    <Menu.Root>
      <MenuButton>Format</MenuButton>
      <MenuPositioner side="bottom" alignment="start">
        <MenuPopup>
          <Menu.Root>
            <SubmenuTrigger>Text color</SubmenuTrigger>
            <MenuPositioner alignment="start" side="right">
              <MenuPopup>
                <MenuItem onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Text color/Black')}>
                  Black
                </MenuItem>
                <MenuItem onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Text color/Dark grey')}>
                  Dark grey
                </MenuItem>
                <MenuItem onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Text color/Accent')}>
                  Accent
                </MenuItem>
              </MenuPopup>
            </MenuPositioner>
          </Menu.Root>

          <Menu.Root>
            <SubmenuTrigger>Style</SubmenuTrigger>
            <MenuPositioner alignment="start" side="right">
              <MenuPopup>
                <Menu.Root>
                  <SubmenuTrigger>Heading</SubmenuTrigger>
                  <MenuPositioner alignment="start" side="right">
                    <MenuPopup>
                      <MenuItem
                        onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Style/Heading/Level 1')}
                      >
                        Level 1
                      </MenuItem>
                      <MenuItem
                        onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Style/Heading/Level 2')}
                      >
                        Level 2
                      </MenuItem>
                      <MenuItem
                        onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Style/Heading/Level 3')}
                      >
                        Level 3
                      </MenuItem>
                    </MenuPopup>
                  </MenuPositioner>
                </Menu.Root>
                <MenuItem onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Style/Paragraph')}>
                  Paragraph
                </MenuItem>
                <Menu.Root disabled>
                  <SubmenuTrigger disabled>List</SubmenuTrigger>
                  <MenuPositioner alignment="start" side="right">
                    <MenuPopup>
                      <MenuItem
                        onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Style/List/Ordered')}
                      >
                        Ordered
                      </MenuItem>
                      <MenuItem
                        onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Style/List/Unordered')}
                      >
                        Unordered
                      </MenuItem>
                    </MenuPopup>
                  </MenuPositioner>
                </Menu.Root>
              </MenuPopup>
            </MenuPositioner>
          </Menu.Root>

          <MenuItem onClick={createHandleMenuClick('Clear formatting')}>
            Clear formatting
          </MenuItem>
        </MenuPopup>
      </MenuPositioner>
    </Menu.Root>
  );
}

const blue = {
  50: '#F0F7FF',
  100: '#C2E0FF',
  200: '#99CCF3',
  300: '#66B2FF',
  400: '#3399FF',
  500: '#007FFF',
  600: '#0072E6',
  700: '#0059B3',
  800: '#004C99',
  900: '#003A75',
};

const grey = {
  50: '#F3F6F9',
  100: '#E5EAF2',
  200: '#DAE2ED',
  300: '#C7D0DD',
  400: '#B0B8C4',
  500: '#9DA8B7',
  600: '#6B7A90',
  700: '#434D5B',
  800: '#303740',
  900: '#1C2025',
};

const MenuPopup = styled(Menu.Popup)(
  ({ theme }) => `
  font-family: 'IBM Plex Sans', sans-serif;
  font-size: 0.875rem;
  box-sizing: border-box;
  padding: 6px;
  margin: 12px 0;
  min-width: 200px;
  border-radius: 12px;
  overflow: auto;
  outline: 0;
  background: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[900] : '#fff'};
  border: 1px solid ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[700] : grey[200]};
  color: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[300] : grey[900]};
  box-shadow: 0px 4px 30px ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[900] : grey[200]};
  z-index: 1;
  transform-origin: var(--transform-origin);
  opacity: 1;
  transform: scale(1, 1);
  transition: opacity 100ms ease-in, transform 100ms ease-in;

  @starting-style {
    & {
      opacity: 0;
      transform: scale(0.8);
    }
  }
      
  &[data-exiting] {
    opacity: 0;
    transform: scale(0.8);
    transition: opacity 200ms ease-in, transform 200ms ease-in;
  }
  `,
);

const MenuPositioner = styled(Menu.Positioner)`
  &:focus-visible {
    outline: 0;
  }

  &[data-state='closed'] {
    pointer-events: none;
  }
`;

const MenuItem = styled(Menu.Item)(
  ({ theme }) => `
  list-style: none;
  padding: 8px;
  border-radius: 8px;
  cursor: default;
  user-select: none;
  
  &:last-of-type {
    border-bottom: none;
  }
    
  &:focus,
  &:hover {
    background-color: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[800] : grey[100]};
    color: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[300] : grey[900]};
  }

  &:focus-visible {
    outline: none;
  }

  &[data-disabled] {
    color: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[700] : grey[400]};
  }
  `,
);

const SubmenuTrigger = styled(Menu.SubmenuTrigger)(
  ({ theme }) => `
  list-style: none;
  padding: 8px;
  border-radius: 8px;
  cursor: default;
  user-select: none;

  &:last-of-type {
    border-bottom: none;
  }

  &::after {
    content: '›';
    float: right;
  }

  &[data-state='open'] {
    background-color: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[900] : grey[50]};
    color: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[300] : grey[900]};
  }

  &:focus,
  &:hover {
    background-color: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[800] : grey[100]};
    color: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[300] : grey[900]};
  }

  &:focus-visible {
    outline: none;
  }

  &[data-disabled] {
    color: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[700] : grey[400]};
  }
  `,
);

const MenuButton = styled(Menu.Trigger)(
  ({ theme }) => `
  font-family: 'IBM Plex Sans', sans-serif;
  font-weight: 600;
  font-size: 0.875rem;
  line-height: 1.5;
  padding: 8px 16px;
  border-radius: 8px;
  color: white;
  transition: all 150ms ease;
  cursor: pointer;
  background: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[900] : '#fff'};
  border: 1px solid ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[700] : grey[200]};
  color: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[200] : grey[900]};
  box-shadow: 0 1px 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 0.05);

  &:hover {
    background: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[800] : grey[50]};
    border-color: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[600] : grey[300]};
  }

  &:active {
    background: ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? grey[700] : grey[100]};
  }

  &:focus-visible {
    box-shadow: 0 0 0 4px ${theme.palette.mode === 'dark' ? blue[300] : blue[200]};
    outline: none;
  }
  `,
);

Escape key behavior

You can control if pressing the Escape key closes just the current submenu or the whole tree. By default, the whole menu closes, but setting the closeParentOnEsc prop modifies this behavior:

<Menu.Root>
  <Menu.Trigger />
  <Menu.Positioner>
    <Menu.Popup>
      <Menu.Item>Item 1</Menu.Item>
      <Menu.Root closeParentOnEsc={false}>
        <Menu.SubmenuTrigger>Submenu</Menu.SubmenuTrigger>
 
        <Menu.Positioner>
          <Menu.Popup>
            <Menu.Item>Submenu item 1</Menu.Item>
            <Menu.Item>Submenu item 2</Menu.Item>
          </Menu.Popup>
        </Menu.Positioner>
      </Menu.Root>
    </Menu.Popup>
  </Menu.Positioner>
</Menu.Root>

Arrow

To add an arrow (caret or triangle) inside the menu popup that points toward the center of the anchor element, use the Menu.Arrow component:

<Menu.Positioner>
  <Menu.Popup>
    <Menu.Arrow />
    <Menu.Item>Item 1</Menu.Item>
    <Menu.Item>Item 2</Menu.Item>
  </Menu.Popup>
</Menu.Positioner>

It automatically positions a wrapper element that can be styled or contain a custom SVG shape.

Animations

The menu can animate when opening or closing with either:

CSS transitions
CSS animations
JavaScript animations

CSS transitions

Here is an example of how to apply a symmetric scale and fade transition with the default conditionally-rendered behavior:

<Menu.Popup className="MenuPopup">
  <Menu.Item>Item 1</Menu.Item>
</Menu.Popup>

.MenuPopup {
  transform-origin: var(--transform-origin);
  transition-property: opacity, transform;
  transition-duration: 0.2s;
  /* Represents the final styles once exited */
  opacity: 0;
  transform: scale(0.9);
}
 
/* Represents the final styles once entered */
.MenuPopup[data-state='open'] {
  opacity: 1;
  transform: scale(1);
}
 
/* Represents the initial styles when entering */
.MenuPopup[data-entering] {
  opacity: 0;
  transform: scale(0.9);
}

Styles need to be applied in three states:

The exiting styles, placed on the base element class
The open styles, placed on the base element class with [data-state="open"]
The entering styles, placed on the base element class with [data-entering]

In newer browsers, there is a feature called @starting-style which allows transitions to occur on open for conditionally-mounted components:

/* Base UI API - Polyfill */
.MenuPopup[data-entering] {
  opacity: 0;
  transform: scale(0.9);
}
 
/* Official Browser API - no Firefox support as of May 2024 */
@starting-style {
  .MenuPopup[data-state='open'] {
    opacity: 0;
    transform: scale(0.9);
  }
}

CSS animations

CSS animations can also be used, requiring only two separate declarations:

@keyframes scale-in {
  from {
    opacity: 0;
    transform: scale(0.9);
  }
}
 
@keyframes scale-out {
  to {
    opacity: 0;
    transform: scale(0.9);
  }
}
 
.MenuPopup {
  animation: scale-in 0.2s forwards;
}
 
.MenuPopup[data-exiting] {
  animation: scale-out 0.2s forwards;
}

JavaScript animations

The keepMounted prop lets an external library control the mounting, for example framer-motion's AnimatePresence component.

function App() {
  const [open, setOpen] = useState(false);
  return (
    <Menu.Root open={open} onOpenChange={setOpen}>
      <Menu.Trigger>Trigger</Menu.Trigger>
      <AnimatePresence>
        {open && (
          <Menu.Positioner keepMounted>
            <Menu.Popup
              render={
                <motion.div
                  initial={{ opacity: 0 }}
                  animate={{ opacity: 1 }}
                  exit={{ opacity: 0 }}
                />
              }
            >
              <Menu.Item>Item 1</Menu.Item>
              <Menu.Item>Item 2</Menu.Item>
            </Menu.Popup>
          </Menu.Positioner>
        )}
      </AnimatePresence>
    </Menu.Root>
  );
}

Animation states

Four states are available as data attributes to animate the popup, which enables full control depending on whether the popup is being animated with CSS transitions or animations, JavaScript, or is using the keepMounted prop.

[data-state="open"] - open state is true.
[data-state="closed"] - open state is false. Can still be mounted to the DOM if closing.
[data-entering] - the popup was just inserted to the DOM. The attribute is removed 1 animation frame later. Enables "starting styles" upon insertion for conditional rendering.
[data-exiting] - the popup is in the process of being removed from the DOM, but is still mounted.

Overriding default components

Use the render prop to override the rendered elements with your own components.

// Element shorthand
<Menu.Popup render={<MyMenuPopup />} />

// Function
<Menu.Popup render={(props) => <MyMenuPopup {...props} />} />

API Reference

MenuItem

An unstyled menu item to be used within a Menu.

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`closeOnClick`	`bool`	`true`	If `true`, the menu will close when the menu item is clicked.
`disabled`	`bool`	`false`	If `true`, the menu item will be disabled.
`id`	`string`		The id of the menu item.
`label`	`string`		A text representation of the menu item's content. Used for keyboard text navigation matching.
`onClick`	`func`		The click handler for the menu item.

MenuPositioner

Renders the element that positions the Menu popup.

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`alignment`	`enum`	`'center'`	The alignment of the Menu element to the anchor element along its cross axis.
`alignmentOffset`	`number`	`0`	The offset of the Menu element along its alignment axis.
`anchor`	`union`		The anchor element to which the Menu popup will be placed at.
`arrowPadding`	`number`	`5`	Determines the padding between the arrow and the Menu popup's edges. Useful when the popover popup has rounded corners via `border-radius`.
`className`	`union`		Class names applied to the element or a function that returns them based on the component's state.
`collisionBoundary`	`union`	`'clippingAncestors'`	The boundary that the Menu element should be constrained to.
`collisionPadding`	`union`	`5`	The padding of the collision boundary.
`container`	`union`		The container element to which the Menu popup will be appended to.
`hideWhenDetached`	`bool`	`false`	If `true`, the Menu will be hidden if it is detached from its anchor element due to differing clipping contexts.
`keepMounted`	`bool`	`false`	Whether the menu popup remains mounted in the DOM while closed.
`positionStrategy`	`enum`	`'absolute'`	The CSS position strategy for positioning the Menu popup element.
`render`	`union`		A function to customize rendering of the component.
`side`	`enum`	`'bottom'`	The side of the anchor element that the Menu element should align to.
`sideOffset`	`number`	`0`	The gap between the anchor element and the Menu element.
`sticky`	`bool`	`false`	If `true`, allow the Menu to remain in stuck view while the anchor element is scrolled out of view.

MenuPopup

Prop	Type	Description
`className`	`union`	Class names applied to the element or a function that returns them based on the component's state.
`id`	`string`	The id of the popup element.
`render`	`union`	A function to customize rendering of the component.

MenuRoot

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`animated`	`bool`	`true`	If `true`, the Menu supports CSS-based animations and transitions. It is kept in the DOM until the animation completes.
`closeParentOnEsc`	`bool`	`true`	Determines if pressing the Esc key closes the parent menus. This is only applicable for nested menus. If set to `false` pressing Esc closes only the current menu.
`defaultOpen`	`bool`	`false`	If `true`, the Menu is initially open.
`delay`	`number`	`100`	The delay in milliseconds until the menu popup is opened when `openOnHover` is `true`.
`dir`	`enum`	`'ltr'`	The direction of the Menu (left-to-right or right-to-left).
`disabled`	`bool`	`false`	If `true`, the Menu is disabled.
`loop`	`bool`	`true`	If `true`, using keyboard navigation will wrap focus to the other end of the list once the end is reached.
`onOpenChange`	`func`		Callback fired when the component requests to be opened or closed.
`open`	`bool`		Allows to control whether the dropdown is open. This is a controlled counterpart of `defaultOpen`.
`openOnHover`	`bool`		Whether the menu popup opens when the trigger is hovered after the provided `delay`. By default, `openOnHover` is set to `true` for nested menus.
`orientation`	`enum`	`'vertical'`	The orientation of the Menu (horizontal or vertical).

MenuTrigger

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`className`	`union`		Class names applied to the element or a function that returns them based on the component's state.
`disabled`	`bool`	`false`	If `true`, the component is disabled.
`focusableWhenDisabled`	`bool`	`false`	If `true`, allows a disabled button to receive focus.
`label`	`string`		Label of the button
`render`	`union`		A function to customize rendering of the component.

SubmenuTrigger

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`className`	`union`		Class names applied to the element or a function that returns them based on the component's state.
`disabled`	`bool`	`false`	If `true`, the menu item will be disabled.
`disableFocusOnHover`	`bool`	`false`	If `true`, the menu item won't receive focus when the mouse moves over it.
`label`	`string`		A text representation of the menu item's content. Used for keyboard text navigation matching.
`render`	`union`		A function to customize rendering of the component.

MenuArrow

Renders an arrow that points to the center of the anchor element.

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`className`	`union`		Class names applied to the element or a function that returns them based on the component's state.
`hideWhenUncentered`	`bool`	`false`	If `true`, the arrow is hidden when it can't point to the center of the anchor element.
`render`	`union`		A function to customize rendering of the component.

Edit this page on GitHub

Form

Number Field

Getting started

Components

How-to guides

Menu