kbar

kbar is a simple plug-n-play React component to add a fast, portable, and extensible command+k interface to your site.

Background

Command+k interfaces are used to create a web experience where any type of action users would be able to do via clicking can be done through a command menu.

With macOS's Spotlight and Linear's command+k experience in mind, kbar aims to be a simple abstraction to add a fast and extensible command+k menu to your site.

Features

• Built in animations and fully customizable components
• Keyboard navigation support; e.g. ctrl n / ctrl p for the navigation wizards
• Keyboard shortcuts support for registering keystrokes to specific actions; e.g. hit t for Twitter
• Nested actions enable creation of rich navigation experiences; e.g. hit backspace to navigate to the previous action
• A simple data structure which enables anyone to easily build their own custom components

Usage

Have a fully functioning command menu for your site in minutes. First, install kbar.

npm install kbar

At the root of your site, import and wrap the site with a KBarProvider.

// app.tsx
import { KBarProvider } from "kbar";

return (
  <KBarProvider>
    <App />
  </KBarProvider>
);

kbar is built on top of actions. Actions define what to execute when a user selects it. Actions can have children which are just other actions.

We'll create a few static actions first. Static actions are actions with no external dependencies. Our example below sets the window.location.pathname, which does not rely on any external hook, for instance.

const actions = [
  {
    id: "blog",
    name: "Blog",
    shortcut: ["b"],
    keywords: "writing words",
    perform: () => (window.location.pathname = "blog"),
  },
  {
    id: "contact",
    name: "Contact",
    shortcut: ["c"],
    keywords: "email",
    perform: () => (window.location.pathname = "contact"),
  },
];

return (
  <KBarProvider actions={actions}>
    <App />
  </KBarProvider>
);

kbar exposes a few components which handle animations, keyboard events, default styles, etc. You can use them together like so:

import { 
  KBarProvider, 
  KBarPortal, 
  KBarPositioner, 
  KBarAnimator, 
  KBarSearch, 
  KBarResults 
} from "kbar";

<KBarProvider actions={actions}>
  <KBarPortal> // Renders the content outside the root node
    <KBarPositioner> // Centers the content
      <KBarAnimator> // Handles the show/hide and height animations
        <KBarSearch /> // Search input
        <KBarResults /> // Results renderer
      </KBarAnimator>
    </KBarPositioner>
  </KBarPortal>
  <MyApp />
</KBarProvider>;

Hit cmd+k (or ctrl+k) and you should see a primitive command menu. kbar allows you to have full control over all aspects of your command menu – refer to the docs to get an understanding of further capabilities. Excited to see what you build.

Contributing to kbar

Contributions are welcome!

New features

Please open a new issue so we can discuss prior to moving forward.

Bug fixes

Please open a new Pull Request for the given bug fix.

Nits and spelling mistakes

Please open a new issue for things like spelling mistakes and README tweaks – we will group the issues together and tackle them as a group. Please do not create a PR for it!