Expo Router Navigation

Navigation and routing for Expo Router apps. For screen styling, colors, controls, animations, media, and visual effects, use the building-native-ui skill.

References

Consult these resources as needed:

references/
  route-structure.md     Route conventions, dynamic routes, groups, folder organization
  tabs.md                NativeTabs, migration from JS tabs, iOS 26 features
  toolbar-and-headers.md Stack headers and toolbar buttons, menus, search (iOS only)
  form-sheet.md          Form sheets in expo-router: configuration, footers and background interaction.
  search.md              Search bar with headers, useSearch hook, filtering patterns
  zoom-transitions.md    Apple Zoom: fluid zoom transitions with Link.AppleZoom (iOS 18+)

Code Style

• Always use kebab-case for file names, e.g. comment-card.tsx
• Always remove old route files when moving or restructuring navigation
• Never use special characters in file names
• Configure tsconfig.json with path aliases, and prefer aliases over relative imports for refactors.

Routes

See ./references/route-structure.md for detailed route conventions.

• Routes belong in the app directory.
• Never co-locate components, types, or utilities in the app directory. This is an anti-pattern.
• Ensure the app always has a route that matches "/", it may be inside a group route.

Library Preferences

• Color from expo-router for native semantic colors, not raw PlatformColor (type-safe, auto-adapts to light/dark). See building-native-ui for the full color palette pattern.
• In SDK 56+, never import from @react-navigation/* directly — use expo-router/react-navigation instead (covers @react-navigation/native, /core, /elements, /routers)

Behavior

• Prefer Stack.SearchBar to add a search bar to a screen

Navigation

Link

Use <Link href="/path" /> from 'expo-router' for navigation between routes.

import { Link } from 'expo-router';

// Basic link
<Link href="/path" />

// Wrapping custom components
<Link href="/path" asChild>
  <Pressable>...</Pressable>
</Link>

Whenever possible, include a <Link.Preview> to follow iOS conventions. Add context menus and previews frequently to enhance navigation.

Stack

• ALWAYS use _layout.tsx files to define stacks
• Use Stack from 'expo-router/stack' for native navigation stacks

Page Title

Set the page title with Stack.Title:

<Stack.Title>Home</Stack.Title>

Context Menus

Add long press context menus to Link components:

import { Link } from "expo-router";

<Link href="/settings" asChild>
  <Link.Trigger>
    <Pressable>
      <Card />
    </Pressable>
  </Link.Trigger>
  <Link.Menu>
    <Link.MenuAction
      title="Share"
      icon="square.and.arrow.up"
      onPress={handleSharePress}
    />
    <Link.MenuAction
      title="Block"
      icon="nosign"
      destructive
      onPress={handleBlockPress}
    />
    <Link.Menu title="More" icon="ellipsis">
      <Link.MenuAction title="Copy" icon="doc.on.doc" onPress={() => {}} />
      <Link.MenuAction
        title="Delete"
        icon="trash"
        destructive
        onPress={() => {}}
      />
    </Link.Menu>
  </Link.Menu>
</Link>;

Link Previews

Use link previews frequently to enhance navigation:

<Link href="/settings">
  <Link.Trigger>
    <Pressable>
      <Card />
    </Pressable>
  </Link.Trigger>
  <Link.Preview />
</Link>

Link preview can be used with context menus.

Modal

Present a screen as a modal:

<Stack.Screen name="modal" options={{ presentation: "modal" }} />

Prefer this to building a custom modal component.

Sheet

Present a screen as a dynamic form sheet:

<Stack.Screen
  name="sheet"
  options={{
    presentation: "formSheet",
    sheetGrabberVisible: true,
    sheetAllowedDetents: [0.5, 1.0],
    contentStyle: { backgroundColor: "transparent" },
  }}
/>

• Using contentStyle: { backgroundColor: "transparent" } makes the background liquid glass on iOS 26+.

Common route structure

A standard app layout with tabs and stacks inside each tab:

app/
  _layout.tsx — <NativeTabs />
  (index,search)/
    _layout.tsx — <Stack />
    index.tsx — Main list
    search.tsx — Search view

// app/_layout.tsx
import { NativeTabs } from "expo-router/unstable-native-tabs";
import { ThemeProvider, DarkTheme, DefaultTheme } from "expo-router/react-navigation";
import { useColorScheme } from "react-native";

export default function Layout() {
  const colorScheme = useColorScheme();
  return (
    <ThemeProvider value={colorScheme === "dark" ? DarkTheme : DefaultTheme}>
      <NativeTabs>
        <NativeTabs.Trigger name="(index)">
          <NativeTabs.Trigger.Icon sf="list.dash" md="list" />
          <NativeTabs.Trigger.Label>Items</NativeTabs.Trigger.Label>
        </NativeTabs.Trigger>
        <NativeTabs.Trigger name="(search)" role="search" />
      </NativeTabs>
    </ThemeProvider>
  );
}

Create a shared group route so both tabs can push common screens:

// app/(index,search)/_layout.tsx
import { Stack } from "expo-router/stack";
import { colors } from "@/theme/colors";

export default function Layout({ segment }) {
  const screen = segment.match(/\((.*)\)/)?.[1]!;
  const titles: Record<string, string> = { index: "Items", search: "Search" };

  return (
    <Stack
      screenOptions={{
        headerTransparent: true,
        headerShadowVisible: false,
        headerLargeTitleShadowVisible: false,
        headerLargeStyle: { backgroundColor: "transparent" },
        headerTitleStyle: { color: colors.label },
        headerLargeTitle: true,
        headerBlurEffect: "none",
        headerBackButtonDisplayMode: "minimal",
      }}
    >
      <Stack.Screen name={screen} options={{ title: titles[screen] }} />
      <Stack.Screen name="i/[id]" options={{ headerLargeTitle: false }} />
    </Stack>
  );
}