yew-nav-link 0.12.2

Navigation link component for Yew with automatic active state detection
Documentation

yew-nav-link

Enterprise-grade navigation library for Yew — automatic active state detection and a complete component system.

🌐 Live demo → — 📖 Architectural book →

CI Pages Mutants Crates.io docs.rs Downloads MSRV License: MIT REUSE OSSF Scorecard Codecov

Click a NavLink — the route changes, and the active class plus aria-current="page" follow automatically.

Table of Contents

Overview

yew-nav-link is a comprehensive navigation library for the Yew web framework. It provides:

Feature Description
NavLink Drop-in replacement for Yew Router's <Link> with automatic active class detection
Component System 15+ ready-to-use UI components (tabs, dropdowns, pagination, badges, icons)
Hooks Reactive hooks for route state, active checking, breadcrumbs, and programmatic navigation
Utilities Path manipulation, URL encoding, keyboard navigation, and query string handling
Customization Custom CSS classes, programmatic navigation, and extensible breadcrumb providers

The core NavLink component eliminates manual active state tracking. It compares the current route against the target on every render and applies the active CSS class automatically — zero configuration required.

Quality Gates

Every gate below runs in CI and blocks merge on failure — no advisory-only checks. This table is the fast path for reviewers: each quality dimension maps to the tool that enforces it and the workflow that runs it.

Dimension Enforced by Workflow
Unit + doctests cargo nextest + cargo test --doc, across MSRV / stable / nightly on Linux, macOS, Windows ci.yml · test, check
Browser tests wasm-bindgen-test headless on Chrome and Firefox ci.yml · wasm_tests
End-to-end tests Playwright against the trunk-built demo (Chromium + Firefox) ci.yml · e2e
Property testing proptest over path / URL / query invariants ci.yml · test
Fuzzing cargo-fuzz, 5 targets (path join/normalize, URL round-trip, query params, URL parts) fuzz.yml
Mutation testing cargo-mutants: full run nightly + diff-scoped pass per PR mutants.yml
Coverage control cargo-llvm-cov → Codecov, 95 % project + patch gate ci.yml · coverage
Static analysis clippy -D warnings (all + no-default features) · CodeQL SAST · zizmor over the workflows themselves ci.yml · check · codeql.yml · zizmor.yml
Supply chain cargo-deny, cargo-audit, cargo-machete, cargo-udeps ci.yml · security
Security posture OSSF Scorecard scorecard.yml
API stability cargo-semver-checks + cargo-public-api baseline diff ci.yml · semver_checks, public_api
Releases & semver release-plz (version + changelog + publish) · signed build provenance & SBOM attestation release-plz.yml · release-attestations.yml
Licensing REUSE / SPDX compliance ci.yml · reuse
Performance budgets criterion benches · WASM size budget · Lighthouse assertions ci.yml · benchmarks, wasm-build, lighthouse
Formatting & workflows cargo +nightly fmt --check · actionlint · PR-title format gate ci.yml · fmt, actionlint, pr_title

Installation

[dependencies]
yew-nav-link = "0.12"

Requirements

Dependency Version
Rust 1.96+
Edition 2024
Yew 0.23+
yew-router 0.20+

Quick Start

Component Syntax

use yew::prelude::*;
use yew_nav_link::NavLink;
use yew_router::prelude::*;

#[derive(Clone, PartialEq, Routable)]
enum Route {
    #[at("/")]
    Home,
    #[at("/about")]
    About,
}

#[component]
fn Navigation() -> Html {
    html! {
        <nav>
            <NavLink<Route> to={Route::Home}>{ "Home" }</NavLink<Route>>
            <NavLink<Route> to={Route::About}>{ "About" }</NavLink<Route>>
        </nav>
    }
}

When the user visits /about, the second link automatically receives class="nav-link active".

Function Syntax

use yew::prelude::*;
use yew_nav_link::{nav_link, Match};
use yew_router::prelude::*;

#[component]
fn Menu() -> Html {
    html! {
        <nav>
            { nav_link(Route::Home, "Home", Match::Exact) }
            { nav_link(Route::Docs, "Docs", Match::Partial) }
        </nav>
    }
}

Partial Matching

Keep parent links highlighted on nested routes:

html! {
    <nav>
        // Active on /docs, /docs/api, /docs/anything
        <NavLink<Route> to={Route::Docs} partial=true>{ "Docs" }</NavLink<Route>>
    </nav>
}

Partial matching is segment-aware: /docs matches /docs/api but not /documentation.

Custom CSS Classes

Customize the default nav-link and active classes:

html! {
    <nav>
        // Custom base class
        <NavLink<Route> to={Route::Home} class="menu-item">{ "Home" }</NavLink<Route>>
        
        // Custom active class
        <NavLink<Route> to={Route::About} active_class="is-selected">{ "About" }</NavLink<Route>>
        
        // Both custom
        <NavLink<Route> to={Route::Contact} class="sidebar-link" active_class="highlighted">{ "Contact" }</NavLink<Route>>
    </nav>
}

Programmatic Navigation

use_navigation::<R>() returns a [Navigation<R>] handle exposing pre-built Callbacks — no manual Callback::from(...) boilerplate.

use yew::prelude::*;
use yew_nav_link::use_navigation;

#[component]
fn MyComponent() -> Html {
    let nav = use_navigation::<Route>();

    html! {
        <>
            // Push a new entry onto the history stack.
            <button onclick={nav.push_callback(Route::About).reform(|_: MouseEvent| ())}>
                { "Go to About" }
            </button>

            // Replace the current entry without growing history.
            <button onclick={nav.replace_callback(Route::Home).reform(|_: MouseEvent| ())}>
                { "Replace with Home" }
            </button>

            // Browser back / forward.
            <button onclick={nav.go_back.reform(|_: MouseEvent| ())}>{ "Back" }</button>
            <button onclick={nav.go_forward.reform(|_: MouseEvent| ())}>{ "Forward" }</button>
        </>
    }
}

Custom Breadcrumb Providers

Implement [BreadcrumbLabelProvider] to control how each path segment is rendered. The provider operates on paths (e.g. /docs/api), not on Routable enum variants — it works the same for static and parameterised routes.

use std::rc::Rc;
use yew_nav_link::{BreadcrumbLabelProvider, use_breadcrumbs};

struct MyLabels;

impl BreadcrumbLabelProvider for MyLabels {
    fn label_for_path(&self, path: &str) -> String {
        match path {
            "/" => "Home".into(),
            "/about" => "About us".into(),
            p if p.starts_with("/users/") => format!("User {}", &p[7..]),
            other => other.into(),
        }
    }
}

#[component]
fn Crumbs() -> Html {
    // Provide the implementation through context (omitted for brevity);
    // then read the trail.
    let trail = use_breadcrumbs::<Route>();

    html! {
        <nav aria-label="Breadcrumb">
            { for trail.into_iter().map(|item| html! {
                <span aria-current={if item.is_active { "page" } else { "" }}>
                    { item.label }
                </span>
            }) }
        </nav>
    }
}

Components

Core Navigation

Component Purpose
NavLink<R> Navigation link with automatic active state
[NavList] Accessible navigation list container (<ul> with ARIA)
[NavItem] Navigation list item (<li>)
[NavDivider] Visual separator between navigation groups

UI Components

Component Purpose
[NavBadge] Badge/counter for navigation items
[NavHeader] Section header for navigation groups
[NavText] Plain text element within navigation
[NavIcon] Icon with configurable size
[NavLinkWithIcon] Link with integrated icon
[NavDropdown] Dropdown menu with items and dividers
[NavTabs] Tabbed navigation container
[NavTab] Individual tab with active state
[NavTabPanel] Content panel for tabs
[Pagination] Page navigation controls
[PageItem] Individual page indicator
[PageLink] Clickable page link

Hooks

Hook Returns Description
use_route_info::<R>() Option<R> Currently matched route, or None when nothing matches
use_is_active(route) bool Whether the given route is currently active
use_is_exact_active(route) bool Whether the route matches exactly
use_is_partial_active(route) bool Whether the route is a prefix of the current path
use_breadcrumbs::<R>() Vec<BreadcrumbItem<R>> Auto-generated breadcrumb trail from current route
use_navigation::<R>() Navigation<R> Programmatic navigation (push, replace, go back/forward)
use_query_params() QueryParams URL query parameters (multi-value utils::QueryParams)

Utilities

Path helpers are re-exported at the crate root; the URL and keyboard helpers live under the utils module (yew_nav_link::utils::…).

Function Path Description
is_absolute(path) crate root Check if a path starts with /
join_paths(a, b) crate root Join two path segments safely
normalize_path(path) crate root Collapse duplicate slashes and resolve ./..; a single trailing slash is preserved
urlencoding_encode(s) utils:: Percent-encode a string for URLs
urlencoding_decode(s) utils:: Decode a percent-encoded string, + becomes a space (None on invalid UTF-8)
percent_decode(s) utils:: Decode %XX sequences keeping + literal — for path components (None on invalid UTF-8)
handle_arrow_key(config, key) utils:: Keyboard navigation handler
handle_home_end(config, key) utils:: Home/End key handler for navigation

CSS Integration

Bootstrap 5

Works out of the box — nav-link and active are native Bootstrap classes.

<ul class="nav nav-pills">
    <li class="nav-item">
        <NavLink<Route> to={Route::Home}>{ "Home" }</NavLink<Route>>
        <!-- Renders: <a class="nav-link active" href="/">Home</a> -->
    </li>
</ul>

Tailwind CSS

Define your own nav-link and active styles:

.nav-link {
    @apply px-4 py-2 text-gray-600 hover:text-gray-900 transition-colors;
}
.nav-link.active {
    @apply text-blue-600 font-semibold border-b-2 border-blue-600;
}

Architecture

yew-nav-link
├── active_link       # Core NavLink component + Match enum
├── nav               # Primitives: NavList, NavItem, NavDivider
├── components        # UI: Badge, Dropdown, Icon, Tabs, Pagination
├── hooks             # Reactive and programmatic route/navigation helpers
├── utils             # Path, URL, keyboard navigation utilities
└── errors            # NavError, NavResult types

For why the crate is shaped this way — the trade-offs picked over each alternative — see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the overview and docs/adr/ for individual architecture decision records.

Examples

A live demo is published at https://raprogramm.github.io/yew-nav-link/. It exercises every component, hook, and utility in the public API.

Run the same demo locally:

rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
cargo install trunk

cd example
trunk serve

Open http://127.0.0.1:3000 (port set in example/trunk.toml).

API Reference

NavLink<R>

Prop Type Default Description
to R: Routable required Target route
children Children required Link content
partial bool false Enable prefix matching (a root route matches only the root path)
class AttrValue "nav-link" Custom CSS class (replaces default)
active_class AttrValue "active" Custom active state class

Match

Variant Behavior
Exact Active only on exact path match
Partial Active when current path starts with target (segment-wise)

nav_link<R> Function

fn nav_link<R: Routable + PartialEq + Clone + 'static>(
    to: R,
    children: &str,
    match_mode: Match,
) -> Html

BreadcrumbItem

pub struct BreadcrumbItem<R> {
    /// The route this breadcrumb points to.
    pub route: R,
    /// Human-readable label for the breadcrumb.
    pub label: String,
    /// Whether this breadcrumb is the current route.
    pub is_active: bool,
}

Project documentation

File Purpose
Architectural book Rendered mdBook of the documents below — search, syntax-highlighting, navigation. Source lives under docs/.
docs/REQUIREMENTS.md Functional and non-functional requirements (what the crate does, the constraints under which it does it)
docs/ARCHITECTURE.md Module layout, the active-state algorithm, hook contracts, breadcrumb context flow
docs/ROADMAP.md Trajectory through 0.10.x (current line) toward 1.0 (API freeze)
docs/BRANCHING.md Branching, commit, and merge policy enforced on main
SECURITY.md Coordinated disclosure policy
CONTRIBUTING.md Workflow, commit format, code standards

Migration Guides

For a full release-by-release log, see CHANGELOG.md.

From To Notes
0.8.x 0.9.x Macro feature removed; component/function APIs unchanged. See CHANGELOG [0.9.0].
0.9.0 0.9.1 Single-file SPA demo replaces the multi-page docs site under example/; library API unchanged.
0.9.1 0.9.2 BreadcrumbLabelProvider now re-exported at the crate root. Drop-in upgrade.
0.10.x 0.11.0 use_navigation now routes push/replace/go/go_back/go_forward through the router's Navigator, so a configured basename is honored (previously ignored). Navigation<R>'s internal _marker field is no longer public — construct the handle via use_navigation::<R>(), not a struct literal. The go_back/go_forward fields and all *_callback methods keep the same signatures.

Target: 95%+ coverage, tracked via Codecov.

Sunburst

The inner-most circle is the entire project, moving outward are folders then individual files. Size and color represent statement count and coverage.

Grid

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Icicle

Top section is the entire project, proceeding through folders to individual files.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the contribution workflow and code standards.

License

Licensed under the MIT License.