Dialog

Dialog is a controlled modal with portal rendering, focus trapping, scroll locking, and accessible escape routes built in.

Examples

When to use

Use a Dialog for a short, focused decision that must be resolved before the user moves on: confirming a deletion, naming a new resource, reviewing terms.

Reach for something else when:

• The content is long or the task is a side journey — use a Drawer, which slides in without claiming the whole screen.
• You only need to report the outcome of something — use a Toast (transient) or an Alert (persistent, inline).
• The panel is anchored to a control and holds choices — use a Dropdown.

Accessibility

• The panel is role="dialog" with aria-modal, named by title via aria-labelledby.
• Focus moves to a safe initial destination in the panel on open and is trapped while open. For React, declare initialFocusTo when the application owns the task meaning, and returnFocusTo when a pointer-opened workflow needs an explicit return destination.
• Every close path calls onClose: the × button, Escape, and a backdrop click. The × renders only when onClose is provided, so a dialog is never left without a visible way out.
• The × button is named "Close" by default. Pass closeLabel to translate its accessible name.
• Page scroll is locked while the dialog is open, and the panel is portaled to document.body so it escapes any overflow: hidden ancestor.

React initial focus

initialFocusTo is optional and has the type () => HTMLElement | null. For each accepted opening of a visible modal panel, Lyra synchronously calls the read-only resolver once. Return a current, eligible member of that panel; the application chooses the meaning: the least-destructive Cancel action for a confirmation, a named reading heading for long content, or the intended field for an ordinary form. The DeleteProject snippet deliberately enters on Cancel; both footer actions close the demo dialog.

An eligible target is an HTMLElement in the panel's document and current modal panel, connected, visible with rendered rectangles, enabled (including its fieldset), programmatically focusable, and outside hidden, inert, or aria-hidden ancestry. A named heading or reading container with tabIndex={-1} is valid. A null or invalid result focuses the named panel directly; it never falls through to another control. Omitting the option uses the first eligible task control, then the panel. The resolver is not replayed on rerenders; a later accepted opening reads the current resolver.

Form composition owns focus after failed validation. Initial entry does not infer a validation failure from aria-invalid. The resolver must only read committed state and refs: do not focus, mutate, or start asynchronous work. If it throws, Lyra focuses the panel and propagates the same error through React's effect handling.

React return focus

returnFocusTo is optional and has the type () => HTMLElement | null. It resolves freshly after an accepted close, so it can read the current workflow state and refs instead of preserving a stale element. Use it for a stable, eligible trigger; when that trigger can be removed, disabled, hidden, or no longer meaningful, return a logical successor instead.

An eligible destination is connected in the same document, visible, enabled, programmatically focusable, and outside the closing panel and overlay. A composition must not return a target that it removes while closing. Omitting returnFocusTo retains only a valid captured opener that was already focused, such as after keyboard opening. Unprepared WebKit mouse usage without a usable explicit target remains unqualified: adding this optional prop does not repair unmigrated consumers.

function DeleteProject({ canReturnToTrigger }: { canReturnToTrigger: boolean }) {
  const [open, setOpen] = useState(false);
  const triggerRef = useRef<HTMLButtonElement>(null);
  const successorRef = useRef<HTMLHeadingElement>(null);
  const cancelRef = useRef<HTMLButtonElement>(null);

  return (
    <>
      <Button ref={triggerRef} disabled={!canReturnToTrigger} onClick={() => setOpen(true)}>
        Delete project
      </Button>
      <h2 ref={successorRef} tabIndex={-1}>
        Project overview
      </h2>
      <Dialog
        open={open}
        onClose={() => setOpen(false)}
        initialFocusTo={() => cancelRef.current}
        returnFocusTo={() =>
          canReturnToTrigger ? (triggerRef.current ?? successorRef.current) : successorRef.current
        }
        title="Delete project"
        footer={
          <>
            <Button ref={cancelRef} variant="ghost" onClick={() => setOpen(false)}>
              Cancel
            </Button>
            <Button variant="danger" onClick={() => setOpen(false)}>
              Delete
            </Button>
          </>
        }
      >
        This action cannot be undone.
      </Dialog>
    </>
  );
}

Project overview is a named, meaningful tabIndex={-1} destination. The canReturnToTrigger state represents current availability; a non-null ref alone does not make a target eligible. A removed trigger also falls through its null ref to the successor.

After an accepted close, Lyra prefers an eligible resolver result, then only a still-eligible captured opener. It never picks an arbitrary page control or body as a fallback. If neither is eligible, Lyra makes no invalid focus call and the controlled close still proceeds; the browser may land on body. This is an invalid composition, and the application must provide a logical successor. One development diagnostic reports the invalid composition for that close cycle; it is not successful focus restoration. The resolver must only read current state and refs: do not focus, mutate the DOM, or start asynchronous work in it.

API and code

<div
  x-data="lyraDialog({
    returnFocusTo: () => {
      const trigger = document.getElementById('open-project-details');
      return trigger instanceof HTMLButtonElement && !trigger.disabled && !trigger.hidden
        ? trigger
        : document.getElementById('project-overview');
    },
  })"
>
  <button
    id="open-project-details"
    class="lyra-btn lyra-btn--primary lyra-btn--md"
    type="button"
    @click="open = true"
  >
    Open project details
  </button>
  <h2 id="project-overview" tabindex="-1">Project overview</h2>

  <div class="lyra-dialog-overlay" x-bind="overlay" style="display: none">
    <div class="lyra-dialog" x-bind="panel">
      <div class="lyra-dialog__header">
        <h2 class="lyra-dialog__title" x-bind="title">Project details</h2>
        <button class="lyra-dialog__close" x-bind="close">✕</button>
      </div>
      <div class="lyra-dialog__body">Review the latest deployment before you continue.</div>
      <div class="lyra-dialog__footer">
        <button class="lyra-btn lyra-btn--primary lyra-btn--md" type="button" x-bind="close">
          Close
        </button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

<lyra:dialog title="Delete project" close-label="Close">
    This permanently deletes the project and every issue attached to it.
</lyra:dialog>