Drawer

Drawer is a controlled side panel that slides in from the right. Choose it for work that belongs alongside the page; choose a Dialog when the decision must block the page until it is resolved.

Examples

When to use

Use a Drawer for details or a short task that benefits from the page staying visible: inspecting an activity record, editing a small set of fields, or reviewing context before an action.

Reach for something else when:

• A decision must stop progress — use Dialog, a centred modal that makes the blocking choice explicit.
• The task needs its own destination, history or shareable URL — use a route. A drawer leaves the current page behind it; a full page does not.
• The message only confirms something that already happened — use Toast or an inline Alert.

Accessibility

• The panel is role="dialog" with aria-modal="true", named by title through aria-labelledby. title is the heading, not the native HTML tooltip attribute.
• On open, focus moves to a safe initial destination in the panel and stays trapped there. For React, declare initialFocusTo when the application owns the task meaning, and returnFocusTo when a pointer-opened workflow needs an explicit return destination; body scroll is locked while it is open.
• Escape, the close button and a backdrop click call onClose. The backdrop is a pointer-only convenience; keyboard users close with Escape or the close button.
• The close button's accessible name defaults to the English string "Close". Pass closeLabel to translate it for localized products.
• The component is portaled to document.body by default. Pass container only when your app needs a different portal host.

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; applications own whether this is a least-destructive Cancel action, a named reading heading, or an intended form field. The live DrawerWithoutFooter example enters its read-only activity detail at the named tabIndex={-1} heading and intentionally has no footer.

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 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 failure from aria-invalid. The resolver only reads 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 ProjectDetails({ canReturnToTrigger }: { canReturnToTrigger: boolean }) {
  const [open, setOpen] = useState(false);
  const triggerRef = useRef<HTMLButtonElement>(null);
  const successorRef = useRef<HTMLHeadingElement>(null);

  return (
    <>
      <Button ref={triggerRef} disabled={!canReturnToTrigger} onClick={() => setOpen(true)}>
        Open project details
      </Button>
      <h2 ref={successorRef} tabIndex={-1}>
        Project overview
      </h2>
      <Drawer
        open={open}
        onClose={() => setOpen(false)}
        returnFocusTo={() =>
          canReturnToTrigger ? (triggerRef.current ?? successorRef.current) : successorRef.current
        }
        title="Project details"
      >
        Review the latest deployment before you continue.
      </Drawer>
    </>
  );
}

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="lyraDrawer({
    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-drawer-overlay" x-bind="overlay" style="display: none">
    <div class="lyra-drawer" x-bind="panel">
      <div class="lyra-drawer__header">
        <h2 class="lyra-drawer__title" x-bind="title">Project details</h2>
        <button class="lyra-drawer__close" x-bind="close">×</button>
      </div>
      <div class="lyra-drawer__body">Review the latest deployment before you continue.</div>
      <div class="lyra-drawer__footer">
        <button class="lyra-btn lyra-btn--primary lyra-btn--md" type="button" x-bind="close">
          Close
        </button>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

<lyra:drawer title="Project settings" close-label="Close">
    Rename the project, change its visibility or archive it.
</lyra:drawer>