Inertia Modal Development

Inertia Modal Development

Overview

Use inertiaui/modal to open any Laravel route in a Modal or Slideover without modifying existing routes or controllers. Works with both React and Vue, supports nested modals, prefetching, local modals, headless mode, and TypeScript.

When to Activate

• Activate when working with modals or slideovers in a Laravel + Inertia.js application.
• Activate when code references ModalLink, Modal, HeadlessModal, ModalRoot, useModal, useModalStack, visitModal, or Inertia::modal().
• Activate when the user wants to open a route in a modal, configure modal behavior, use prefetching, set up nested modals, or communicate between modals.
• Activate when imports reference @inertiaui/modal-vue or @inertiaui/modal-react.

Scope

• In scope: modal routes, ModalLink, Modal component, configuration, prefetching, local modals, nested modals, event bus, reload props, deferred props, headless mode, base route/URL, styling.
• Out of scope: general Inertia.js routing without modals, non-Laravel backends.

Workflow

1. Identify the task (opening a modal, configuring behavior, setting up communication, etc.).
2. Read references/inertia-modal-guide.md and focus on the relevant section.
3. Apply the patterns from the reference, using the correct framework (React or Vue).

Core Concepts

Backend: Opening a Route as a Modal

Use Inertia::modal() instead of Inertia::render() in your controller:

return Inertia::modal('EditUser', [
    'user' => $user,
    'roles' => Role::pluck('name', 'id'),
]);

With a base route (enables URL changes and browser history):

return Inertia::modal('EditUser', ['user' => $user])
    ->baseRoute('users.index');

Frontend: App Setup

Use renderApp in your app.js/app.jsx:

// Vue
import { renderApp } from '@inertiaui/modal-vue'
createInertiaApp({
    setup({ el, App, props, plugin }) {
        createApp({ render: renderApp(App, props) })
            .use(plugin)
            .mount(el)
    }
})

// React
import { renderApp } from '@inertiaui/modal-react'
createInertiaApp({
    setup({ el, App, props }) {
        const root = createRoot(el);
        root.render(renderApp(App, props));
    }
});

Frontend: ModalLink Component

<!-- Vue -->
<ModalLink href="/users/create">Create User</ModalLink>

// React
<ModalLink href="/users/create">Create User</ModalLink>

Frontend: Modal Component

<!-- Vue -->
<Modal>
    <h1>Create User</h1>
    <form><!-- ... --></form>
</Modal>

// React
<Modal>
    <h1>Create User</h1>
    <form>{/* ... */}</form>
</Modal>

Programmatic Usage

// Vue
import { visitModal } from '@inertiaui/modal-vue'
visitModal('/users/create')

// React
const { visitModal } = useModalStack()
visitModal('/users/create')

Configuration

import { putConfig } from '@inertiaui/modal-vue' // or modal-react

putConfig({
    type: 'modal',
    navigate: false,
    useNativeDialog: true,
    appElement: '#app',
    modal: {
        closeButton: true,
        closeExplicitly: false,
        closeOnClickOutside: true,
        maxWidth: '2xl',
        paddingClasses: 'p-4 sm:p-6',
        panelClasses: 'bg-white rounded',
        position: 'center',
    },
    slideover: {
        closeButton: true,
        closeExplicitly: false,
        closeOnClickOutside: true,
        maxWidth: 'md',
        paddingClasses: 'p-4 sm:p-6',
        panelClasses: 'bg-white min-h-screen',
        position: 'right',
    },
})

Do and Don't

Do:

• Always use Inertia::modal() (not Inertia::render()) when opening routes as modals.
• Always call renderApp or set up ModalRoot/ModalStackProvider in your app entry point.
• Use the navigate prop on ModalLink (or global config) when you want URL changes and browser history.
• Use closeOnClickOutside to disable only backdrop clicks; use closeExplicitly to disable both backdrop clicks and Esc key.
• Use Axios for form submissions in nested modals to avoid closing the entire stack.
• Import Deferred and WhenVisible from the modal package (not Inertia) when used inside modals.

Don't:

• Don't forget to set up the renderApp helper or ModalRoot component — modals won't work without it.
• Don't use Inertia::render() for modal routes — use Inertia::modal().
• Don't use router.post() (Inertia router) in nested modals — it navigates to the base route and closes all modals. Use Axios instead.
• Don't import Deferred or WhenVisible from @inertiajs/vue3 or @inertiajs/react when inside a modal — use the modal package's versions.
• Don't reference conversion names in closeOnClickOutside and closeExplicitly together — closeExplicitly supersedes closeOnClickOutside.

References

• references/inertia-modal-guide.md