Tanstack Router Core Navigation

Navigation

Setup

Basic type-safe Link with to and params:

import { Link } from '@tanstack/react-router'

function PostLink({ postId }: { postId: string }) {
  return (
    <Link to="/posts/$postId" params={{ postId }}>
      View Post
    </Link>
  )
}

Core Patterns

Link with Active States

import { Link } from '@tanstack/react-router'

function NavLink() {
  return (
    <Link
      to="/posts"
      activeProps={{ className: 'font-bold' }}
      inactiveProps={{ className: 'text-gray-500' }}
      activeOptions={{ exact: true }}
    >
      Posts
    </Link>
  )
}

The data-status attribute is also set to "active" on active links for CSS-based styling.

activeOptions controls matching behavior:

• exact (default false) — when true, only matches the exact path (not children)
• includeHash (default false) — include hash in active matching
• includeSearch (default true) — include search params in active matching

Children can receive isActive as a render function:

<Link to="/posts">
  {({ isActive }) => <span className={isActive ? 'font-bold' : ''}>Posts</span>}
</Link>

Relative Navigation with from

Without from, navigation resolves from root /. To use relative paths like .., provide from:

import { createFileRoute, Link } from '@tanstack/react-router'

export const Route = createFileRoute('/posts/$postId')({
  component: PostComponent,
})

function PostComponent() {
  return (
    <div>
      {/* Relative to current route */}
      <Link from={Route.fullPath} to="..">
        Back to Posts
      </Link>

      {/* "." reloads the current route */}
      <Link from={Route.fullPath} to=".">
        Reload
      </Link>
    </div>
  )
}

useNavigate for Programmatic Navigation

Use useNavigate only for side-effect-driven navigation (e.g., after a form submission). For anything the user clicks, prefer Link.

import { useNavigate } from '@tanstack/react-router'

function CreatePostForm() {
  const navigate = useNavigate({ from: '/posts' })

  const handleSubmit = async (e: React.FormEvent) => {
    e.preventDefault()
    const response = await fetch('/api/posts', { method: 'POST', body: '...' })
    const { id: postId } = await response.json()

    if (response.ok) {
      navigate({ to: '/posts/$postId', params: { postId } })
    }
  }

  return <form ... */}</form>
}

The Navigate component performs an immediate client-side navigation on mount:

import { Navigate } from '@tanstack/react-router'

function LegacyRedirect() {
  return <Navigate to="/posts/$postId" params={{ postId: 'my-first-post' }} />
}

router.navigate is available anywhere you have the router instance, including outside of React.

Preloading

Strategies: intent (hover/touchstart), viewport (intersection observer), render (on mount).

Set globally:

import { createRouter } from '@tanstack/react-router'

const router = createRouter({
  routeTree,
  defaultPreload: 'intent',
  defaultPreloadDelay: 50, // ms, default is 50
})

Or per-link:

<Link
  to="/posts/$postId"
  params={{ postId }}
  preload="intent"
  preloadDelay={100}
>
  View Post
</Link>

Preloaded data stays fresh for 30 seconds by default (defaultPreloadStaleTime: 30_000). During that window it won't be refetched. When using an external cache like TanStack Query, set defaultPreloadStaleTime: 0 to let the external library control freshness.

Manual preloading via the router instance:

import { useRouter } from '@tanstack/react-router'

function Component() {
  const router = useRouter()

  useEffect(() => {
    router.preloadRoute({ to: '/posts/$postId', params: { postId: '1' } })
  }, [router])

  return <div />
}

Navigation Blocking

Use useBlocker to prevent navigation when a form has unsaved changes:

import { useBlocker } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { useState } from 'react'

function EditForm() {
  const [formIsDirty, setFormIsDirty] = useState(false)

  useBlocker({
    shouldBlockFn: () => {
      if (!formIsDirty) return false
      const shouldLeave = confirm('Are you sure you want to leave?')
      return !shouldLeave
    },
  })

  return <form>{/* ... */}</form>
}

With custom UI using withResolver:

import { useBlocker } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { useState } from 'react'

function EditForm() {
  const [formIsDirty, setFormIsDirty] = useState(false)

  const { proceed, reset, status } = useBlocker({
    shouldBlockFn: () => formIsDirty,
    withResolver: true,
  })

  return (
    <>
      <form>{/* ... */}</form>
      {status === 'blocked' && (
        <div>
          <p>Are you sure you want to leave?</p>
          <button
          <button
        </div>
      )}
    </>
  )
}

Control beforeunload separately:

useBlocker({
  shouldBlockFn: () => formIsDirty,
  enableBeforeUnload: formIsDirty,
})

linkOptions for Reusable Navigation Options

linkOptions provides eager type-checking on navigation options objects, so errors surface at definition, not at spread-site:

import {
  linkOptions,
  Link,
  useNavigate,
  redirect,
} from '@tanstack/react-router'

const dashboardLinkOptions = linkOptions({
  to: '/dashboard',
  search: { search: '' },
})

// Use anywhere: Link, navigate, redirect
function Nav() {
  const navigate = useNavigate()

  return (
    <div>
      <Link {...dashboardLinkOptions}>Dashboard</Link>
      <button => navigate(dashboardLinkOptions)}>Go</button>
    </div>
  )
}

// Also works in an array for navigation bars
const navOptions = linkOptions([
  { to: '/dashboard', label: 'Summary', activeOptions: { exact: true } },
  { to: '/dashboard/invoices', label: 'Invoices' },
  { to: '/dashboard/users', label: 'Users' },
])

function NavBar() {
  return (
    <nav>
      {navOptions.map((option) => (
        <Link
          {...option}
          key={option.to}
          activeProps={{ className: 'font-bold' }}
        >
          {option.label}
        </Link>
      ))}
    </nav>
  )
}

createLink for Custom Components

Wraps any component with TanStack Router's type-safe navigation:

import * as React from 'react'
import { createLink, LinkComponent } from '@tanstack/react-router'

interface BasicLinkProps extends React.AnchorHTMLAttributes<HTMLAnchorElement> {}

const BasicLinkComponent = React.forwardRef<HTMLAnchorElement, BasicLinkProps>(
  (props, ref) => {
    return <a ref={ref} {...props} className="block px-3 py-2 text-blue-700" />
  },
)

const CreatedLinkComponent = createLink(BasicLinkComponent)

export const CustomLink: LinkComponent<typeof BasicLinkComponent> = (props) => {
  return <CreatedLinkComponent preload="intent" {...props} />
}

Usage retains full type safety:

<CustomLink to="/dashboard/invoices/$invoiceId" params={{ invoiceId: 0 }} />

Scroll Restoration

Enable globally on the router:

const router = createRouter({
  routeTree,
  scrollRestoration: true,
})

For nested scrollable areas:

const router = createRouter({
  routeTree,
  scrollRestoration: true,
  scrollToTopSelectors: ['#main-scrollable-area'],
})

Custom cache keys:

const router = createRouter({
  routeTree,
  scrollRestoration: true,
  getScrollRestorationKey: (location) => location.pathname,
})

Prevent scroll reset for a specific navigation:

<Link to="/posts" resetScroll={false}>
  Posts
</Link>

MatchRoute for Pending UI

import { Link, MatchRoute } from '@tanstack/react-router'

function Nav() {
  return (
    <Link to="/users">
      Users
      <MatchRoute to="/users" pending>
        <Spinner />
      </MatchRoute>
    </Link>
  )
}

Common Mistakes

CRITICAL: Interpolating params into the to string

// WRONG — breaks type safety and param encoding
<Link to={`/posts/${postId}`}>Post</Link>

// CORRECT — use the params option
<Link to="/posts/$postId" params={{ postId }}>Post</Link>

Dynamic segments are declared with $ in the route path. Always pass them via params. This applies to Link, useNavigate, Navigate, and router.navigate.

MEDIUM: Using useNavigate for clickable elements

// WRONG — no href, no cmd+click, no preloading, no accessibility
function BadNav() {
  const navigate = useNavigate()
  return <button => navigate({ to: '/posts' })}>Posts</button>
}

// CORRECT — real <a> tag with href, accessible, preloadable
function GoodNav() {
  return <Link to="/posts">Posts</Link>
}

Use useNavigate only for programmatic side-effect navigation (after form submit, async action, etc).

HIGH: Not providing from for relative navigation

// WRONG — without from, ".." resolves from root
<Link to="..">Back</Link>

// CORRECT — provide from for relative resolution
<Link from={Route.fullPath} to="..">Back</Link>

Without from, only absolute paths are autocompleted and type-safe. Relative paths like .. resolve from root instead of the current route.

HIGH: Using search as object instead of function loses existing params

// WRONG — replaces ALL search params with just { page: 2 }
<Link to="." search={{ page: 2 }}>Page 2</Link>

// CORRECT — preserves existing search params, updates page
<Link to="." search={(prev) => ({ ...prev, page: 2 })}>Page 2</Link>

When you pass search as a plain object, it replaces all search params. Use the function form to spread previous params and selectively update.

Cross-References

• See also: ../tanstack-router-core-search-params/SKILL.md — Link search prop interacts with search param validation
• See also: ../tanstack-router-core-type-safety/SKILL.md — from narrowing improves type inference on Link