Tanstack Ranger

Overview

TanStack Ranger provides headless utilities for building fully accessible range and multi-range slider components. It handles all the complex logic for single value, range, and multi-thumb sliders while giving you complete control over styling and markup.

Package: @tanstack/react-ranger Core: @tanstack/ranger-core (framework-agnostic) Status: Stable

Installation

npm install @tanstack/react-ranger

Core Pattern

import { useRanger } from '@tanstack/react-ranger'

function RangeSlider() {
  const [values, setValues] = useState([25, 75])

  const rangerInstance = useRanger({
    getRangerElement: () => rangerRef.current,
    values,
    min: 0,
    max: 100,
    stepSize: 1,
    onChange: (instance) => setValues(instance.sortedValues),
  })

  const rangerRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)

  return (
    <div
      ref={rangerRef}
      style={{
        position: 'relative',
        height: '8px',
        background: '#ddd',
        borderRadius: '4px',
        width: '100%',
      }}
    >
      {/* Track segments */}
      {rangerInstance.getSteps().map(({ left, width }, i) => (
        <div
          key={i}
          style={{
            position: 'absolute',
            left: `${left}%`,
            width: `${width}%`,
            height: '100%',
            background: i === 1 ? '#3b82f6' : '#ddd',
            borderRadius: '4px',
          }}
        />
      ))}

      {/* Thumbs */}
      {rangerInstance.handles.map((handle, i) => (
        <button
          key={i}
          {...handle.getHandleProps()}
          style={{
            position: 'absolute',
            left: `${handle.getPercentage()}%`,
            transform: 'translateX(-50%)',
            width: '20px',
            height: '20px',
            borderRadius: '50%',
            background: '#3b82f6',
            border: '2px solid white',
            cursor: 'grab',
          }}
        />
      ))}
    </div>
  )
}

Ranger Options

Required

Optional

Ranger Instance API

// Get sorted values (always ascending order)
rangerInstance.sortedValues: number[]

// Get handles for rendering thumbs
rangerInstance.handles: Handle[]

// Get track segments between handles
rangerInstance.getSteps(): { left: number; width: number }[]

// Get tick marks
rangerInstance.getTicks(): { value: number; percentage: number }[]

// Programmatically set values
rangerInstance.setValues(newValues: number[])

Handle API

interface Handle {
  // Get percentage position on track (0-100)
  getPercentage(): number

  // Get the current value
  getValue(): number

  // Get props to spread on handle element
  getHandleProps(): {
    role: 'slider'
    tabIndex: number
    'aria-valuemin': number
    'aria-valuemax': number
    'aria-valuenow': number
    onKeyDown: (e: KeyboardEvent) => void
    onMouseDown: (e: MouseEvent) => void
    onTouchStart: (e: TouchEvent) => void
  }
}

Single Value Slider

function SingleSlider() {
  const [values, setValues] = useState([50])

  const rangerInstance = useRanger({
    getRangerElement: () => rangerRef.current,
    values,
    min: 0,
    max: 100,
    stepSize: 1,
    onChange: (instance) => setValues(instance.sortedValues),
  })

  const rangerRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)

  return (
    <div ref={rangerRef} className="slider-track">
      {rangerInstance.handles.map((handle, i) => (
        <button key={i} {...handle.getHandleProps()} className="slider-thumb">
          {handle.getValue()}
        </button>
      ))}
    </div>
  )
}

Multi-Range Slider

function MultiRangeSlider() {
  const [values, setValues] = useState([10, 40, 60, 90])

  const rangerInstance = useRanger({
    getRangerElement: () => rangerRef.current,
    values,
    min: 0,
    max: 100,
    stepSize: 5,
    onChange: (instance) => setValues(instance.sortedValues),
  })

  const rangerRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)

  return (
    <div ref={rangerRef} className="slider-track">
      {rangerInstance.getSteps().map(({ left, width }, i) => (
        <div
          key={i}
          className={`segment ${i % 2 === 1 ? 'active' : ''}`}
          style={{ left: `${left}%`, width: `${width}%` }}
        />
      ))}
      {rangerInstance.handles.map((handle, i) => (
        <button key={i} {...handle.getHandleProps()} className="slider-thumb" />
      ))}
    </div>
  )
}

Custom Steps

const rangerInstance = useRanger({
  getRangerElement: () => rangerRef.current,
  values,
  min: 0,
  max: 100,
  steps: [0, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100], // Only these values allowed
  onChange: (instance) => setValues(instance.sortedValues),
})

Tick Marks

function SliderWithTicks() {
  const rangerInstance = useRanger({
    getRangerElement: () => rangerRef.current,
    values,
    min: 0,
    max: 100,
    stepSize: 10,
    ticks: [0, 25, 50, 75, 100],
    onChange: (instance) => setValues(instance.sortedValues),
  })

  return (
    <div>
      <div ref={rangerRef} className="slider-track">
        {/* Handles */}
      </div>
      <div className="tick-container">
        {rangerInstance.getTicks().map((tick, i) => (
          <div
            key={i}
            style={{ left: `${tick.percentage}%` }}
            className="tick"
          >
            <span className="tick-label">{tick.value}</span>
          </div>
        ))}
      </div>
    </div>
  )
}

Logarithmic Scale

import { logarithmicInterpolator } from '@tanstack/react-ranger'

const rangerInstance = useRanger({
  getRangerElement: () => rangerRef.current,
  values,
  min: 1,
  max: 1000,
  interpolator: logarithmicInterpolator,
  onChange: (instance) => setValues(instance.sortedValues),
})

Accessibility

TanStack Ranger provides built-in accessibility:

• role="slider" on handles
• aria-valuemin, aria-valuemax, aria-valuenow attributes
• Keyboard navigation (Arrow keys, Home, End, Page Up/Down)
• Focus management

// Add aria-label for screen readers
<button
  {...handle.getHandleProps()}
  aria-label={`Value: ${handle.getValue()}`}
/>

Controlled vs Uncontrolled

// Controlled (recommended)
const [values, setValues] = useState([50])
const ranger = useRanger({
  values,
  onChange: (instance) => setValues(instance.sortedValues),
  // ...
})

// With validation
const handleChange = (instance) => {
  const [min, max] = instance.sortedValues
  // Ensure minimum gap of 10
  if (max - min >= 10) {
    setValues(instance.sortedValues)
  }
}

Styling Tips

/* Track */
.slider-track {
  position: relative;
  height: 8px;
  background: #e5e7eb;
  border-radius: 4px;
  width: 100%;
}

/* Active segment */
.segment.active {
  background: #3b82f6;
}

/* Thumb */
.slider-thumb {
  position: absolute;
  transform: translateX(-50%);
  width: 20px;
  height: 20px;
  border-radius: 50%;
  background: #3b82f6;
  border: 2px solid white;
  box-shadow: 0 2px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
  cursor: grab;
}

.slider-thumb:active {
  cursor: grabbing;
}

.slider-thumb:focus {
  outline: none;
  box-shadow: 0 0 0 3px rgba(59, 130, 246, 0.3);
}

Framework Adapters

Best Practices

1. Always use sortedValues from onChange - handles may cross during drag
2. Memoize getRangerElement callback to prevent unnecessary re-renders
3. Use semantic HTML - render handles as <button> elements for accessibility
4. Add aria-label to describe each handle's purpose
5. Use CSS transforms (translateX) for positioning instead of left for better performance
6. Validate in onChange to enforce constraints (min gap, max range, etc.)
7. Use onDrag for real-time feedback during drag operations
8. Consider touch targets - make handles at least 44x44px on mobile

Common Pitfalls

• Forgetting position: relative on the track container
• Using values instead of sortedValues (handles can swap positions)
• Not providing getRangerElement as a callback
• Setting thumb position with left instead of transform: translateX()
• Forgetting to handle keyboard navigation (built-in via getHandleProps)
• Not accounting for thumb width when calculating positions