Flex

Overview

Flex is the workhorse layout primitive: a div with display: flex and props for direction, align, justify, wrap, and gap, so you rarely write flexbox CSS by hand. By default it lays children out in a row (direction="row", align="stretch", justify="start", wrap="noWrap"). Reach for it whenever you're stacking or spacing things along one axis — toolbars, form rows, sidebars. For two-dimensional layouts use Grid, and for a page-width wrapper use Container.

Anatomy

Import and assemble the component:

1import { Flex } from "@raystack/apsara";
2
3<Flex />

Usage

Flex maps the flexbox properties onto props. Set the direction first: the alignment props read against whichever axis it picks.

Nesting

Nest Flex containers to compose a layout: here an outer row — the default direction — holds two columns, each spaced with gap.

1<Flex gap={9}>
2  <Flex gap={5} direction="column">
3    <Button>Primary button</Button>
4    <Button>Primary button</Button>
5    <Button>Primary button</Button>
6  </Flex>
7  <Flex gap={5} direction="column">
8    <Button>Primary button</Button>
9    <Button>Primary button</Button>
10    <Button>Primary button</Button>
11  </Flex>
12</Flex>

Direction

row is the default. column stacks children instead. The reverse variants flip the visual order without touching the DOM order, so keyboard and screen-reader order stay put.

1<Flex direction="column" gap={5}>
2  <Flex direction="row" gap={3}>
3    <Button size="small" variant="outline">
4      row
5    </Button>
6    <Button size="small" variant="outline">
7      is the
8    </Button>
9    <Button size="small" variant="outline">
10      default
11    </Button>
12  </Flex>
13  <Flex direction="column" gap={3} style={{ width: "fit-content" }}>
14    <Button size="small" variant="outline">
15      column

Justify

justify distributes children along the main axis. between pushes the first and last to the edges, which is the usual way to build a toolbar with actions on both sides.

1<Flex direction="column" gap={4} style={{ width: "100%" }}>
2  {["start", "center", "end", "between"].map((j) => (
3    <Flex
4      key={j}
5      justify={j}
6      gap={3}
7      style={{
8        width: "100%",
9        padding: 8,
10        border: "1px dashed var(--rs-color-border-base-primary)",
11        borderRadius: 4,
12      }}
13    >
14      <Badge>{j}</Badge>
15      <Badge>b</Badge>

Align

align positions children on the cross axis. center is what pulls a row of mixed heights — an icon, a label, a button — onto one optical line. baseline aligns their text instead.

1<Flex
2  gap={4}
3  align="center"
4  style={{
5    height: 90,
6    padding: 8,
7    border: "1px dashed var(--rs-color-border-base-primary)",
8    borderRadius: 4,
9  }}
10>
11  <Badge>align</Badge>
12  <Text size="large">center</Text>
13  <Button size="small">pulls a mixed-height row onto one line</Button>
14</Flex>

Wrap

nowrap is the default, so children shrink rather than move to a new line. Set wrap when the item count is unbounded, like a row of tags.

1<Flex wrap="wrap" gap={3} style={{ maxWidth: 300 }}>
2  {["alpha", "bravo", "charlie", "delta", "echo", "foxtrot"].map((t) => (
3    <Badge key={t}>{t}</Badge>
4  ))}
5</Flex>

API Reference

Renders a flex container for layout.

Slots

Every rendered part carries a stable data-slot attribute for styling and testing:

Accessibility

• Renders a plain <div> and adds no roles or ARIA attributes — purely visual layout with no semantic meaning.
• Screen readers read children in DOM order, so rowReverse and columnReverse change only the visual order. Don't rely on them to convey sequence.
• Use the render prop to swap in a semantic element (<nav>, <ul>, <section>) when the group has meaning beyond layout.