Command Menu
⌘K palette with fuzzy filtering, grouped results, a gliding highlight and full keyboard control.
- Category: Overlays
- Licence: Charcoal UI Pro
- Built with: React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, Motion
- Dependencies: motion, clsx, tailwind-merge
Examples
Command Menu
API reference
| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
open | boolean | — | |
onOpenChange | (open: boolean) => void | — | |
items | { id: string; label: string; group?: string; icon?: ReactNode; shortcut?: string; keywords?: string[]; onSelect: () => void }[] | — | |
placeholder | string | "Type a command or search…" |
About Command Menu
Command Menu is the ⌘K palette: fuzzy filtering, grouped results, a gliding highlight and full keyboard control. It makes every action in an app one keystroke away.
Command Menu is an overlay component for React 19, styled with Tailwind CSS 4 and animated with Motion. It drops into Next.js, Vite, Remix or Astro through the shadcn CLI as a single file you own.
When to use Command Menu
- App-wide search and actions.
- Docs search.
- Developer tools.
- Power-user shortcuts.
How it works
Results are scored with a fuzzy matcher and grouped. It follows the combobox pattern with aria-activedescendant, and ⌘K or Ctrl+K opens it globally.
It traps and returns focus correctly, closes on Escape, and is announced to screen readers with the right dialog or menu role. With prefers-reduced-motion on, it holds still or settles instantly instead of animating.
Customizing Command Menu
Every prop is documented in the API reference above with its type and default. The ones you will reach for first are listed here.
The Customize panel next to the preview lets you change placeholder live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.
- open (boolean).
- items.
- placeholder (string, default "Type a command or search…").
Goes well with Command Menu
Command Menu is already composed into a ready-made section, so you can see it in context or install the whole block.
- Navbar Announcement: Navbar section
- Hover Card: An animated React hover card that previews links on hover or focus
- Morph Dialog: A React card that morphs into a dialog: artwork and title flow between them
- Notification Stack: iOS-style grouped React notifications that fan out and swipe away
- Dynamic Island: A React Dynamic Island: a pill that morphs size and content between states
- Staggered Menu: A full-screen React menu that arrives in coloured layers with staggered links
Install Command Menu
npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/command-menuCommand Menu is part of Charcoal UI Pro. One seat unlocks all 300 Pro components, 107 landing-page sections and 100 full templates, for every personal and client project, with updates included. Add the @charcoal registry once with your access token, then the command above copies command-menu.tsx into components/ui and installs clsx, tailwind-merge.
You own the file you install: no runtime package, no lock-in, nothing to keep in sync. Change it however your product needs.
See Charcoal UI Pro pricing · Pro setup
Frequently asked questions
- What keyboard shortcut opens the command menu?
- Command or Ctrl plus K opens it from anywhere. Arrow keys move through results, Enter runs the highlighted one and Escape closes it.
- How do I install Command Menu?
- Command Menu is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/command-menu. It copies command-menu.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
- Is Command Menu free for commercial use?
- Command Menu needs a Charcoal UI Pro seat, monthly or a one-time lifetime price. A seat covers unlimited personal and commercial projects, including client work, and every future Pro component.
- Does Command Menu work with Next.js?
- Yes. It is a client component for React 19 styled with Tailwind CSS 4, so it works in the Next.js App Router and Pages Router, Vite, Remix and Astro.
- Can an AI coding agent install Command Menu?
- Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Command Menu's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.