bevy-ui

Bevy 0.19 — UI

When to use this skill

• Spawn Node-based panels, buttons, labels, overlays, or menus.
• Handle Interaction::{None, Hovered, Pressed} and visual states.
• Style text after the 0.19 Parley migration.
• Manage pointer-acquired InputFocus or accessible names.
• Build static trees with children![] or dynamic trees with with_children.

Canonical pattern

use bevy::{
    input_focus::{FocusCause, InputFocus},
    prelude::*,
};

fn main() {
    App::new()
        .add_plugins(DefaultPlugins) // includes InputFocusPlugin in 0.19
        .add_systems(Startup, setup)
        .add_systems(Update, style_button)
        .run();
}

fn setup(mut commands: Commands, assets: Res<AssetServer>) {
    commands.spawn(Camera2d);
    commands.spawn((
        Node {
            width: percent(100),
            height: percent(100),
            align_items: AlignItems::Center,
            justify_content: JustifyContent::Center,
            ..default()
        },
        children![(
            Button,
            AccessibleLabel::new("Start game"),
            Node {
                width: px(180),
                height: px(64),
                border: UiRect::all(px(3)),
                border_radius: BorderRadius::MAX,
                align_items: AlignItems::Center,
                justify_content: JustifyContent::Center,
                ..default()
            },
            BackgroundColor(Color::srgb(0.12, 0.12, 0.15)),
            BorderColor::all(Color::WHITE),
            children![(
                Text::new("Start game"),
                TextFont {
                    font: assets.load("fonts/FiraSans-Bold.ttf").into(),
                    font_size: FontSize::Px(32.0),
                    ..default()
                },
                TextColor(Color::WHITE),
            )],
        )],
    ));
}

fn style_button(
    mut focus: ResMut<InputFocus>,
    mut buttons: Query<
        (Entity, &Interaction, &mut BackgroundColor),
        (Changed<Interaction>, With<Button>),
    >,
) {
    for (entity, interaction, mut background) in &mut buttons {
        *background = match interaction {
            Interaction::Pressed => {
                focus.set(entity, FocusCause::Pressed);
                BackgroundColor(Color::srgb(0.15, 0.55, 0.25))
            }
            Interaction::Hovered => BackgroundColor(Color::srgb(0.22, 0.22, 0.28)),
            Interaction::None => BackgroundColor(Color::srgb(0.12, 0.12, 0.15)),
        };
    }
}

Topics

Topic	Reference
Node, Val, flex/grid layout	Layout
FontSource, FontSize, TextLayout	Text
Button, Interaction, Changed	Interaction
Colors, borders, and radii	Colors and borders
Palette constants	Palettes
InputFocus, semantics, accessible labels	Accessibility
Static and dynamic children	Children
Cross-cutting traps	Gotchas

Gotchas

• A newly inserted component satisfies Changed<T>. The interaction system normally visits a new button on its first Update; use Ref<T>::is_added() when insertion and later mutation must be distinguished.
• Pointer hover and input focus are different. Do not move or clear keyboard / assistive-technology focus merely because the cursor entered or left.
• TextFont.font is FontSource; convert a Handle<Font> with .into(). font_size is FontSize, such as FontSize::Px(32.0).
• InputFocus fields are private. Use get, set(entity, FocusCause), and clear. DefaultPlugins initializes it.
• A visible text child gives a Button an inferred name, but use AccessibleLabel when the visual text is absent, decorative, or ambiguous.

See also

• bevy-a11y — full game accessibility implementation.
• bevy-fluent — localized UI text.
• bevy-cameras — UI cameras and render targets.
• bevy-ecs-queries — change detection.