tamagui-best-practices

Tamagui Best Practices

Tamagui v1.x patterns beyond fundamentals: Config v4, compiler optimization, compound components, and gotchas.

Reference Files — Read Before Writing Code

Context	File	What it covers
Dialog, Sheet, modal overlays	@DIALOG_PATTERNS.md	Adapt component, accessibility
Form, Input, Label, validation	@FORM_PATTERNS.md	zod integration
Animations, transitions	@ANIMATION_PATTERNS.md	drivers, enterStyle/exitStyle
Popover, Tooltip, Select	@OVERLAY_PATTERNS.md	overlay primitives
Compiler optimization	@COMPILER_PATTERNS.md	what the compiler can/cannot flatten
Design tokens, theming	@DESIGN_SYSTEM.md	palette, token structure

Config v4

Minimal setup with @tamagui/config/v4. Add styleCompat: 'react-native' for new projects to align flexBasis with React Native behavior:

import { defaultConfig } from '@tamagui/config/v4'
import { createTamagui } from 'tamagui'

export const config = createTamagui({
  ...defaultConfig,
  settings: { ...defaultConfig.settings, styleCompat: 'react-native' },
})

declare module 'tamagui' {
  interface TamaguiCustomConfig extends typeof config {}
}

For custom themes use createThemes with palette/accent/childrenThemes — see @DESIGN_SYSTEM.md.

Compiler Optimization Rules

• Use styled() variants instead of inline conditionals — dynamic values break flattening.
• Avoid style={{ ... }} with variables; use variant props instead.
• The context pattern (createStyledContext) disables compiler flattening — use for higher-level components (Button, Card), not primitives.

// BAD — breaks compiler
<View backgroundColor={isDark ? '$gray1' : '$gray12'} />

// GOOD — use variants
const Box = styled(View, {
  variants: {
    dark: { true: { backgroundColor: '$gray1' }, false: { backgroundColor: '$gray12' } },
  },
})

styled() vs Inline

• styled(): reusable components, variant-driven behavior, compiler-optimizable primitives.
• Inline props: one-off layout adjustments on already-styled components.
• Always use as const on variants objects (TypeScript limitation until inferred const generics).

Key Gotchas

Prop order determines override priority — props after a spread cannot be overridden by callers:

// width is locked; backgroundColor can be overridden
<View backgroundColor="$red10" {...props} width={200} />

Variant order matters — later props win:

<Component scale={3} huge />  // scale = 3 (scale listed first)
<Component huge scale={3} />  // scale = 2 (huge overrides, comes first in variants)

Use .styleable() when wrapping styled components — preserves variant inheritance:

const CorrectWrapper = StyledText.styleable((props, ref) => (
  <StyledText ref={ref} {...props} />
))

accept prop for non-standard token resolution (SVG fill/stroke, contentContainerStyle):

const StyledSVG = styled(SVG, {}, { accept: { fill: 'color', stroke: 'color' } as const })

Import consistency — tamagui, @tamagui/core, and @tamagui/button are different packages; pick one approach per project.

Never mix RN StyleSheet with Tamagui — StyleSheet values don't resolve tokens.

Platform branching for Dialog/Sheet — use Adapt instead of Platform.OS checks (see @DIALOG_PATTERNS.md).

Quick Reference

Config v4 shorthands: bg backgroundColor, p padding, m margin, w width, h height, br borderRadius

Media breakpoints: $xs 660px, $sm 800px, $md 1020px, $lg 1280px, $xl 1420px

Animation drivers: css (web, default), react-native-reanimated (native, required)

Token $ prefix: use in props (color="$color"), omit in theme definitions ({ color: palette[11] })

Fetching Current Docs

curl -sL "https://tamagui.dev/docs/core/configuration.md"
curl -sL "https://tamagui.dev/llms.txt"  # full index