Tamagui Skill

Universal React UI framework for web and native with an optimizing compiler.

Getting Project-Specific Config

Before writing Tamagui code, get the project’s actual configuration:

npx tamagui generate-prompt

This outputs tamagui-prompt.md with the project’s specific:

• Design tokens (space, size, radius, color, zIndex)
• Theme names and hierarchy
• Available components
• Media query breakpoints
• Shorthand properties
• Font families

Always reference this file for token/theme/media query names rather than guessing or using defaults.

Core Concepts

styled() Function

Create components by extending existing ones:

import { View, Text, styled } from '@tamagui/core'

const Card = styled(View, {
  padding: '$4',           // use tokens with $
  backgroundColor: '$background',
  borderRadius: '$4',

  variants: {
    size: {
      small: { padding: '$2' },
      large: { padding: '$6' },
    },
    elevated: {
      true: {
        shadowColor: '$shadowColor',
        shadowRadius: 10,
      },
    },
  } as const,  // required for type inference

  defaultVariants: {
    size: 'small',
  },
})

// usage
<Card size="large" elevated />

Key rules:

• Always use as const on variants objects
• Tokens use $ prefix: $4, $background, $color11
• Prop order matters – later props override earlier ones
• Variants defined later in the object override earlier ones

Stack Components

import { XStack, YStack, ZStack } from 'tamagui'

// XStack = flexDirection: 'row'
// YStack = flexDirection: 'column'
// ZStack = position: 'relative' with absolute children

<YStack gap="$4" padding="$4">
  <XStack justifyContent="space-between" alignItems="center">
    <Text>Label</Text>
    <Button>Action</Button>
  </XStack>
</YStack>

Themes

Themes nest and combine hierarchically:

import { Theme } from 'tamagui'

// base theme
<Theme name="dark">
  {/* sub-theme */}
  <Theme name="blue">
    {/* uses dark_blue theme */}
    <Button>Blue button on dark</Button>
  </Theme>
</Theme>

// access theme values
const theme = useTheme()
console.log(theme.background.val)  // actual color value
console.log(theme.color11.val)     // high contrast text

12-step color scale convention:

• $color1-4: backgrounds (subtle to emphasized)
• $color5-6: borders, separators
• $color7-8: hover/active states
• $color9-10: solid backgrounds
• $color11-12: text (low to high contrast)

Responsive Styles

Use media query props (check your tamagui-prompt.md for actual breakpoint names):

<YStack
  padding="$4"
  $gtSm={{ padding: '$6' }}   // check your config for actual names
  $gtMd={{ padding: '$8' }}
  flexDirection="column"
  $gtLg={{ flexDirection: 'row' }}
/>

// or with hook
const media = useMedia()
if (media.gtMd) {
  // render for medium+ screens
}

Animations

import { AnimatePresence } from 'tamagui'

<AnimatePresence>
  {show && (
    <YStack
      key="modal"  // key required for exit animations
      animation="quick"
      enterStyle={{ opacity: 0, y: -20 }}
      exitStyle={{ opacity: 0, y: 20 }}
      opacity={1}
      y={0}
    />
  )}
</AnimatePresence>

Animation drivers:

• @tamagui/animations-css – web only, CSS transitions
• @tamagui/animations-react-native – native Animated API
• @tamagui/animations-reanimated – best native performance
• @tamagui/animations-motion – spring physics

CSS driver uses easing strings, others support spring physics.

Compound Components

Use createStyledContext for components that share state:

import { createStyledContext, styled, View, Text } from '@tamagui/core'
import { withStaticProperties } from '@tamagui/helpers'

const CardContext = createStyledContext({ size: 'medium' as 'small' | 'medium' | 'large' })

const CardFrame = styled(View, {
  context: CardContext,
  padding: '$4',
  backgroundColor: '$background',

  variants: {
    size: {
      small: { padding: '$2' },
      medium: { padding: '$4' },
      large: { padding: '$6' },
    },
  } as const,
})

const CardTitle = styled(Text, {
  context: CardContext,  // inherits size from parent
  fontWeight: 'bold',

  variants: {
    size: {
      small: { fontSize: '$4' },
      medium: { fontSize: '$5' },
      large: { fontSize: '$6' },
    },
  } as const,
})

export const Card = withStaticProperties(CardFrame, {
  Title: CardTitle,
})

// usage - size cascades to children
<Card size="large">
  <Card.Title>Large Title</Card.Title>
</Card>

Common Patterns

Dialog with Adapt (Sheet on Mobile)

import { Dialog, Sheet, Adapt, Button } from 'tamagui'

<Dialog>
  <Dialog.Trigger asChild>
    <Button>Open</Button>
  </Dialog.Trigger>

  <Adapt when="sm" platform="touch">
    <Sheet modal dismissOnSnapToBottom>
      <Sheet.Frame padding="$4">
        <Adapt.Contents />
      </Sheet.Frame>
      <Sheet.Overlay />
    </Sheet>
  </Adapt>

  <Dialog.Portal>
    <Dialog.Overlay
      key="overlay"
      animation="quick"
      opacity={0.5}
      enterStyle={{ opacity: 0 }}
      exitStyle={{ opacity: 0 }}
    />
    <Dialog.Content
      key="content"
      animation="quick"
      enterStyle={{ opacity: 0, scale: 0.95 }}
      exitStyle={{ opacity: 0, scale: 0.95 }}
    >
      <Dialog.Title>Title</Dialog.Title>
      <Dialog.Description>Description</Dialog.Description>
      <Dialog.Close asChild>
        <Button>Close</Button>
      </Dialog.Close>
    </Dialog.Content>
  </Dialog.Portal>
</Dialog>

Form with Input/Label

import { Input, Label, YStack, XStack, Button } from 'tamagui'

<YStack gap="$4" padding="$4">
  <YStack gap="$2">
    <Label htmlFor="email">Email</Label>
    <Input
      id="email"
      placeholder="email@example.com"
      autoCapitalize="none"
      keyboardType="email-address"
    />
  </YStack>

  <XStack gap="$2" justifyContent="flex-end">
    <Button variant="outlined">Cancel</Button>
    <Button theme="blue">Submit</Button>
  </XStack>
</YStack>

Anti-Patterns

❌ Hardcoded values instead of tokens

// bad
<View padding={16} backgroundColor="#fff" />

// good - uses design tokens
<View padding="$4" backgroundColor="$background" />

❌ Missing as const on variants

// bad - TypeScript can't infer variant types
variants: {
  size: { small: {...}, large: {...} }
}

// good
variants: {
  size: { small: {...}, large: {...} }
} as const

❌ Platform detection in styled()

// bad - won't be extracted by compiler
const Box = styled(View, {
  padding: Platform.OS === 'web' ? 10 : 20,
})

// good - use platform modifiers
const Box = styled(View, {
  padding: 20,
  '$platform-web': { padding: 10 },
})

❌ exitStyle without AnimatePresence

// bad - exit animation won't work
{show && <View exitStyle={{ opacity: 0 }} />}

// good
<AnimatePresence>
  {show && <View key="box" exitStyle={{ opacity: 0 }} />}
</AnimatePresence>

❌ Dynamic values that prevent extraction

// bad - runtime variable prevents compiler extraction
const dynamicPadding = isPremium ? '$6' : '$4'
<View padding={dynamicPadding} />

// good - inline ternary is extractable
<View padding={isPremium ? '$6' : '$4'} />

❌ Wrong media query order

// bad - base value overrides responsive
<View $gtMd={{ padding: '$8' }} padding="$4" />

// good - base first, then responsive overrides
<View padding="$4" $gtMd={{ padding: '$8' }} />

❌ Spring animations with CSS driver

// bad - CSS driver doesn't support spring physics
import { createAnimations } from '@tamagui/animations-css'
const anims = createAnimations({
  bouncy: { type: 'spring', damping: 10 }  // won't work
})

// good for CSS driver - use easing strings
const anims = createAnimations({
  bouncy: 'cubic-bezier(0.68, -0.55, 0.265, 1.55) 300ms'
})

Compiler Optimization

The Tamagui compiler extracts static styles to CSS at build time. For styles to be extracted:

1. Use tokens – $4 extracts, 16 may not
2. Inline ternaries – padding={x ? '$4' : '$2'} extracts
3. Avoid runtime variables – computed values don’t extract
4. Use variants – better than conditional props

Check if extraction is working:

• Look for data-tamagui attributes in dev mode
• Bundle size should be smaller with compiler enabled
• Styles should appear as CSS classes, not inline

TypeScript

import { GetProps, styled, View } from '@tamagui/core'

const MyComponent = styled(View, {
  variants: {
    size: { small: {}, large: {} }
  } as const,
})

// extract props type
type MyComponentProps = GetProps<typeof MyComponent>

// extend with custom props
interface ExtendedProps extends MyComponentProps {
  onCustomEvent?: () => void
}

Quick Reference

Resources

• Docs: https://tamagui.dev
• GitHub: https://github.com/tamagui/tamagui
• Discord: https://discord.gg/tamagui