mantine-combobox
Build custom dropdown/select/autocomplete/multiselect components using Mantine's Combobox primitives. Use this skill when: (1) creating a new custom select-like component with Combobox primitives, (2) building a searchable dropdown, (3) implementing a multi-select or tags input variant, (4) customiz
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npx skills add mantinedev/skills --skill mantine-combobox
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Mantine Combobox Skill
Written for Mantine 9.x.
Overview
Combobox provides low level primitives for building any select like UI. The built in
Select , MultiSelect , Autocomplete , and TagsInput components are all built on top of it.
Check for a ready made component first
Build with Combobox primitives only when none of these fit:
Need Use
Standard select, multi select, autocomplete or tags input Select , MultiSelect , Autocomplete , TagsInput (all support renderOption )
Options dropdown attached to a button or any other element, no input ComboboxPopover (data driven: data , value , onChange , searchable , multiple )
Hierarchical options TreeSelect (see below)
More than a few hundred options Combobox with useVirtualizedCombobox , see the virtualized pattern
ComboboxPopover opens on target click by itself, marks the selected option with a check icon and
handles keyboard navigation. Useful props: searchable , multiple (value becomes string[] , the
dropdown stays open while picking), allowDeselect={false} (one option is always selected),
nothingFoundMessage , renderOption , limit , maxDropdownHeight , name (hidden input for forms),
comboboxProps={{ width: 220, position: 'bottom start' }} . data supports disabled items and groups
like Select : [{ group: 'Size', items: [{ value: 'xs', label: 'XS' }] }] . It cannot render custom dropdown content (tabs, header, footer, create actions): use
Combobox primitives for that.
TreeSelect takes nested data ( { value, label, children? }[] , unique values) and renders an
input with an expandable tree in the dropdown. Props include mode (single, multiple, or checkbox
with parent child cascade), searchable , clearable , renderNode . Build the tree from Combobox
primitives instead when you need a different layout: only leaves selectable, a flat list of search
results with full paths, or a button trigger. In that case render every visible row as a
Combobox.Option and decide in onOptionSubmit whether the row selects or expands.
Core Workflow
1. Create the store
2. Render structure
3. Handle submit
Target Types
Scenario Use
Button trigger (no text input) <Combobox.Target targetType="button"
Input trigger <Combobox.Target (default)
Pills + separate input (multi select) <Combobox.DropdownTarget + <Combobox.EventsTarget
What Combobox does for you
The target handles keyboard: ArrowUp/ArrowDown move the highlight and skip disabled options (and
open the dropdown when it is closed), Enter submits the highlighted option, Escape closes the
dropdown. With targetType="button" , Space and Enter also open it. Tab is not handled.
Enter does nothing when no option is highlighted, so a free text input can handle it itself.
Nothing is highlighted until the user presses an arrow key, unless you call selectFirstOption()
or selectActiveOption() .
Clicking an option does not move focus away from the input, and a disabled option never calls
onOptionSubmit .
Combobox.Option forwards data attributes and event handlers to its element.
Combobox.Search handles the same keys as the target. Your own onKeyDown on the target child or
on Combobox.Search is called first, then the built in handling runs, so extra keys (PageUp,
ArrowRight) can be added there. To take the keyboard over completely (a textarea, where arrows
must move the caret), set withKeyboardNavigation={false} on Combobox.Target and call
selectNextOption , selectPreviousOption and clickSelectedOption yourself.
Defaults: the dropdown is as wide as the target ( width="target" ), rendered in a portal, kept
mounted while closed, opens without animation, and hovering an option does not change the
keyboard highlight.
The dropdown renders in a portal above modals and drawers and is not clipped by them. Inside a
Modal , Escape closes only the dropdown; a second Escape closes the modal. No extra code is needed.
An option does not have to select a value: onOptionSubmit can toggle, expand a row or run an
action, and decides itself whether to close the dropdown.
Other interactive content in the dropdown (buttons in Combobox.Header , a Retry link) is not
handled: add onMouseDown={(event) = event.preventDefault()} to it so the input keeps focus and
an onBlur handler does not close the dropdown.
Two words that are easy to mix up:
selected option: the one highlighted by keyboard navigation ( data combobox selected ).
active option: the one that holds the current value, marked with the active prop
( data combobox active ). It has no styles by default: render a check icon.
References
Read both before building anything beyond the basic select above:
[ references/patterns.md ](references/patterns.md) — complete examples: searchable select (input trigger), free text input with suggestions, suggestions for a textarea (mentions), custom styles with a CSS module, virtualized list for thousands of options, custom form input built on Combobox, search inside the dropdown, multi select with pills, creatable option, async search with loading and error states, groups, custom option rendering, highlighting the current value on open, clear button, form integration, dropdown that fits the viewport
[ references/api.md ](references/api.md) — useCombobox options and every store method with what it does, default styles and how to override them, useVirtualizedCombobox , all sub component props, CSS variables, Styles API selectors
Looking things up
If the references do not cover what you need, do not guess:
If the Mantine MCP server ( @mantine/mcp server ) is connected, use search docs and get item doc
Otherwise fetch https://mantine.dev/llms.txt and open the Combobox page. More than 50 complete examples are at https://mantine.dev/combobox/