Navigation 3

Overview

Implement state-driven navigation in Jetpack Compose using Navigation 3. Unlike Navigation Compose, Navigation 3 models navigation as application state rather than through a NavController. This skill covers navigation keys, back stack management, ViewModel scoping, entry decorators, adaptive layouts, deep links, animations, state restoration, and testing.

Setup

Add the Navigation 3 dependencies:

// build.gradle.kts
dependencies {

    implementation("androidx.navigation3:navigation3-runtime:1.0.0-alpha08")
    implementation("androidx.navigation3:navigation3-ui:1.0.0-alpha08")

    // Lifecycle integration
    implementation("androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-navigation3:2.9.2")

    // Serialization
    implementation("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-serialization-json:1.8.1")
}

// Enable serialization plugin
plugins {
    kotlin("plugin.serialization") version "2.2.0"
}

---

Core Concepts

1. Define Navigation Keys

Navigation destinations are represented by immutable serializable objects.

import kotlinx.serialization.Serializable

@Serializable
data object Home

@Serializable
data class Profile(
    val userId: String
)

@Serializable
data class Product(
    val productId: String,
    val showReviews: Boolean = false
)

@Serializable
data object Settings

Keys become your navigation state.

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2. Create the Back Stack

Navigation 3 replaces NavController with a mutable state back stack.

@Composable
fun MyApp() {

    val backStack = remember {
        mutableStateListOf<Any>(Home)
    }

    AppNavDisplay(backStack)
}

---

3. Create NavDisplay

@Composable
fun AppNavDisplay(
    backStack: SnapshotStateList<Any>
) {

    NavDisplay(
        backStack = backStack,
        onBack = {
            if (backStack.size > 1) {
                backStack.removeLast()
            }
        }
    ) { key ->

        when (key) {