nextstepjs

NextStep

NextStep is a lightweight onboarding library for Next.js / React applications. It utilizes motion for smooth animations and supports multiple React frameworks including Next.js, React Router, and Remix.

Some of the use cases:

• Easier Onboarding: Guide new users with step-by-step tours
• Engagement Boost: Make help docs interactive, so users learn by doing.
• Better Error Handling: Skip generic toasters—show users exactly what to fix with tailored tours.
• Event-Based Tours: Trigger custom tours after key actions to keep users coming back.

The library allows users to use custom cards (tooltips) for easier integration.

If you like the project, please leave a star! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Demo App
• Demo repository

Getting Started

# npm
npm i nextstepjs motion
# pnpm
pnpm add nextstepjs motion
# yarn
yarn add nextstepjs motion
# bun
bun add nextstepjs motion

Navigation Adapters (v2.0+)

NextStep 2.0 introduces a framework-agnostic routing system through navigation adapters. Each adapter is packaged separately to minimize bundle size - only the adapter you import will be included in your bundle.

Important: Make sure to import the adapter you need in your app in order to access full functionality. Without an adapter, navigation features like nextRoute and prevRoute may not work properly.

Built-in Adapters

Next.js

NextStep uses Next.js adapter as default, therefore you don't need to import it.

// app/layout.tsx or pages/_app.tsx
import { NextStep, NextStepProvider } from 'nextstepjs';

export default function Layout({ children }) {
  return (
    <NextStepProvider>
      <NextStep steps={steps}>{children}</NextStep>
    </NextStepProvider>
  );
}

React Router as a Framework

//app/root.tsx
import { NextStepProvider, NextStepReact, type Tour } from 'nextstepjs';
import { useReactRouterAdapter } from 'nextstepjs/adapters/react-router';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <NextStepProvider>
      <NextStepReact navigationAdapter={useReactRouterAdapter} steps={steps}>
        <Outlet />
      </NextStepReact>
    </NextStepProvider>
  );
}

Remix

// root.tsx
import { NextStepProvider, NextStepReact } from 'nextstepjs';
import { useRemixAdapter } from 'nextstepjs/adapters/remix';

export default function App() {
  return (
    <NextStepProvider>
      <NextStepReact navigationAdapter={useRemixAdapter} steps={steps}>
        <Outlet />
      </NextStepReact>
    </NextStepProvider>
  );
}

Important Configuration for Vite (React Router or Remix)

If you're using Vite with React Router or Remix, add the following configuration to your vite.config.ts:

export default defineConfig({
  ssr: {
    noExternal: ['nextstepjs', 'motion'],
  },
});

Custom Navigation Adapter

You can create your own navigation adapter for any routing solution by implementing the NavigationAdapter interface:

import { NextStepReact } from 'nextstepjs';
import type { NavigationAdapter } from 'nextstepjs';

const useCustomAdapter = (): NavigationAdapter => {
  return {
    push: (path: string) => {
      // Your navigation logic here
      // Example: history.push(path)
    },
    getCurrentPath: () => {
      // Your path retrieval logic here
      // Example: window.location.pathname
      return window.location.pathname;
    },
  };
};

const App = () => {
  return (
    <NextStepReact navigationAdapter={useCustomAdapter} steps={steps}>
      {children}
    </NextStepReact>
  );
};

Troubleshooting

If you encounter an error related to module exports when using the Pages Router, it is likely due to a mismatch between ES modules (which use export statements) and CommonJS modules (which use module.exports). The nextstepjs package uses ES module syntax, but your Next.js project might be set up to use CommonJS.

To resolve this issue, ensure that your Next.js project is configured to support ES modules. You can do this by updating your next.config.js file to include the following configuration:

/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {
  reactStrictMode: true,
  experimental: {
    esmExternals: true,
  },
  transpilePackages: ['nextstepjs'],
};

export default nextConfig;

Custom Card

You can create a custom card component for greater control over the design:

Prop	Type	Description
step	Object	The current Step object from your steps array, including content, title, etc.
currentStep	number	The index of the current step in the steps array.
totalSteps	number	The total number of steps in the onboarding process.
nextStep		A function to advance to the next step in the onboarding process.
prevStep		A function to go back to the previous step in the onboarding process.
arrow		Returns an SVG object, the orientation is controlled by the steps side prop
skipTour		A function to skip the tour

'use client';
import type { CardComponentProps } from 'nextstepjs';

export const CustomCard = ({
  step,
  currentStep,
  totalSteps,
  nextStep,
  prevStep,
  skipTour,
  arrow,
}: CardComponentProps) => {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>
        {step.icon} {step.title}
      </h1>
      <h2>
        {currentStep} of {totalSteps}
      </h2>
      <p>{step.content}</p>
      <button onClick={prevStep}>Previous</button>
      <button onClick={nextStep}>Next</button>
      <button onClick={skipTour}>Skip</button>
      {arrow}
    </div>
  );
};

Tours Array

NextStep supports multiple "tours", allowing you to create multiple product tours:

import { Tour } from 'nextstepjs';

const steps: Tour[] = [
  {
    tour: 'firstTour',
    steps: [
      // Step objects
    ],
  },
  {
    tour: 'secondTour',
    steps: [
      // Step objects
    ],
  },
];

Step Object

Prop	Type	Description
icon	React.ReactNode, string, null	An icon or element to display alongside the step title.
title	string	The title of your step
content	React.ReactNode	The main content or body of the step.
selector	string	Optional. A string used to target an id that this step refers to. If not provided, card will be displayed in the center top of the document body.
side	"top", "bottom", "left", "right"	Optional. Determines where the tooltip should appear relative to the selector.
showControls	boolean	Optional. Determines whether control buttons (next, prev) should be shown if using the default card.
showSkip	boolean	Optional. Determines whether skip button should be shown if using the default card.
blockKeyboardControl	boolean	Optional. Determines whether keyboard control should be blocked
pointerPadding	number	Optional. The padding around the pointer (keyhole) highlighting the target element.
pointerRadius	number	Optional. The border-radius of the pointer (keyhole) highlighting the target element.
nextRoute	string	Optional. The route to navigate to when moving to the next step.
prevRoute	string	Optional. The route to navigate to when moving to the previous step.
viewportID	string	Optional. The id of the viewport element to use for positioning. If not provided, the document body will be used.

Note NextStep handles card cutoff from screen sides. If side is right or left and card is out of the viewport, side would be switched to top. If side is top or bottom and card is out of the viewport, then side would be flipped between top and bottom.

Target Anything

Target anything in your app using the element's id attribute.

<div id="nextstep-step1">Onboard Step</div>

Using NextStepViewport and viewportID

When a selector is in a scrollable area, it is best to wrap the content of the scrollable area with NextStepViewport. This component takes children and an id as prop. By providing the viewportID to the step, NextStep will target this element within the viewport. This ensures that the step is anchored to the element even if the container is scrollable.

Here's an example of how to use NextStepViewport:

<div className="relative overflow-auto h-64">
  <NextStepViewport id="scrollable-viewport">{children}</NextStepViewport>
</div>

Example steps

[
  {
    tour: 'firsttour',
    steps: [
      {
        icon: <>👋</>,
        title: 'Tour 1, Step 1',
        content: <>First tour, first step</>,
        selector: '#tour1-step1',
        side: 'top',
        showControls: true,
        showSkip: true,
        pointerPadding: 10,
        pointerRadius: 10,
        nextRoute: '/foo',
        prevRoute: '/bar',
      },
      {
        icon: <>🎉</>,
        title: 'Tour 1, Step 2',
        content: <>First tour, second step</>,
        selector: '#tour1-step2',
        side: 'top',
        showControls: true,
        showSkip: true,
        pointerPadding: 10,
        pointerRadius: 10,
        viewportID: 'scrollable-viewport',
      },
    ],
  },
  {
    tour: 'secondtour',
    steps: [
      {
        icon: <>🚀</>,
        title: 'Second tour, Step 1',
        content: <>Second tour, first step!</>,
        selector: '#nextstep-step1',
        side: 'top',
        showControls: true,
        showSkip: true,
        pointerPadding: 10,
        pointerRadius: 10,
        nextRoute: '/foo',
        prevRoute: '/bar',
      },
    ],
  },
];

NextStep & NextStepReact Props

Property	Type	Description
children	React.ReactNode	Your website or application content
steps	Array[]	Array of Tour objects defining each step of the onboarding
navigationAdapter	NavigationAdapter	Optional. Router adapter for navigation (defaults to Next.js on NextStep and window adapter on NextStepReact)
showNextStep	boolean	Controls visibility of the onboarding overlay
shadowRgb	string	RGB values for the shadow color surrounding the target area
shadowOpacity	string	Opacity value for the shadow surrounding the target area
cardComponent	React.ComponentType	Custom card component to replace the default one
cardTransition	Transition	Motion transition object for step transitions
onStart	(tourName: string | null) => void	Callback function triggered when the tour starts
onStepChange	(step: number, tourName: string | null) => void	Callback function triggered when the step changes
onComplete	(tourName: string | null) => void	Callback function triggered when the tour completes
onSkip	(step: number, tourName: string | null) => void	Callback function triggered when the user skips the tour
clickThroughOverlay	boolean	Optional. If true, overlay background is clickable, default is false
disableConsoleLogs	boolean	Optional. If true, console logs are disabled, default is false
scrollToTop	boolean	Optional. If true, the page will scroll to the top when the tour ends, default is true
noInViewScroll	boolean	Optional. If true, the page will not scroll to the target element when it is in view, default is false

<NextStep
  steps={steps}
  showNextStep={true}
  shadowRgb="55,48,163"
  shadowOpacity="0.8"
  cardComponent={CustomCard}
  cardTransition={{ duration: 0.5, type: 'spring' }}
  onStepChange={(step, tourName) => console.log(`Step changed to ${step} in ${tourName}`)}
  onComplete={(tourName) => console.log(`Tour completed: ${tourName}`)}
  onSkip={(step, tourName) => console.log(`Tour skipped: ${step} in ${tourName}`)}
  clickThroughOverlay={false}
>
  {children}
</NextStep>

useNextStep Hook

useNextStep hook allows you to control the tour from anywhere in your app.

import { useNextStep } from 'nextstepjs';
....

const { startNextStep, closeNextStep } = useNextStep();

const onClickHandler = (tourName: string) => {
  startNextStep(tourName);
};

Keyboard Navigation

NextStep supports keyboard navigation:

• Right Arrow: Next step
• Left Arrow: Previous step
• Escape: Skip tour

Localization

NextStep is a lightweight library and does not come with localization support. However, you can easily switch between languages by supplying the steps array based on locale.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Credits

• Onborda for the inspiration and some code snippets.