# Menu bar

A React component in [Beamline](https://beamline.io/)'s [Navigation](https://beamline.io/components/navigation) category. Live demo: https://beamline.io/components/menubar

A desktop-style File / Edit / View bar for editor-like apps; each menu takes the same rows as the dropdown menu, and pointing moves between open menus.

## Use it for

- Editor-like apps with many commands: report builders, design tools, spreadsheets.

## Not for

- Typical SaaS navigation ([sidebar](https://beamline.io/components/sidebar) or [tabs](https://beamline.io/components/tabs)).
- One object's actions ([dropdown-menu](https://beamline.io/components/dropdown-menu)).

## Anatomy

- bar
- trigger per menu
- surface
- rows (shared MenuItem)

## States

- closed
- one menu open
- item highlighted
- check/radio on
- disabled

## Keyboard

- ← → move between menus
- ↓ / Enter opens
- ↑ ↓ move in a menu
- Escape closes and returns focus to the trigger
- Direction follows explicit props or the managed scope and resolves the surrounding static direction; forwarded refs keep internal direction measurement attached. refreshAppearance updates static scope changes without remounting controls.

## Motion

Same surface and gliding highlight as the dropdown menu; menus switch instantly once one is open. Opens out of its trigger (_shared/overlay.module.css, source morph): the layer starts as the trigger's own box, offset onto it, and grows; the side next to the trigger is there at once so the nearest rows read within the ruled 90 ms, the far side settles by ~200 ms, content fades in over 90 ms; it closes back into the trigger in 180 ms. Until it has grown the press that opened it cannot land on a row. Reduced motion: it appears.

## Props

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `label` | `string` | — |  |
| `menus` | `{ label: string; items: MenuItem[] }[]` | — |  |
| `value / defaultValue / onValueChange` | `string` | — |  |
| `classNames` | `MenuClassNames` | — |  |
| `style / ref` | `CSSProperties / native Ref` | — | Root styles; ref targets native menubar div. |

## Dependencies

`@radix-ui/react-direction`, `@radix-ui/react-menubar`, `lucide-react`

## Import

```tsx
import { Menubar } from "@/components/menubar/menubar";
```

## Get it

Menu bar is part of Beamline: 190 React components and screens your coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or any MCP client) installs into your app through Beamline's MCP server, as a ready-built package or as plain React source you can change. $49 one payment (regular $200), no subscription, a year of updates, one licence for your whole team. [Get Beamline](https://beamline.io/checkout?pack=complete) · [Connect your agent](https://beamline.io/connect)

## More in Navigation

- [Breadcrumb](https://beamline.io/components/breadcrumb): Where a page sits and the way back up; long paths keep the first and last two levels and fold the middle into a menu.
- [Navigation menu](https://beamline.io/components/navigation-menu): A site or docs header whose sections open into one panel that resizes and slides between them; NavigationMenuCard is the standard link row.
- [Pagination](https://beamline.io/components/pagination): Moves through pages of a known length: first, last and the current page's neighbours, with an optional “41–60 of 468”; a phone shows “Page 6 of 24”.
- [Sidebar](https://beamline.io/components/sidebar): The app's main navigation: sections, items with counts and one level of sub-pages, an icon rail with tooltips (⌘B, the trigger or the edge), and a sheet…
- [Stepper](https://beamline.io/components/stepper): Where someone is in a multi-step flow: done steps carry a check, the current one a ring, and the line between marks fills as steps complete.
- [Tabs](https://beamline.io/components/tabs): Switches between panels of one object; one indicator slides to the active tab, counts sit beside labels, and a long row scrolls instead of wrapping.
- [Tree view](https://beamline.io/components/tree-view): Nested folders and records with the full tree keyboard model (arrows, Home/End, *, type to jump), depth guides, counts and animated opening.
- [User menu](https://beamline.io/components/user-menu): The account menu behind the avatar: who is signed in, status, theme, account pages and sign out with progress; a bottom sheet on phones.