Transitions

Using @capgo/capacitor-transitions

@capgo/capacitor-transitions adds Ionic-style route transitions to Capacitor apps without adopting Ionic UI. It runs in the web layer, keeps your existing router, and can auto-enable an iOS edge swipe-back gesture only inside native Capacitor iOS.

Install

npm install @capgo/capacitor-transitions

There is no native sync step because the package does not add native plugin code.

Register the elements

import '@capgo/capacitor-transitions';

Wrap your pages

<cap-router-outlet platform="auto" swipe-gesture="auto">
  <cap-page>
    <cap-header slot="header">
      <h1>Inbox</h1>
    </cap-header>

    <cap-content slot="content">
      <button>Open message</button>
    </cap-content>

    <cap-footer slot="footer">
      <nav>Tabs</nav>
    </cap-footer>
  </cap-page>
</cap-router-outlet>

Connect it to a router

Set the transition direction before your normal route update:

import { setDirection } from '@capgo/capacitor-transitions/react';

setDirection('forward');
router.push('/message/42');

setDirection('back');
router.back();

React example

import { useEffect, useRef } from 'react';
import { useNavigate } from 'react-router-dom';
import { initTransitions, setDirection, setupPage, setupRouterOutlet } from '@capgo/capacitor-transitions/react';
import '@capgo/capacitor-transitions';

initTransitions({ platform: 'auto' });

export function AppShell() {
  const outletRef = useRef<HTMLElement>(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (!outletRef.current) return;
    setupRouterOutlet(outletRef.current, { platform: 'auto', swipeGesture: 'auto' });
  }, []);

  return <cap-router-outlet ref={outletRef}>{/* routes */}</cap-router-outlet>;
}

export function InboxPage() {
  const navigate = useNavigate();
  const pageRef = useRef<HTMLElement>(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (!pageRef.current) return;
    return setupPage(pageRef.current);
  }, []);

  return (
    <cap-page ref={pageRef}>
      <cap-header slot="header">
        <h1>Inbox</h1>
      </cap-header>
      <cap-content slot="content">
        <button
          onClick={() => {
            setDirection('forward');
            navigate('/message/42');
          }}
        >
          Open message
        </button>
      </cap-content>
    </cap-page>
  );
}

Enable swipe back

Use swipe-gesture="auto" to enable the gesture only when Capacitor reports a native iOS runtime:

<cap-router-outlet swipe-gesture="auto"></cap-router-outlet>

You can also force it from JavaScript:

const outlet = document.querySelector('cap-router-outlet');

outlet?.setSwipeGesture(true);
outlet?.setSwipeGesture(false);
outlet?.setSwipeGesture('auto');

The gesture follows the finger during the transition, then completes or cancels when the user releases. Add data-swipe-gesture-ignore on buttons, sliders, or drawers that should not start the edge gesture.

Use with native navigation

Install @capgo/native-navigation when the native layer should own the navbar or tabbar:

npm install @capgo/native-navigation
npx cap sync

Configure native chrome, then keep transitions focused on the WebView pages:

import { NativeNavigation } from '@capgo/native-navigation';
import { setDirection } from '@capgo/capacitor-transitions/react';
import { router } from './router';

await NativeNavigation.configure({
  contentInsetMode: 'css',
});

await NativeNavigation.setNavbar({
  title: 'Inbox',
  backButton: { visible: false },
});

await NativeNavigation.addListener('navbarBack', () => {
  setDirection('back');
  router.back();
});

async function openMessage(id: string) {
  setDirection('forward');
  router.push(`/message/${id}`);

  await NativeNavigation.setNavbar({
    title: 'Message',
    backButton: { visible: true, title: 'Inbox' },
  });
}

Use cap-content for the animated page body and native-navigation CSS variables for insets:

<cap-router-outlet platform="auto" swipe-gesture="auto">
  <cap-page>
    <cap-content slot="content" fullscreen>
      <main class="native-page">Inbox content</main>
    </cap-content>
  </cap-page>
</cap-router-outlet>

.native-page {
  padding-top: var(--cap-native-navigation-top);
  padding-bottom: var(--cap-native-navigation-bottom);
}

Do not duplicate the native navbar as a moving web header. @capgo/native-navigation keeps the bar native; @capgo/capacitor-transitions animates the page content underneath it.

Full Reference

• GitHub: https://github.com/Cap-go/capacitor-transitions/
• Docs: /docs/plugins/transitions/