Ionic Expert

Comprehensive reference for Ionic Framework development — core concepts, components, theming, lifecycle, navigation, framework-specific patterns (Angular, React, Vue), upgrading, and Capawesome Cloud integration.

Core Concepts

Ionic Framework is a UI toolkit for building cross-platform apps with web technologies. It provides 80+ pre-built UI components as Web Components prefixed with

ion-

(e.g.,

<ion-button>

<ion-content>

Platform modes: Components adapt styling to the platform. iOS devices use
```
ios
```
mode; Android and all other platforms use
```
md
```
(Material Design). The
```
<html>
```
element receives a class (
```
ios
```
or
```
md
```
).
Capacitor integration: Ionic handles the UI; Capacitor handles native device APIs. See the
```
capacitor-app-development
```
skill for Capacitor guidance.
Framework support: Ionic integrates with Angular (
```
@ionic/angular
```
), React (
```
@ionic/react
```
), and Vue (
```
@ionic/vue
```
).

Creating a New App

bash

npm install -g @ionic/cli
ionic start <name> <template> --type=<framework> --capacitor --package-id=<id>

`--type` value	Framework
`angular`	Angular (NgModules)
`angular-standalone`	Angular (Standalone Components)
`react`	React
`vue`	Vue

Template	Description
`blank`	Empty project, single page
`tabs`	Tab-based layout
`sidemenu`	Side menu layout

For details, see ionic-app-creation.

Ionic CLI

Run

ionic --help

for the full and always up-to-date command list.

Command	Description
`ionic start`	Scaffold a new Ionic project.
`ionic serve`	Start a local dev server with live reload (port 8100).
`ionic build`	Build the web app for production.
`ionic generate`	Generate pages, components, services (framework-dependent).
`ionic info`	Print system/environment info.
`ionic repair`	Remove and recreate dependencies and platform files.

Useful

ionic serve

flags:

--external

(all network interfaces),

--port=<port>

--prod

--no-open

Components Overview

Ionic provides 80+ UI components organized by category. For full API reference (properties, events, methods, slots, CSS custom properties), see the linked reference files.

Layout

ion-app

(root container),

ion-content

(scrollable area),

ion-header

ion-footer

ion-toolbar

ion-title

ion-buttons

ion-back-button

ion-grid

ion-row

ion-col

ion-split-pane

Key usage:

html

<ion-header>
  <ion-toolbar>
    <ion-buttons slot="start">
      <ion-back-button defaultHref="/home"></ion-back-button>
    </ion-buttons>
    <ion-title>Page Title</ion-title>
  </ion-toolbar>
</ion-header>
<ion-content>
  <!-- Scrollable content -->
</ion-content>

For details, see components-layout.md.

Navigation

ion-tabs

ion-tab-bar

ion-tab-button

ion-menu

ion-menu-button

ion-menu-toggle

ion-router-outlet

ion-nav

ion-breadcrumbs

For details, see components-navigation.md.

Form

ion-input

ion-textarea

ion-select

ion-select-option

ion-checkbox

ion-toggle

ion-radio

ion-radio-group

ion-range

ion-datetime

ion-datetime-button

ion-searchbar

ion-segment

ion-segment-button

ion-input-otp

Key properties shared by most form components:

label

labelPlacement

(

floating

stacked

fixed

start

fill

(

outline

solid

errorText

helperText

disabled

value

placeholder

Key events:

```
ionInput
```
— fires on each keystroke (use for
```
ion-input
```
/
```
ion-textarea
```
).

ionChange

— fires when value is committed (use for

ion-select

ion-toggle

ion-checkbox

ion-range

html

<ion-input label="Email" labelPlacement="floating" fill="outline"
           type="email" placeholder="you@example.com"
           errorText="Invalid email" helperText="Enter your email">
</ion-input>

<ion-select label="Country" labelPlacement="floating" fill="outline" interface="popover">
  <ion-select-option value="us">United States</ion-select-option>
  <ion-select-option value="de">Germany</ion-select-option>
</ion-select>

For details, see components-form.md.

Overlays

ion-modal

ion-alert

ion-toast

ion-action-sheet

ion-loading

ion-popover

All overlays share:

isOpen

prop for declarative control,

trigger

prop to open from a button ID,

backdropDismiss

animated

, and lifecycle events (

didPresent

didDismiss

willPresent

willDismiss

Sheet modal (bottom sheet):

html

<ion-modal [isOpen]="isOpen" [breakpoints]="[0, 0.5, 1]" [initialBreakpoint]="0.5" [handle]="true">
  <ion-content>Sheet content</ion-content>
</ion-modal>

For details, see components-overlay.md.

Data Display

ion-list

ion-item

ion-item-sliding

ion-item-options

ion-item-option

ion-card

ion-card-header

ion-card-content

ion-accordion

ion-accordion-group

ion-chip

ion-badge

ion-label

ion-note

For details, see components-data-display.md.

Scroll

ion-refresher

ion-refresher-content

(pull-to-refresh),

ion-infinite-scroll

ion-infinite-scroll-content

ion-reorder-group

ion-reorder

For details, see components-scroll.md.

Actions & Media

ion-button

ion-fab

ion-fab-button

ion-icon

ion-avatar

ion-thumbnail

ion-spinner

ion-skeleton-text

ion-progress-bar

For details, see components-action.md and components-media.md.

Theming

Colors

Nine default colors:

primary

secondary

tertiary

success

warning

danger

light

medium

dark

. Apply via the

color

attribute:

html

<ion-button color="primary">Save</ion-button>
<ion-button color="danger">Delete</ion-button>

Customize a color by overriding all six CSS variables in

:root

css

:root {
  --ion-color-primary: #3880ff;
  --ion-color-primary-rgb: 56, 128, 255;
  --ion-color-primary-contrast: #ffffff;
  --ion-color-primary-contrast-rgb: 255, 255, 255;
  --ion-color-primary-shade: #3171e0;
  --ion-color-primary-tint: #4c8dff;
}

Global CSS Variables

Key variables:

--ion-background-color

--ion-text-color

--ion-font-family

--ion-safe-area-top/right/bottom/left

--ion-margin

--ion-padding

Dark Mode

Three approaches (import from

@ionic/angular/css/

@ionic/react/css/

, or

@ionic/vue/css/

System preference (default):

@import '@ionic/<framework>/css/palettes/dark.system.css';

Always dark:

@import '@ionic/<framework>/css/palettes/dark.always.css';

CSS class toggle:

@import '@ionic/<framework>/css/palettes/dark.class.css';

then add

.ion-palette-dark

<html>

Platform Styles

Target platform-specific styles in CSS using the mode class on

<html>

css

.ios ion-toolbar { --background: #f8f8f8; }
.md ion-toolbar { --background: #ffffff; }

Preview a specific mode in the browser:

http://localhost:8100/?ionic:mode=ios

Layout

Grid System

12-column flexbox grid:

ion-grid

ion-row

ion-col

. Columns expand evenly unless

size

(1-12) is specified.

Breakpoint	Min Width	Property Suffix
`xs`	0	`Xs`
`sm`	576px	`Sm`
`md`	768px	`Md`
`lg`	992px	`Lg`
`xl`	1200px	`Xl`

CSS Utility Classes

Padding:

.ion-padding

.ion-padding-top/bottom/start/end

.ion-no-padding

Margin:

.ion-margin

.ion-margin-top/bottom/start/end

.ion-no-margin

Text:

.ion-text-center

.ion-text-start

.ion-text-end

.ion-text-wrap

.ion-text-nowrap

Display:

.ion-display-none

.ion-display-block

.ion-display-flex

Flex:

.ion-justify-content-center

.ion-align-items-center

.ion-flex-row

.ion-flex-column

All utility classes support responsive suffixes:

.ion-text-md-center

(applies at 768px+).

Page Lifecycle

Ionic provides four lifecycle hooks that fire during page transitions. These exist because

ion-router-outlet

caches pages in the DOM — framework-native lifecycle hooks (

ngOnInit

useEffect

onMounted

) only fire once on first creation, not on every page visit.

Hook	Fires When	Use For
`ionViewWillEnter`	Page about to enter (pre-animation)	Refresh data on every visit
`ionViewDidEnter`	Page fully entered (post-animation)	Start animations, focus inputs
`ionViewWillLeave`	Page about to leave (pre-animation)	Save state, pause subscriptions
`ionViewDidLeave`	Page fully left (post-animation)	Clean up off-screen resources

Critical rules:

Only fire on components directly mapped to a route via
```
ion-router-outlet
```
.
Child components do not receive these events.
The component must use the framework-specific page wrapper (see framework sections below).

Framework-Specific Patterns

Angular

For full details, see ionic-angular.

Detect architecture: Check

src/main.ts

for

bootstrapApplication

(standalone) vs

platformBrowserDynamic().bootstrapModule

(NgModule).

Aspect	Standalone	NgModule
Ionic setup	`provideIonicAngular({})` in `app.config.ts`	`IonicModule.forRoot()` in `app.module.ts`
Component imports	Each from `@ionic/angular/standalone`	`IonicModule` provides all globally
Lazy loading	`loadComponent` in routes	`loadChildren` in routes
Icons	`addIcons()` from `ionicons` required	Automatic

Navigation: Use

NavController

from

@ionic/angular

for animated navigation (

navigateForward

navigateBack

navigateRoot

back

). Use

routerLink

with

routerDirection

in templates.

Lifecycle: Implement interfaces

ViewWillEnter

ViewDidEnter

ViewWillLeave

ViewDidLeave

from

@ionic/angular

typescript

import { ViewWillEnter } from '@ionic/angular';

@Component({ /* ... */ })
export class HomePage implements ViewWillEnter {
  ionViewWillEnter() {
    this.loadData(); // Runs on every page visit
  }
}

For navigation details, see angular/navigation.md. For lifecycle details, see angular/lifecycle.md.

React

For full details, see ionic-react.

Key setup differences:

Call
```
setupIonicReact()
```
before rendering in
```
src/main.tsx
```
.

Use

IonReactRouter

(from

@ionic/react-router

) instead of

BrowserRouter

Use
```
IonRouterOutlet
```
to contain routes with the
```
component
```
prop (not
```
render
```
or
```
children
```
).
Every page must render
IonPage
as root — required for transitions and lifecycle hooks.

Navigation: Use

useIonRouter

hook for programmatic navigation:

typescript

import { useIonRouter } from '@ionic/react';

const router = useIonRouter();
router.push('/detail/123', 'forward', 'push');
router.goBack();

Lifecycle hooks (from

@ionic/react

typescript

import { useIonViewWillEnter } from '@ionic/react';

useIonViewWillEnter(() => {
  fetchData(); // Runs on every page visit
});

Overlay hooks:

useIonAlert

useIonToast

useIonActionSheet

useIonLoading

useIonModal

useIonPopover

useIonPicker

Form events: Use

onIonInput

for

IonInput

IonTextarea

onIonChange

for

IonSelect

IonToggle

IonCheckbox

IonRange

. Access values via

e.detail.value

For routing details, see react/routing.md. For hooks, see react/hooks.md.

Vue

For full details, see ionic-vue.

Key setup differences:

Install

IonicVue

plugin in

src/main.ts

createApp(App).use(IonicVue).use(router)

Import
```
createRouter
```
from
```
@ionic/vue-router
```
(not from
```
vue-router
```
).
Every page must use
IonPage
as root template element — without it, transitions and lifecycle hooks silently fail.
Import all Ionic components from
```
@ionic/vue
```
.
Use kebab-case for event names in templates (
```
@ion-change
```
,
```
@ion-input
```
).
Import icons as SVG references from
```
ionicons/icons
```
— never as strings.

Navigation: Use

useIonRouter

composable:

vue

<script setup lang="ts">
import { useIonRouter } from '@ionic/vue';

const ionRouter = useIonRouter();
ionRouter.push('/detail/123');
ionRouter.back();
</script>

Declarative:

<ion-button router-link="/detail" router-direction="forward">Go</ion-button>

Lifecycle hooks (from

@ionic/vue

vue

<script setup lang="ts">
import { onIonViewWillEnter } from '@ionic/vue';

onIonViewWillEnter(() => {
  fetchData(); // Runs on every page visit
});
</script>

Composables:

useIonRouter()

useBackButton(priority, handler)

useKeyboard()

isPlatform(name)

getPlatforms()

Access Web Component methods via
$el
:

contentRef.value.$el.scrollToBottom(300)

For navigation details, see vue/navigation.md. For composables, see vue/composables.md.

Navigation Patterns

Tab Navigation

Each framework uses

ion-tabs

with

ion-tab-bar

and child routes per tab. Each tab maintains its own navigation stack.

Rules:

The
```
tab
```
attribute on
```
ion-tab-button
```
must match the child route path.
Never navigate between tabs programmatically — only the tab bar buttons should switch tabs.
For shared views across tabs, use
```
ion-modal
```
instead of cross-tab routing.

Side Menu

Use

ion-menu

with

contentId

matching the

id

ion-router-outlet

. Wrap menu items in

ion-menu-toggle

to auto-close after selection. Use

routerDirection="root"

for top-level menu navigation.

Linear vs. Non-Linear Routing

Linear: Sequential forward/back navigation (list -> detail -> edit). Back button returns to the previous page.
Non-linear: Multiple independent stacks (tabs). Back navigation stays within the current tab's stack.

Use non-linear routing for tabs or split-pane layouts. Use linear routing for simple page flows.

Upgrading

Ionic supports upgrades from version 4 through 8. Each major version jump must be applied sequentially — do not skip intermediate versions.

For full upgrade guides, see ionic-app-upgrades.

Capacitor Integration

Ionic apps use Capacitor for native device features (camera, filesystem, push notifications, etc.). The standard workflow:

bash

npm run build
npx cap sync
npx cap run android
npx cap run ios

For live reload on a device:

bash

ionic cap run android --livereload --external
ionic cap run ios --livereload --external

For Capacitor guidance, see the

capacitor-app-development

skill.

Capawesome Cloud

Capawesome Cloud provides CI/CD services for Ionic/Capacitor apps:

Live Updates — Deploy OTA updates to Ionic/Capacitor apps instantly, without app store review.
Native Builds — Build iOS and Android binaries in the cloud without local Xcode or Android Studio.
App Store Publishing — Automate submissions to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Visit capawesome.io for the full Capawesome ecosystem. For setup, see the

capawesome-cloud

skill.

Common Troubleshooting

ionic: command not found
: Run

npm install -g @ionic/cli

Components not rendering: Verify Ionic CSS files are imported in the global stylesheet. For standalone Angular, verify each component is imported from
```
@ionic/angular/standalone
```
.
ionViewWillEnter
not firing: The component must be directly routed via
```
ion-router-outlet
```
. Child components do not receive lifecycle events. For React/Vue, verify
```
IonPage
```
is the root element.
Page data not refreshing on back navigation: Use Ionic lifecycle hooks (
```
ionViewWillEnter
```
) instead of framework-native lifecycle hooks (
```
ngOnInit
```
,
```
useEffect
```
,
```
onMounted
```
). Ionic caches pages in the DOM.
Page transitions not animating: Use the framework's Ionic router integration (
```
NavController
```
for Angular,
```
IonReactRouter
```
for React,
```
createRouter
```
from
```
@ionic/vue-router
```
for Vue). Standard framework routers do not trigger Ionic animations.
CSS custom properties not applying: Ionic components use Shadow DOM. Use documented CSS custom properties (
```
--background
```
,
```
--color
```
) instead of targeting internal elements.
Icons not showing (Angular standalone): Call
```
addIcons()
```
from
```
ionicons
```
with the required icons and import
```
IonIcon
```
from
```
@ionic/angular/standalone
```
.
Failed to resolve component: ion-*
(Vue): The Ionic component is not imported. Add the import from
```
@ionic/vue
```
.
Tab bar disappears on sub-page (React): All routes (including detail routes) must be inside the
```
IonRouterOutlet
```
within
```
IonTabs
```
.
Form input values not updating (React): Use
```
onIonInput
```
for
```
IonInput
```
/
```
IonTextarea
```
, not
```
onChange
```
. Access values via
```
e.detail.value
```
.
Slot attribute deprecation warning (Vue): Ionic uses Web Component slots. Disable the ESLint rule:
```
'vue/no-deprecated-slot-attribute': 'off'
```
.

Related Skills

ionic-app-creation
— Create a new Ionic app from scratch.
ionic-app-development
— General Ionic development, full component API reference.
ionic-angular
— Angular-specific patterns (standalone vs NgModule, navigation, forms, testing).
ionic-react
— React-specific patterns (IonReactRouter, hooks, state management).
ionic-vue
— Vue-specific patterns (composables, navigation, IonPage requirement).
ionic-app-upgrades
— Upgrade Ionic to a newer major version.
capacitor-app-development
— General Capacitor development.
capawesome-cloud
— Live updates, native builds, and app store publishing.

ionic-expert

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Ionic Expert

Core Concepts

Creating a New App

Ionic CLI

Components Overview

Layout

Navigation

Form

Overlays

Data Display

Scroll

Actions & Media

Theming

Colors

Global CSS Variables

Dark Mode

Platform Styles

Layout

Grid System

CSS Utility Classes

Page Lifecycle

Framework-Specific Patterns

Angular

React

Vue

Navigation Patterns

Tab Navigation

Side Menu

Linear vs. Non-Linear Routing

Upgrading

Capacitor Integration

Capawesome Cloud

Common Troubleshooting

Related Skills