<Form>
The <Form>
component extends the HTML <form>
element to provide prefetching of loading UI, client-side navigation on submission, and progressive enhancement.
It's useful for forms that update URL search params as it reduces the boilerplate code needed to achieve the above.
Basic usage:
import Form from 'next/form'
export default function Page() {
return (
<Form action="/search">
{/* On submission, the input value will be appended to
the URL, e.g. /search?query=abc */}
<input name="query" />
<button type="submit">Submit</button>
</Form>
)
}
Reference
The behavior of the <Form>
component depends on whether the action
prop is passed a string
or function
.
- When
action
is a string, the<Form>
behaves like a native HTML form that uses aGET
method. The form data is encoded into the URL as search params, and when the form is submitted, it navigates to the specified URL. In addition, Next.js:- Prefetches the path when the form becomes visible, this preloads shared UI (e.g.
layout.js
andloading.js
), resulting in faster navigation. - Performs a client-side navigation instead of a full page reload when the form is submitted. This retains shared UI and client-side state.
- Prefetches the path when the form becomes visible, this preloads shared UI (e.g.
- When
action
is a function (Server Action),<Form>
behaves like a React form, executing the action when the form is submitted.
action
(string) Props
When action
is a string, the <Form>
component supports the following props:
Prop | Example | Type | Required |
---|---|---|---|
action | action="/search" | string (URL or relative path) | Yes |
replace | replace={false} | boolean | - |
scroll | scroll={true} | boolean | - |
prefetch | prefetch={true} | boolean | - |
action
: The URL or path to navigate to when the form is submitted.- An empty string
""
will navigate to the same route with updated search params.
- An empty string
replace
: Replaces the current history state instead of pushing a new one to the browser's history stack. Default isfalse
.scroll
: Controls the scroll behavior during navigation. Defaults totrue
, this means it will scroll to the top of the new route, and maintain the scroll position for backwards and forwards navigation.prefetch
: Controls whether the path should be prefetched when the form becomes visible in the user's viewport. Defaults totrue
.
action
(function) Props
When action
is a function, the <Form>
component supports the following prop:
Prop | Example | Type | Required |
---|---|---|---|
action | action={myAction} | function (Server Action) | Yes |
action
: The Server Action to be called when the form is submitted. See the React docs for more.
Good to know: When
action
is a function, thereplace
andscroll
props are ignored.
Caveats
formAction
: Can be used in a<button>
or<input type="submit">
fields to override theaction
prop. Next.js will perform a client-side navigation, however, this approach doesn't support prefetching.- When using
basePath
, you must also include it in theformAction
path. e.g.formAction="/base-path/search"
.
- When using
key
: Passing akey
prop to a stringaction
is not supported. If you'd like to trigger a re-render or perform a mutation, consider using a functionaction
instead.
onSubmit
: Can be used to handle form submission logic. However, callingevent.preventDefault()
will override<Form>
behavior such as navigating to the specified URL.method
,encType
,target
: Are not supported as they override<Form>
behavior.- Similarly,
formMethod
,formEncType
, andformTarget
can be used to override themethod
,encType
, andtarget
props respectively, and using them will fallback to native browser behavior. - If you need to use these props, use the HTML
<form>
element instead.
- Similarly,
<input type="file">
: Using this input type when theaction
is a string will match browser behavior by submitting the filename instead of the file object.
Examples
Search form that leads to a search result page
You can create a search form that navigates to a search results page by passing the path as an action
:
import Form from 'next/form'
export default function Page() {
return (
<Form action="/search">
<input name="query" />
<button type="submit">Submit</button>
</Form>
)
}
When the user updates the query input field and submits the form, the form data will be encoded into the URL as search params, e.g. /search?query=abc
.
Good to know: If you pass an empty string
""
toaction
, the form will navigate to the same route with updated search params.
On the results page, you can access the query using the searchParams
page.js
prop and use it to fetch data from an external source.
import { getSearchResults } from '@/lib/search'
export default async function SearchPage({
searchParams,
}: {
searchParams: { [key: string]: string | string[] | undefined }
}) {
const results = await getSearchResults(searchParams.query)
return <div>...</div>
}
When the <Form>
becomes visible in the user's viewport, shared UI (such as layout.js
and loading.js
) on the /search
page will be prefetched. On submission, the form will immediately navigate to the new route and show loading UI while the results are being fetched. You can design the fallback UI using loading.js
:
export default function Loading() {
return <div>Loading...</div>
}
To cover cases when shared UI hasn't yet loaded, you can show instant feedback to the user using useFormStatus
.
First, create a component that displays a loading state when the form is pending:
'use client'
import { useFormStatus } from 'react-dom'
export default function SearchButton() {
const status = useFormStatus()
return (
<button type="submit">{status.pending ? 'Searching...' : 'Search'}</button>
)
}
Then, update the search form page to use the SearchButton
component:
import Form from 'next/form'
import { SearchButton } from '@/ui/search-button'
export default function Page() {
return (
<Form action="/search">
<input name="query" />
<SearchButton />
</Form>
)
}
Mutations with Server Actions
You can perform mutations by passing a function to the action
prop.
import Form from 'next/form'
import { createPost } from '@/posts/actions'
export default function Page() {
return (
<Form action={createPost}>
<input name="title" />
{/* ... */}
<button type="submit">Create Post</button>
</Form>
)
}
After a mutation, it's common to redirect to the new resource. You can use the redirect
function from next/navigation
to navigate to the new post page.
Good to know: Since the "destination" of the form submission is not known until the action is executed,
<Form>
cannot automatically prefetch shared UI.
'use server'
import { redirect } from 'next/navigation'
export async function createPost(formData: FormData) {
// Create a new post
// ...
// Redirect to the new post
redirect(`/posts/${data.id}`)
}
Then, in the new page, you can fetch data using the params
prop:
import { getPost } from '@/posts/data'
export default async function PostPage({ params }: { params: { id: string } }) {
const data = await getPost(params.id)
return (
<div>
<h1>{data.title}</h1>
{/* ... */}
</div>
)
}
See the Server Actions docs for more examples.
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