Low-Level Design : Breadcrumb Navigation in React Using Slugs

📌 Problem Statement

Breadcrumb navigation is essential in modern web applications to help users understand their location within the app’s hierarchy and navigate efficiently. However, building a scalable breadcrumb system for complex apps with dynamic routes presents challenges, especially when relying on API calls to fetch display labels for dynamic segments.

Using API-based label resolvers for dynamic segments like /user/:id can introduce:

• Increased API load

• Unnecessary network latency

• Complex state management

Instead, using slugs directly from the URL offers a lightweight, fast, and reusable solution that does not depend on external API calls.

🎯 Key Requirements

The breadcrumb system should:

• ✅ Automatically parse the current URL.

• ✅ Support dynamic route segments using SEO-friendly slugs.

• ✅ Display slugs in a readable format (capitalize, remove hyphens).

• ✅ Allow custom separators and breadcrumb item styling.

• ✅ Allow exclusion of breadcrumbs on specified routes.

• ✅ Be reusable across the entire application.

• ✅ Avoid API calls for label resolution.

🔧 Technology Stack

• React

• React Router DOM (v6 or later)

• Tailwind CSS (for styling)

• Optional: TypeScript (for type safety)

⚙️ Solution Overview

Components:

1. BreadcrumbContainer: Handles path extraction, slug formatting, and breadcrumb rendering.

2. BreadcrumbItem: Represents an individual breadcrumb (clickable link or plain text).

3. Utils: Helper functions for slug formatting.

🚀 Why Use Slugs Over Label Resolvers?

🗺️ Flow Diagram

✅ Step-by-Step Solution

1. Extract the Current URL

Use the useLocation hook from react-router-dom to access the current path.

2. Split Path into Segments

Convert the URL into an array of segments for breadcrumb rendering.

Example:

/products/electronics/smartphones → ['products', 'electronics', 'smartphones']

3. Format Slugs for Display

Use a utility function to convert slugs into human-readable labels.

Example:

• /user/john-doe → John Doe

• /products/smart-phones → Smart Phones

4. Build Breadcrumb Items

Each path segment becomes a breadcrumb item.

5. Render Breadcrumbs

Render the breadcrumb items with optional separators.

6. Customization Options

✅ Separator customization

✅ Tailwind CSS styling

✅ Optional configuration to hide breadcrumbs on specific routes

📂 Suggested Folder Structure

Here’s the complete React code according to your specified file structure, using React Router and Tailwind CSS for styling, with an optional separator feature and slug formatting utility.

✅ 1. utils.js – Slug Formatter

✅ 2. BreadcrumbItem.jsx

✅ 3. BreadcrumbContainer.jsx

✅ Usage Example

💡 Key Features

• 🚀 Fast: No API calls, instant rendering.

• 🛠️ Reusable: Works across all routes.

• 🎯 SEO-Friendly: Uses clean slugs.

• ⚡ Lightweight: Minimal processing.

• 🧩 Customizable: Styling, separators, exclusion.

✅ Benefits

• Improves performance by eliminating API dependency.

• Simplifies breadcrumb logic and maintenance.

• Enhances user experience with dynamic navigation.

• Provides a scalable solution for large applications.

• Full control over breadcrumb paths.

• You can override routes pointing to marketing pages, static pages, etc.

• Flexible label control without extra logic in the component.

🔍 Conclusion

Using slugs instead of label resolvers is a highly efficient way to build breadcrumb navigation in React applications. It reduces complexity, eliminates unnecessary API calls, and offers a fast, clean, and scalable solution.