MCPInstall

react-flow-advanced

Advanced React Flow patterns for complex use cases. Use when implementing sub-flows, custom connection lines, programmatic layouts, drag-and-drop, undo/redo, or complex state synchronization.

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Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/existential-birds/beagle --skill react-flow-advanced
  1. 01

    Install

    Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.

  2. 02

    Describe the task

    Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads react-flow-advanced automatically when relevant.

  3. 03

    Review the result

    The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Advanced React Flow Patterns

Gates (check before shipping)

Use these as sequenced checks—not “I think it works.”

  1. Sub-flows / groups: Pass: Every parentId matches an existing node id; the parent type is registered in nodeTypes; child positions are relative to the parent as intended (spot-check one drag inside/outside the group).
  2. Custom connection line: Pass: With a valid/invalid drag, stroke or connectionStatus visibly differs; path renders without console errors from getSmoothStepPath (invalid coords).
  3. External drag-and-drop: Pass: onDragOver always preventDefault(); drop position uses screenToFlowPosition (not raw clientX/clientY as flow coords); new node appears under the cursor on the pane.
  4. Undo/redo: Pass: One undo returns to the prior { nodes, edges }; redo restores; rapid changes do not leave canUndo/canRedo inconsistent with visible graph (exercise add → undo → redo once).
  5. Programmatic layout (dagre): Pass: After setNodes, node positions match intended rankdir; fitView runs after layout (e.g. requestAnimationFrame) so the viewport is not stale.
  6. Connect on drop (new node): Pass: Dropping on empty pane creates a node and an edge from the source handle; dropping on a valid target does not duplicate nodes (only the invalid-drop path adds a node).
  7. Selectors / store: Pass: Components that useStore with objects use shallow (or equivalent) so unrelated store updates do not re-render every frame.

Sub-Flows (Nested Nodes)

const nodes = [
  // Parent (group) node
  {
    id: 'group-1',
    type: 'group',
    position: { x: 0, y: 0 },
    style: { width: 400, height: 300, padding: 10 },
    data: { label: 'Group' },
  },
  // Child nodes
  {
    id: 'child-1',
    parentId: 'group-1',        // Reference parent
    extent: 'parent',           // Constrain to parent bounds
    expandParent: true,         // Auto-expand parent if dragged to edge
    position: { x: 20, y: 50 }, // Relative to parent
    data: { label: 'Child 1' },
  },
  {
    id: 'child-2',
    parentId: 'group-1',
    extent: 'parent',
    position: { x: 200, y: 50 },
    data: { label: 'Child 2' },
  },
];

Group Node Component

function GroupNode({ data, id }: NodeProps) {
  return (
    <div className="group-node">
      <div className="group-header">{data.label}</div>
      {/* Children are rendered automatically by React Flow */}
    </div>
  );
}

Custom Connection Line

import { ConnectionLineComponentProps, getSmoothStepPath } from '@xyflow/react';

function CustomConnectionLine({
  fromX, fromY, fromPosition,
  toX, toY, toPosition,
  connectionStatus,
}: ConnectionLineComponentProps) {
  const [path] = getSmoothStepPath({
    sourceX: fromX,
    sourceY: fromY,
    sourcePosition: fromPosition,
    targetX: toX,
    targetY: toY,
    targetPosition: toPosition,
  });

  return (
    <g>
      <path
        d={path}
        fill="none"
        stroke={connectionStatus === 'valid' ? '#22c55e' : '#ef4444'}
        strokeWidth={2}
        strokeDasharray="5 5"
      />
    </g>
  );
}

<ReactFlow connectionLineComponent={CustomConnectionLine} />

Drag and Drop from External Source

import { useCallback, useRef, useState } from 'react';
import { useReactFlow } from '@xyflow/react';

function DnDFlow() {
  const reactFlowWrapper = useRef(null);
  const { screenToFlowPosition, addNodes } = useReactFlow();
  const [reactFlowInstance, setReactFlowInstance] = useState(null);

  const onDragOver = useCallback((event: DragEvent) => {
    event.preventDefault();
    event.dataTransfer.dropEffect = 'move';
  }, []);

  const onDrop = useCallback((event: DragEvent) => {
    event.preventDefault();

    const type = event.dataTransfer.getData('application/reactflow');
    if (!type) return;

    // Convert screen position to flow position
    const position = screenToFlowPosition({
      x: event.clientX,
      y: event.clientY,
    });

    const newNode = {
      id: `${Date.now()}`,
      type,
      position,
      data: { label: `${type} node` },
    };

    addNodes(newNode);
  }, [screenToFlowPosition, addNodes]);

  return (
    <div ref={reactFlowWrapper} style={{ height: '100%' }}>
      <ReactFlow
        onDragOver={onDragOver}
        onDrop={onDrop}
        onInit={setReactFlowInstance}
      />
    </div>
  );
}

// Sidebar component
function Sidebar() {
  const onDragStart = (event: DragEvent, nodeType: string) => {
    event.dataTransfer.setData('application/reactflow', nodeType);
    event.dataTransfer.effectAllowed = 'move';
  };

  return (
    <aside>
      <div draggable onDragStart={(e) => onDragStart(e, 'input')}>
        Input Node
      </div>
      <div draggable onDragStart={(e) => onDragStart(e, 'default')}>
        Default Node
      </div>
    </aside>
  );
}

Undo/Redo

import { useCallback, useState } from 'react';

function useUndoRedo<T>(initialState: T) {
  const [history, setHistory] = useState<T[]>([initialState]);
  const [index, setIndex] = useState(0);

  const state = history[index];

  const setState = useCallback((newState: T | ((prev: T) => T)) => {
    setHistory((prev) => {
      const resolved = typeof newState === 'function'
        ? (newState as (prev: T) => T)(prev[index])
        : newState;

      // Remove future states and add new state
      const newHistory = prev.slice(0, index + 1);
      return [...newHistory, resolved];
    });
    setIndex((i) => i + 1);
  }, [index]);

  const undo = useCallback(() => {
    setIndex((i) => Math.max(0, i - 1));
  }, []);

  const redo = useCallback(() => {
    setIndex((i) => Math.min(history.length - 1, i + 1));
  }, [history.length]);

  const canUndo = index > 0;
  const canRedo = index < history.length - 1;

  return { state, setState, undo, redo, canUndo, canRedo };
}

// Usage
function Flow() {
  const {
    state: { nodes, edges },
    setState,
    undo, redo, canUndo, canRedo
  } = useUndoRedo({ nodes: initialNodes, edges: initialEdges });

  // Capture state on significant changes
  const onNodesChange = useCallback((changes) => {
    const hasPositionChange = changes.some(c => c.type === 'position' && !c.dragging);
    if (hasPositionChange) {
      setState(prev => ({
        nodes: applyNodeChanges(changes, prev.nodes),
        edges: prev.edges,
      }));
    }
  }, [setState]);
}

Programmatic Layout with dagre

import dagre from 'dagre';

interface LayoutOptions {
  direction: 'TB' | 'BT' | 'LR' | 'RL';
  nodeWidth: number;
  nodeHeight: number;
}

function getLayoutedElements(
  nodes: Node[],
  edges: Edge[],
  options: LayoutOptions = { direction: 'TB', nodeWidth: 172, nodeHeight: 36 }
) {
  const g = new dagre.graphlib.Graph();
  g.setGraph({ rankdir: options.direction });
  g.setDefaultEdgeLabel(() => ({}));

  nodes.forEach((node) => {
    g.setNode(node.id, {
      width: node.measured?.width ?? options.nodeWidth,
      height: node.measured?.height ?? options.nodeHeight,
    });
  });

  edges.forEach((edge) => {
    g.setEdge(edge.source, edge.target);
  });

  dagre.layout(g);

  const layoutedNodes = nodes.map((node) => {
    const nodeWithPosition = g.node(node.id);
    return {
      ...node,
      position: {
        x: nodeWithPosition.x - (node.measured?.width ?? options.nodeWidth) / 2,
        y: nodeWithPosition.y - (node.measured?.height ?? options.nodeHeight) / 2,
      },
    };
  });

  return { nodes: layoutedNodes, edges };
}

// Usage after nodes are measured
function Flow() {
  const { fitView } = useReactFlow();

  const onLayout = useCallback((direction: 'TB' | 'LR') => {
    const { nodes: layoutedNodes, edges: layoutedEdges } = getLayoutedElements(
      nodes,
      edges,
      { direction, nodeWidth: 150, nodeHeight: 50 }
    );

    setNodes([...layoutedNodes]);
    setEdges([...layoutedEdges]);

    window.requestAnimationFrame(() => {
      fitView({ duration: 500 });
    });
  }, [nodes, edges, setNodes, setEdges, fitView]);
}

Connection with Edge on Drop

function Flow() {
  const [nodes, setNodes, onNodesChange] = useNodesState(initialNodes);
  const [edges, setEdges, onEdgesChange] = useEdgesState(initialEdges);
  const { screenToFlowPosition } = useReactFlow();

  const onConnectEnd = useCallback(
    (event: MouseEvent | TouchEvent, connectionState: FinalConnectionState) => {
      // Only proceed if dropped on pane (not on a node)
      if (!connectionState.isValid && connectionState.fromHandle) {
        const id = `${Date.now()}`;
        const { clientX, clientY } = 'changedTouches' in event
          ? event.changedTouches[0]
          : event;

        const newNode = {
          id,
          position: screenToFlowPosition({ x: clientX, y: clientY }),
          data: { label: 'New Node' },
        };

        setNodes((nds) => [...nds, newNode]);
        setEdges((eds) => [
          ...eds,
          {
            id: `e-${connectionState.fromNode?.id}-${id}`,
            source: connectionState.fromNode?.id ?? '',
            target: id,
          },
        ]);
      }
    },
    [screenToFlowPosition, setNodes, setEdges]
  );

  return (
    <ReactFlow
      nodes={nodes}
      edges={edges}
      onNodesChange={onNodesChange}
      onEdgesChange={onEdgesChange}
      onConnectEnd={onConnectEnd}
    />
  );
}

Accessing Node Data from Edges

import { useNodesData, type EdgeProps } from '@xyflow/react';

function DataEdge({ source, target, ...props }: EdgeProps) {
  // Get data for source and target nodes
  const nodesData = useNodesData([source, target]);
  const sourceData = nodesData[0];
  const targetData = nodesData[1];

  const [path, labelX, labelY] = getSmoothStepPath(props);

  return (
    <>
      <BaseEdge path={path} />
      <EdgeLabelRenderer>
        <div style={{ transform: `translate(-50%, -50%) translate(${labelX}px, ${labelY}px)` }}>
          {sourceData?.data?.label} → {targetData?.data?.label}
        </div>
      </EdgeLabelRenderer>
    </>
  );
}

Middleware for Node Changes

// Filter or modify changes before they're applied
const onNodesChangeMiddleware = useCallback((changes: NodeChange[]) => {
  // Example: Prevent deletion of certain nodes
  const filteredChanges = changes.filter((change) => {
    if (change.type === 'remove') {
      const node = nodes.find((n) => n.id === change.id);
      return node?.data?.deletable !== false;
    }
    return true;
  });

  setNodes((nds) => applyNodeChanges(filteredChanges, nds));
}, [nodes, setNodes]);

Keyboard Shortcuts

import { useKeyPress } from '@xyflow/react';

function Flow() {
  const { deleteElements, getNodes, getEdges, fitView } = useReactFlow();

  // Ctrl/Cmd + A: Select all
  const selectAllPressed = useKeyPress(['Meta+a', 'Control+a']);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (selectAllPressed) {
      setNodes((nds) => nds.map((n) => ({ ...n, selected: true })));
      setEdges((eds) => eds.map((e) => ({ ...e, selected: true })));
    }
  }, [selectAllPressed]);

  // Custom delete handler
  const deletePressed = useKeyPress(['Backspace', 'Delete']);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (deletePressed) {
      const selectedNodes = getNodes().filter((n) => n.selected);
      const selectedEdges = getEdges().filter((e) => e.selected);
      deleteElements({ nodes: selectedNodes, edges: selectedEdges });
    }
  }, [deletePressed]);
}

Performance: Memoizing Selectors

import { useCallback } from 'react';
import { useStore, type ReactFlowState } from '@xyflow/react';
import { shallow } from 'zustand/shallow';

// Create stable selector outside component
const nodesSelector = (state: ReactFlowState) => state.nodes;

// Or use multiple values with shallow compare
const flowStateSelector = (state: ReactFlowState) => ({
  nodes: state.nodes,
  edges: state.edges,
  viewport: state.transform,
});

function FlowInfo() {
  const { nodes, edges, viewport } = useStore(flowStateSelector, shallow);
  return <div>Nodes: {nodes.length}, Edges: {edges.length}</div>;
}

FAQ

What does the react-flow-advanced skill do?

Advanced React Flow patterns for complex use cases. Use when implementing sub-flows, custom connection lines, programmatic layouts, drag-and-drop, undo/redo, or complex state synchronization.

How do I install react-flow-advanced?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/existential-birds/beagle --skill react-flow-advanced in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/react-flow-advanced/ (personal) or .claude/skills/react-flow-advanced/ (project).

Which AI agents can use react-flow-advanced?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is react-flow-advanced safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains react-flow-advanced?

It is published by existential-birds in existential-birds/beagle. It has 631 recorded installs.

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