jetpack-compose-m3
Expert guidance for working with Wear OS Compose Material3. Use this skill when creating, updating or migrating Wear OS projects. This includes the androidx.wear.compose.material3, androidx.wear.compose.foundation and androidx.wear.compose.navigation3 libraries. Also working with core components such as AppScaffold, ScreenScaffold and TransformingLazyColumn. Migration from earlier versions such as Material 2.5 and Horologist.
Skill body
Prerequisites \& Compatibility
- Wear OS Compose Material3 version: If an internal tool is available to establish the latest stable version
{VERSION}ofandroidx.wear.compose:compose-material3, use that tool.- Otherwise, fetch the official Maven metadata XML to identify
{VERSION}(highest number, ignoring-alpha,-beta, or-rc)- Strict Compliance: If a version is listed as stable, you MUST use it, unless overridden by the user. Do not downgrade based on initial “Unresolved reference” errors in the editor or outdated web search results.
- Otherwise, fetch the official Maven metadata XML to identify
- Kotlin Version: For Wear Compose Material3, use Kotlin 2.0.0 or higher.
- Compose Compiler:
- If Kotlin version is 2.0.0+ , the project must use the
org.jetbrains.kotlin.plugin.composeGradle plugin. - If Kotlin version is < 2.0.0 , the project must use
kotlinCompilerExtensionVersionincomposeOptions, matching the Compose to Kotlin Compatibility Map.- Min SDK: Ensure
minSdkis at least 25 (Wear OS 2.0).
- Min SDK: Ensure
- If Kotlin version is 2.0.0+ , the project must use the
-
Sample Extraction Mandate: Wear Compose libraries ship with an additional JAR file which contains individual samples for each and every component. You MUST NOT propose code changes until the samples in Capability
files are incomplete and NOT a substitute for these samples; bypassing extraction is an environment setup failure.
Gotchas
- Mandatory Sync \& Validation: After updating versions in
libs.versions.tomlorbuild.gradle.kts, you must perform a Gradle sync before refactoring any code. This ensures the environment has resolved the libraries correctly. - Prohibition of Guessing (Error Protocol): If you encounter an ‘Unresolved Reference’ or API mismatch after a successful sync, do not attempt to ‘fix’ it by downgrading the library version.
Capabilities and Tools
Capability 1: Migration
Use this guidance when migrating from an older version of Wear OS Compose or Horologist.
- Unless otherwise indicated by the developer, use the latest stable version of Wear Compose Material3 from
{VERSION}. - Read the migration guide
- Use the official component mappings from the migration guide.
- Before refactoring any component (e.g.,
Chip->Button), check the parameter names, slot types, and “Expressive” design tokens. - Do not use the Horologist Composables, Compose Layout, or Compose Material libraries.
- Always check against the component guidance in Capability #3.
- Expect screenshot tests to fail when a migration has been performed: Even when migrating to very similar components, expected defaults for padding and positioning will have changed. Do not seek to artificially match the pre-migration screenshot, but give preference to the Material3 defaults.
Capability 2: Component samples
Wear Compose includes individual component samples for each and every component,
within the <artifact>-<version>-samples-sources.jar file. Gradle automatically
downloads these JAR files along with the main library JAR when using any of
compose-material3, compose-foundation or compose-navigation3.
Use the canonical component samples whenever adding or adjusting a Wear Compose Material3 component.
STRICT COMPLIANCE: Extraction is NOT optional. You are FORBIDDEN from implementing any code until samples are extracted and read. Bypassing this step with alternative search tools or by assuming library documentation is sufficient is a protocol breach. You MUST verify the local cache by reading a sample file before proceeding.
Step 1: Prepare
- Check the
build.gradle.ktsorlibs.versions.tomlto ensure the Wear Compose version matches{VERSION}. - Ensure that the necessary dependencies are downloaded by doing a Gradle sync.
Step 2: Check the Local Cache
- Define the cache directory path:
<SKILL_ROOT>/samples/{VERSION}/. Do NOT choose your own different location. - Check if this directory exists and contains subdirectories with
.ktfiles.- IF YES (Cache Hit): Proceed to Step 4.
- IF NO (Cache Miss): Proceed to Step 3.
Step 3: Check the Gradle Cache
- Sample sources are stored in the Gradle cache. To avoid slow, brute-force searches:
- Determine the Gradle User Home (usually
~/.gradle, or check$GRADLE_USER_HOME). - The cache root is
<GRADLE_USER_HOME>/caches. Call this<CACHE_ROOT>.
- Determine the Gradle User Home (usually
- Define
{ARTIFACT}as the items in the list["material3", "foundation"]. Also include “navigation3” in the list if theandroidx.wear.compose.navigation3library is being used. -
For each
{ARTIFACT}in the list:- Construct the expected relative path segment for the library:
androidx.wear.compose/compose-{ARTIFACT}/{VERSION}. -
Run a targeted
findcommand. Here is an example which is constructed for efficiency:find <CACHE_ROOT>/modules-2/files-2.1/androidx.wear.compose/compose-{ARTIFACT}/{VERSION}/ \ -name "*samples-sources.jar"
- Construct the expected relative path segment for the library:
-
Use this JAR as the official sample sources.
-
Extract the contents of each JAR to
<SKILL_ROOT>/samples/{VERSION}/{ARTIFACT}/usingunzip -jto flatten the structure. - Proceed directly to step 4.
Step 4: Read Samples and Implement
- Read the relevant
.ktsample files. - Use these official, version-matched samples as the for:
- Required parameters and slot names.
- Default styling and typography tokens.
- Interactive behaviors (e.g.,
onClick,onLongClick). - Component nesting (e.g.,
AppScaffold->ScreenScaffold).
Capability 3: Component guidance
Mandatory: Use this capability as a checklist against any component use. It provides more holistic guidance on how to use each component in practice, beyond the component syntax.
AppScaffoldandScreenScaffold- [ ] Use
AppScaffoldas the outer container, withScreenScaffoldchildren. - [ ] Use only ONE
AppScaffoldand any number ofScreenScaffold.
- [ ] Use
ScalingLazyColumn- UseTransformingLazyColumninstead.-
TransformingLazyColumnYou will need the following imports:
import androidx.wear.compose.foundation.lazy.TransformingLazyColumn import androidx.wear.compose.foundation.lazy.TransformingLazyColumnDefaults import androidx.wear.compose.foundation.lazy.rememberTransformingLazyColumnState // ... import androidx.wear.compose.material3.lazy.rememberTransformationSpec import androidx.wear.compose.material3.lazy.transformedHeightCanonical example:
val columnState = rememberTransformingLazyColumnState() val transformationSpec = rememberTransformationSpec() ScreenScaffold( scrollState = columnState ) { contentPadding -> TransformingLazyColumn( state = columnState, contentPadding = contentPadding ) { item { ListHeader( modifier = Modifier .fillMaxWidth() .transformedHeight(this, transformationSpec) .minimumVerticalContentPadding(ListHeaderDefaults.minimumTopListContentPadding), transformation = SurfaceTransformation(transformationSpec) ) { Text(text = "Header") } } // ... other items item { Button( modifier = Modifier .fillMaxWidth() .transformedHeight(this, transformationSpec) .minimumVerticalContentPadding(ButtonDefaults.minimumVerticalListContentPadding), transformation = SurfaceTransformation(transformationSpec), onClick = { /* ... */ }, icon = { Icon( imageVector = Icons.Default.Build, contentDescription = "build", ) }, ) { Text( text = "Build", maxLines = 1, overflow = TextOverflow.Ellipsis, ) } } } }- [ ] Use
TransformingLazyColumninstead ofScalingLazyColumn - [ ] You must pass the
contentPaddingparameter fromScreenScaffoldto theTransformingLazyColumn. - [ ] Use the
minimumVerticalContentPaddingmodifier to achieve required padding top and bottom.- This expects a value from defaults, such as
ButtonDefaults,CardDefaults, `ListHeaderDefaults. - Note: This is a scoped modifier available within
TransformingLazyColumnItemScope.
- This expects a value from defaults, such as
- [ ] Ensure the list morphs and scales.
- [ ] Use
transformedHeightmodifier. - [ ] Use
transform = SurfaceTransform(...). - [ ] If configuring a list for snapping, use
flingBehaviorandrotaryScrollableBehaviortogether:
val columnState = rememberTransformingLazyColumnState() ScreenScaffold(scrollState = columnState) { contentPadding -> TransformingLazyColumn( state = columnState, flingBehavior = TransformingLazyColumnDefaults.snapFlingBehavior(columnState), rotaryScrollableBehavior = RotaryScrollableDefaults.snapBehavior(columnState) ) { // ... // ... } } - [ ] Use
-
ScreenScaffold- [ ] Guard the
scrollIndicatorwith!LocalScrollCaptureInProgress.current
- [ ] Guard the
-
EdgeButton- [ ] Do NOT use as the final item within a
TransformingLazyColumn. Instead, use the slot inScreenScaffold. - [ ] When used in a
TransformingLazyColumn, add the required overscroll behavior:
val columnState = rememberTransformingLazyColumnState() ScreenScaffold( scrollState = columnState, edgeButton = { EdgeButton( onClick = { /* TODO */ }, modifier = Modifier.scrollable( columnState, orientation = Orientation.Vertical, reverseDirection = true, // Apply overscroll to the EdgeButton for proper scrolling behavior. overscrollEffect = rememberOverscrollEffect(), ) ) { Text("More") } } ) { contentPadding -> TransformingLazyColumn( contentPadding = contentPadding, state = columnState, ) { // ... // ... } } - [ ] Do NOT use as the final item within a
-
Column- [ ] USE as a direct child of
ScreenScaffoldif the screen is will never scroll, even with the largest system font. - [ ] Use
TransformingLazyColumninstead for all other cases.
- [ ] USE as a direct child of
-
Styles
- [ ] Do NOT hard-code text sizes, use
typographyfromMaterialTheme. - [ ] Do NOT hard-code colors, use
colorSchemefromMaterialTheme.
- [ ] Do NOT hard-code text sizes, use
-
Use component defaults
- [ ] Components such as
Buttonhave a correspondingButtonDefaultsobject. - Check for and use the
*Defaultsobject for any component when working with padding and styling values, in preference to hard-coded values.
- [ ] Components such as
-
Use Wear specific previews
- [ ]
WearPreviewDevices - [ ]
WearPreviewFontScales
- [ ]
-
Ambient mode
- [ ] Use
LocalAmbientModeManagerinstead ofAmbientLifecycleObserver.
- [ ] Use
-
Navigation
- [ ] When adding navigation fresh, use Navigation3.
- [ ] For Navigation3 in Wear OS, use
SwipeDismissableSceneStrategy()from the Wear Composecompose-navigation3library.