Indicator

Pins a small thing — an unread count, a status dot, a "NEW" ribbon — to the corner of any target: a bell icon, an avatar, a card, a button.

It exists so you stop hand-rolling absolute positioning with negative corner offsets on every one of them. That pattern is exactly the raw-div scaffolding a component library is supposed to replace — and it silently breaks in RTL.

The indicator is as wide as its target in any container, a stack and a grid included, so the badge stays on the target's corner. To have it fill its container together with a target that does, such as a card in a grid cell, give both of them class="w-full".

Basic Usage

An unread count on a bell

<x-wirekit::indicator>
    <x-wirekit::button intent="neutral" surface="ghost" aria-label="Notifications">
        <x-wirekit::icon name="bell" size="md" />
    </x-wirekit::button>
    <x-slot:badge>
        <x-wirekit::badge intent="danger" size="sm">3</x-wirekit::badge>
    </x-slot:badge>
</x-wirekit::indicator>

Corners

position is logical: end is the right corner in LTR and the left corner in RTL, so the badge follows the reading direction on its own.

Every corner

1 2 3 4

<x-wirekit::row gap="2xl" align="center" wrap class="px-2">
    <x-wirekit::indicator position="top-end">
        <x-wirekit::avatar alt="Ada Lovelace" size="md" />
        <x-slot:badge><x-wirekit::badge intent="success" size="sm">1</x-wirekit::badge></x-slot:badge>
    </x-wirekit::indicator>
    <x-wirekit::indicator position="top-start">
        <x-wirekit::avatar alt="Grace Hopper" size="md" />
        <x-slot:badge><x-wirekit::badge intent="info" size="sm">2</x-wirekit::badge></x-slot:badge>
    </x-wirekit::indicator>
    <x-wirekit::indicator position="bottom-end">
        <x-wirekit::avatar alt="Alan Turing" size="md" />
        <x-slot:badge><x-wirekit::badge intent="warning" size="sm">3</x-wirekit::badge></x-slot:badge>
    </x-wirekit::indicator>
    <x-wirekit::indicator position="bottom-start">
        <x-wirekit::avatar alt="Katherine Johnson" size="md" />
        <x-slot:badge><x-wirekit::badge intent="neutral" size="sm">4</x-wirekit::badge></x-slot:badge>
    </x-wirekit::indicator>
</x-wirekit::row>

Offset

By default the badge is centered on the corner. offset nudges it further out.

Nudged further out

9 9

<x-wirekit::row gap="lg" align="center">
    <x-wirekit::indicator>
        <x-wirekit::avatar alt="Centered on the corner" size="md" />
        <x-slot:badge><x-wirekit::badge intent="danger" size="sm">9</x-wirekit::badge></x-slot:badge>
    </x-wirekit::indicator>
    <x-wirekit::indicator offset="4px">
        <x-wirekit::avatar alt="Nudged out by 4px" size="md" />
        <x-slot:badge><x-wirekit::badge intent="danger" size="sm">9</x-wirekit::badge></x-slot:badge>
    </x-wirekit::indicator>
</x-wirekit::row>

Naming the badge

The badge must say what it means. A bare "3" next to a bell tells a screen-reader user nothing.

{{-- 1. A count: name it, and hide the raw number from assistive tech --}}
<x-wirekit::indicator>
    <x-wirekit::button aria-label="Notifications">
        <x-wirekit::icon name="bell" size="md" />
    </x-wirekit::button>
    <x-slot:badge>
        <x-wirekit::badge intent="danger" size="sm">
            <span aria-hidden="true">{{ $unread }}</span>
            <span class="sr-only">{{ $unread }} unread notifications</span>
        </x-wirekit::badge>
    </x-slot:badge>
</x-wirekit::indicator>

{{-- 2. A purely decorative presence dot: without a label it hides itself, so say it elsewhere --}}
<x-wirekit::indicator position="bottom-end">
    <x-wirekit::avatar :alt="$user->name" />
    <x-slot:badge>
        <x-wirekit::status-dot intent="success" size="lg" />
    </x-slot:badge>
</x-wirekit::indicator>
<span class="sr-only">{{ $user->name }} is online</span>

Props

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`position`	string	`'top-end'`	`top-end`, `top-start`, `bottom-end`, `bottom-start` — logical, so `end` follows the reading direction
`offset`	string\|null	`null`	Nudge the badge further out (any CSS length); default centers it on the corner
`scope`	string\|null	`null`	Scoped personalization name

Slots

Slot	Description
default	The target being decorated
`badge`	The thing anchored to the corner

Accessibility

The badge carries its own meaning. Indicator only positions it. A count needs a real name (3 unread notifications), and a decorative dot needs aria-hidden plus the state stated elsewhere — see the examples above.
The badge is pointer-events: none, so it never swallows a click meant for the target underneath. Anything genuinely interactive inside it (a link, a button) gets pointer events back automatically.
The badge is out of flow, so decorating a target never resizes it — no layout shift, no touch target shrinking.
RTL is automatic: placement uses logical insets, so end moves to the left corner under dir="rtl" with no extra rules.

Keyboard Interaction

This component is presentational and does not respond to keyboard input. The target and any control inside the badge keep their own keyboard behavior.

Pitfalls

Do not leave a bare number as the whole badge. "3" is not an accessible name — say "3 unread notifications".
Do not put your main action in the badge. It is a decoration on the target, not a second control competing for the same corner.
Do not hand-roll the absolute-corner-offset pattern. That is what this replaces — and it does not mirror in RTL.

Design Tokens

Element	Token
Corner nudge	`--indicator-wk-offset` (default `0px`)

The badge's own colors and shape come from whatever you place in the slot — usually Badge.