Bootstrap Vue Navbar Component

Documentation and examples for the Vue navbar powerful, responsive navigation header component. Includes support for branding, links, dropdowns, and more.

On this page

Supported content

<CNavbar> come with built-in support for a handful of sub-components. Choose from the following as needed:

<CNavbarBrand> for your company, product, or project name.
<CNavbarNav> for a full-height and lightweight navigation (including support for dropdowns).
<CNavbarToggler> for use with our collapse plugin and other navigation toggling behaviors.
Flex and spacing utilities for any form controls and actions.
<CNavbarText> for adding vertically centered strings of text.
<CCollapse> for grouping and hiding navbar contents by a parent breakpoint.

Here's an example of all the sub-components included in a responsive light-themed navbar that automatically collapses at the lg (large) breakpoint.

Basic usage

<CNavbar expand="lg" color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
    <CNavbarToggler @click="visible = !visible"/>
    <CCollapse class="navbar-collapse" :visible="visible">
      <CNavbarNav>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" active>
            Home
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#">Link</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CDropdown variant="nav-item" :popper="false">
          <CDropdownToggle color="secondary">Dropdown button</CDropdownToggle>
          <CDropdownMenu>
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Action</CDropdownItem>
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Another action</CDropdownItem>
            <CDropdownDivider />
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Something else here</CDropdownItem>
          </CDropdownMenu>
        </CDropdown>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" disabled>
            Disabled
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
      </CNavbarNav>
      <CForm class="d-flex">
        <CFormInput type="search" class="me-2" placeholder="Search"/>
        <CButton type="submit" color="success" variant="outline">Search</CButton>
      </CForm>
    </CCollapse>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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Brand

The <CNavbarBrand> can be applied to most elements, but an anchor works best, as some elements might require utility classes or custom styles.

// As a link
<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>
<br/>
// As a heading
<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand class="mb-0 h1">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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Adding images to the <CNavbarBrand> will likely always require custom styles or utilities to properly size. Here are some examples to demonstrate.

// Just an image
<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">
      <img src="/images/brand/coreui-signet.svg" alt="" width="22" height="24"/>
    </CNavbarBrand>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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// Image and text
<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">
      <img src="/images/brand/coreui-signet.svg" alt="" width="22" height="24" class="d-inline-block align-top"/> Bootstrap Vue
    </CNavbarBrand>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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Nav

<CNavbar> navigation is based on <CNavbarNav>. Navigation in navbars will also grow to occupy as much horizontal space as possible to keep your navbar contents securely aligned.

<CNavbar expand="lg" color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
    <CNavbarToggler aria-label="Toggle navigation" aria-expanded={visible} @click="visible = !visible"/>
    <CCollapse class="navbar-collapse" :visible="visible">
      <CNavbarNav>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" active>
            Home
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#">Features</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#">Pricing</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" disabled>Disabled</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
      </CNavbarNav>
    </CCollapse>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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And because we use classes for our navs, you can avoid the list-based approach entirely if you like.

<CNavbar expand="lg" color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
    <CNavbarToggler aria-label="Toggle navigation" aria-expanded={visible} @click="visible = !visible"/>
    <CCollapse class="navbar-collapse" :visible="visible">
      <CNavbarNav component="nav">
        <CNavLink href="#" active>
            Home
          </CNavLink>
        <CNavLink href="#">Features</CNavLink>
        <CNavLink href="#">Pricing</CNavLink>
        <CNavLink href="#" disabled>Disabled</CNavLink>
      </CNavbarNav>
    </CCollapse>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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You can also use dropdowns in your navbar. Please note that <CDropdown> component requires variant="nav-item".

<CNavbar expand="lg" color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
    <CNavbarToggler aria-label="Toggle navigation" aria-expanded={visible} @click="visible = !visible"/>
    <CCollapse class="navbar-collapse" :visible="visible">
      <CNavbarNav>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" active>
            Home
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#">Features</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#">Pricing</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CDropdown variant="nav-item" :popper="false">
          <CDropdownToggle>Dropdown link</CDropdownToggle>
          <CDropdownMenu>
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Action</CDropdownItem>
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Another action</CDropdownItem>
            <CDropdownDivider />
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Something else here</CDropdownItem>
          </CDropdownMenu>
        </CDropdown>
      </CNavbarNav>
    </CCollapse>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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Forms

Place various form controls and components within a navbar:

<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CForm class="d-flex">
      <CFormInput type="search" class="me-2" placeholder="Search"/>
      <CButton type="submit" color="success" variant="outline">Search</CButton>
    </CForm>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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Immediate child elements of <CNavbar> use flex layout and will default to justify-content: space-between. Use additional flex utilitiesopen in new window as needed to adjust this behavior.

<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
    <CForm class="d-flex">
      <CFormInput type="search" class="me-2" placeholder="Search"/>
      <CButton type="submit" color="success" variant="outline">Search</CButton>
    </CForm>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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Input groups work, too. If your navbar is an entire form, or mostly a form, you can use the <CForm> element as the container and save some HTML.

<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CForm class="container-fluid">
    <CInputGroup>
      <CInputGroupText id="basic-addon1">@</CInputGroupText>
      <CFormInput placeholder="Username" aria-label="Username" aria-describedby="basic-addon1"/> 
    </CInputGroup>
  </CForm>
</CNavbar>

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Various buttons are supported as part of these navbar forms, too. This is also a great reminder that vertical alignment utilities can be used to align different sized elements.

<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CForm class="container-fluid justify-content-start">
    <CButton type="button" color="success" variant="outline" class="me-2">Main button</CButton>
    <CButton type="button" color="secondary" variant="outline" size="sm">Smaller button</CButton>
  </CForm>
</CNavbar>

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Text

Navbars may contain bits of text with the help of <CNavbarText>. This class adjusts vertical alignment and horizontal spacing for strings of text.

<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarText>Navbar text with an inline element</CNavbarText>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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Color schemes

Theming the navbar has never been easier thanks to the combination of theming classes and background-color utilities. Set color-scheme="light" for use with light background colors, or color-scheme="dark" for dark background colors. Then, customize with .bg-* utilities.

<CNavbar expand="lg" color-scheme="dark" class="bg-dark">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
    <CNavbarToggler aria-label="Toggle navigation" aria-expanded={visible} @click="visible = !visible"/>
    <CCollapse class="navbar-collapse" :visible="visible">
      <CNavbarNav>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" active>
            Home
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#">Link</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CDropdown variant="nav-item" :popper="false">
          <CDropdownToggle color="secondary">Dropdown button</CDropdownToggle>
          <CDropdownMenu>
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Action</CDropdownItem>
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Another action</CDropdownItem>
            <CDropdownDivider />
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Something else here</CDropdownItem>
          </CDropdownMenu>
        </CDropdown>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" disabled>
            Disabled
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
      </CNavbarNav>
      <CForm class="d-flex">
        <CFormInput type="search" class="me-2" placeholder="Search"/>
        <CButton type="submit" color="light" variant="outline">Search</CButton>
      </CForm>
    </CCollapse>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>
<br/>
<CNavbar expand="lg" color-scheme="dark" class="bg-primary">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
    <CNavbarToggler aria-label="Toggle navigation" aria-expanded={visible} @click="visible = !visible"/>
    <CCollapse class="navbar-collapse" :visible="visible">
      <CNavbarNav>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" active>
            Home
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#">Link</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CDropdown variant="nav-item" :popper="false">
          <CDropdownToggle color="secondary">Dropdown button</CDropdownToggle>
          <CDropdownMenu>
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Action</CDropdownItem>
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Another action</CDropdownItem>
            <CDropdownDivider />
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Something else here</CDropdownItem>
          </CDropdownMenu>
        </CDropdown>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" disabled>
            Disabled
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
      </CNavbarNav>
      <CForm class="d-flex">
        <CFormInput type="search" class="me-2" placeholder="Search"/>
        <CButton type="submit" color="light" variant="outline">Search</CButton>
      </CForm>
    </CCollapse>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>
<br/>
<CNavbar expand="lg" color-scheme="light" style={{backgroundColor: '#e3f2fd'}}>
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
    <CNavbarToggler aria-label="Toggle navigation" aria-expanded={visible} @click="visible = !visible"/>
    <CCollapse class="navbar-collapse" :visible="visible">
      <CNavbarNav>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" active>
            Home
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#">Link</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CDropdown variant="nav-item" :popper="false">
          <CDropdownToggle color="secondary">Dropdown button</CDropdownToggle>
          <CDropdownMenu>
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Action</CDropdownItem>
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Another action</CDropdownItem>
            <CDropdownDivider />
            <CDropdownItem href="#">Something else here</CDropdownItem>
          </CDropdownMenu>
        </CDropdown>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" disabled>
            Disabled
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
      </CNavbarNav>
      <CForm class="d-flex">
        <CFormInput type="search" class="me-2" placeholder="Search"/>
        <CButton type="submit" color="primary" variant="outline">Search</CButton>
      </CForm>
    </CCollapse>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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Containers

Although it's not required, you can wrap a <CNavbar> in a <CContainer> to center it on a page–though note that an inner container is still required. Or you can add a container inside the <CNavbar> to only center the contents of a fixed or static top navbar.

<CContainer>
  <CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
    <CContainer fluid>
      <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
    </CContainer>
  </CNavbar>
</CContainer>

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Use any of the responsive containers to change how wide the content in your navbar is presented.

<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer breakpoint="md">
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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Placement

Use our placement properly to place navbars in non-static positions. Choose from fixed to the top, fixed to the bottom, or stickied to the top (scrolls with the page until it reaches the top, then stays there). Fixed navbars use position: fixed, meaning they're pulled from the normal flow of the DOM and may require custom CSS (e.g., padding-top on the <body>) to prevent overlap with other elements.

Also note that .sticky-top uses position: sticky, which isn't fully supported in every browseropen in new window.

<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Default</CNavbarBrand>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light" placement="fixed-top">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Fixed top</CNavbarBrand>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light" placement="fixed-bottom">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Fixed bottom</CNavbarBrand>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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<CNavbar color-scheme="light" class="bg-light" placement="sticky-top">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Sticky top</CNavbarBrand>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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Responsive behaviors

Navbars can use <CNavbarToggler>, <CCollapse>, and expand="{sm|md|lg|xl|xxl}" property to determine when their content collapses behind a button. In combination with other utilities, you can easily choose when to show or hide particular elements.

For navbars that never collapse, add the expand boolean property on the <CNavbar>. For navbars that always collapse, don't add any property.

Toggler

Navbar togglers are left-aligned by default, but should they follow a sibling element like a <CNavbarBrand>, they'll automatically be aligned to the far right. Reversing your markup will reverse the placement of the toggler. Below are examples of different toggle styles.

With no <CNavbarBrand> shown at the smallest breakpoint:

<CNavbar expand="lg" color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarToggler aria-label="Toggle navigation" aria-expanded={visible} @click="visible = !visible"/>
    <CCollapse class="navbar-collapse" :visible="visible">
      <CNavbarBrand href="#">Hidden brand</CNavbarBrand>
      <CNavbarNav class="me-auto mb-2 mb-lg-0">
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" active>
            Home
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#">Link</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" disabled>
            Disabled
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
      </CNavbarNav>
      <CForm class="d-flex">
        <CFormInput type="search" class="me-2" placeholder="Search"/>
        <CButton type="submit" color="success" variant="outline">Search</CButton>
      </CForm>
    </CCollapse>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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With a brand name shown on the left and toggler on the right:

<CNavbar expand="lg" color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
    <CNavbarToggler aria-label="Toggle navigation" aria-expanded={visible} @click="visible = !visible"/>
    <CCollapse class="navbar-collapse" :visible="visible">
      <CNavbarNav class="me-auto mb-2 mb-lg-0">
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" active>
            Home
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#">Link</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" disabled>
            Disabled
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
      </CNavbarNav>
      <CForm class="d-flex">
        <CFormInput type="search" class="me-2" placeholder="Search"/>
        <CButton type="submit" color="success" variant="outline">Search</CButton>
      </CForm>
    </CCollapse>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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With a toggler on the left and brand name on the right:

<CNavbar expand="lg" color-scheme="light" class="bg-light">
  <CContainer fluid>
    <CNavbarToggler aria-label="Toggle navigation" aria-expanded={visible} @click="visible = !visible"/>
    <CNavbarBrand href="#">Navbar</CNavbarBrand>
    <CCollapse class="navbar-collapse" :visible="visible">
      <CNavbarNav class="me-auto mb-2 mb-lg-0">
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" active>
            Home
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#">Link</CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
        <CNavItem>
          <CNavLink href="#" disabled>
            Disabled
          </CNavLink>
        </CNavItem>
      </CNavbarNav>
      <CForm class="d-flex">
        <CFormInput type="search" class="me-2" placeholder="Search"/>
        <CButton type="submit" color="success" variant="outline">Search</CButton>
      </CForm>
    </CCollapse>
  </CContainer>
</CNavbar>

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External content

Sometimes you want to use the collapse plugin to trigger a container element for content that structurally sits outside of the <CNavbar>.

Collapsed content

Toggleable via the navbar brand.

<template>
  <CCollapse id="navbarToggleExternalContent" :visible="visibleExternalContent">
    <div class="bg-dark p-4">
      <h5 class="text-white h4">Collapsed content</h5>
      <span class="text-medium-emphasis-inverse">Toggleable via the navbar brand.</span>
    </div>
  </CCollapse>
  <CNavbar colorScheme="dark" class="bg-dark">
    <CContainer fluid>
      <CNavbarToggler
        aria-controls="navbarToggleExternalContent"
        aria-label="Toggle navigation"
        @click="visibleExternalContent = !visibleExternalContent"
      />
    </CContainer>
  </CNavbar>
</template>
<script>
  export default {
    data() {
      return { 
        visibleExternalContent: false,
      }
    }
  }
</script>

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Offcanvas

Transform your expanding and collapsing navbar into an offcanvas drawer with the offcanvas plugin. We extend both the offcanvas default styles and use our expand="*" prop to create a dynamic and flexible navigation sidebar.

In the example below, to create an offcanvas navbar that is always collapsed across all breakpoints, omit the expand="*" prop entirely.

To create an offcanvas navbar that expands into a normal navbar at a specific breakpoint like xxl, use expand="xxl" property.

API

CNavbar

import { CNavbar } from '@coreui/bootstrap-vue'
// or
import CNavbar from '@coreui/bootstrap-vue/src/components/navbar/CNavbar'

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Props

Prop name	Description	Type	Values	Default
color	* Sets the color context of the component to one of Bootstrap Vue’s themed colors.	string	`'primary'`, `'secondary'`, `'success'`, `'danger'`, `'warning'`, `'info'`, `'dark'`, `'light'`, `string`
color-scheme	Sets if the color of text should be colored for a light or dark dark background.	string	`'dark'`, `'light'`	-
component	Component used for the root node. Either a string to use a HTML element or a component.	string	-	'nav'
container	Defines optional container wrapping children elements.	boolean\|string	`boolean`, `'sm'`, `'md'`, `'lg'`, `'xl'`, `'xxl'`, `'fluid'`	-
expand	Defines the responsive breakpoint to determine when content collapses.	boolean\|string	`boolean`, `'sm'`, `'md'`, `'lg'`, `'xl'`, `'xxl'`	-
placement	Place component in non-static positions.	string	`'fixed-top'`, `'fixed-bottom'`, `'sticky-top'`	-

CNavbarBrand

import { CNavbarBrand } from '@coreui/bootstrap-vue'
// or
import CNavbarBrand from '@coreui/bootstrap-vue/src/components/navbar/CNavbarBrand'

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Props

Prop name	Description	Type	Values	Default
component	Component used for the root node. Either a string to use a HTML element or a component.	string	-	'a'
href	The href attribute specifies the URL of the page the link goes to.	string	-	-

CNavbarNav

import { CNavbarNav } from '@coreui/bootstrap-vue'
// or
import CNavbarNav from '@coreui/bootstrap-vue/src/components/navbar/CNavbarNav'

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Props

Prop name	Description	Type	Values	Default
component	Component used for the root node. Either a string to use a HTML element or a component.	string	-	'ul'

Bootstrap Vue Navbar Component

Supported content #

Basic usage #

Brand #

Nav #

Forms #

Text #

Color schemes #

Containers #

Placement #

Responsive behaviors #

Toggler #

External content #

Collapsed content

Offcanvas #

API #

CNavbar #

Props #

CNavbarBrand #

Props #

CNavbarNav #

Props #

Supported content

Basic usage

Brand

Nav

Forms

Text

Color schemes

Containers

Placement

Responsive behaviors

Toggler

External content

Offcanvas

API

CNavbar

Props

CNavbarBrand

Props

CNavbarNav

Props