Detecting the Escape key is essential for implementing intuitive UI interactions like closing modals, canceling operations, and providing exit paths in web applications. As the creator of CoreUI with over 25 years of web development experience, I’ve implemented Escape key detection in countless modal dialogs and overlay components. The most reliable approach is using the keydown event listener and checking for event.key === 'Escape'. This method provides consistent behavior across all modern browsers and follows accessibility best practices.