Keyboard Navigation

Keyboard drag-and-drop works out of the box — no extra configuration required. You only need to make the draggable element focusable.

Demo

Tab to focus an item, then use the keyboard shortcuts shown in the hint bar.

Default key bindings

Action	Keys
Start drag	Space or Enter
Move overlay	Arrow keys
Move faster	Hold Shift while pressing arrows
Drop	Space or Enter
Cancel drag	Escape

Making an element focusable

Use a native <button> (focusable by default) or add tabindex="0" to any element:

<!-- Option A: native button — focusable and keyboard-activated by default -->
<button ref="itemRef" type="button">Drag me</button>

<!-- Option B: any element with tabindex -->
<div ref="itemRef" tabindex="0">Drag me</div>

Both work identically with makeDraggable.

Accessibility attributes

Add aria-grabbed to communicate drag state to screen readers:

<script setup lang="ts">
  import { useTemplateRef } from 'vue';
  import { makeDraggable } from '@vue-dnd-kit/core';

  const itemRef = useTemplateRef<HTMLElement>('itemRef');
  const { isDragging } = makeDraggable(itemRef);
</script>

<template>
  <button
    ref="itemRef"
    type="button"
    :aria-grabbed="isDragging"
    aria-label="Drag this item"
  >
    Drag me
  </button>
</template>

Focus styles

Make sure your draggable elements have clear :focus-visible styles so keyboard users can see which item is focused:

.item:focus-visible {
  outline: 2px solid rgba(99, 102, 241, 0.8);
  outline-offset: 2px;
  box-shadow: 0 0 0 4px rgba(99, 102, 241, 0.2);
}

Customising key bindings

Access the provider's keyboard.keys object to change which keys trigger each action:

import { useDnDProvider } from '@vue-dnd-kit/core';

const provider = useDnDProvider();

// Replace defaults
provider.keyboard.keys.forDrag = ['KeyG'];        // G to grab
provider.keyboard.keys.forDrop = ['KeyG'];        // G to drop
provider.keyboard.keys.forCancel = ['Escape'];
provider.keyboard.keys.forMove = ['ArrowUp', 'ArrowDown', 'ArrowLeft', 'ArrowRight'];
provider.keyboard.keys.forMoveFaster = ['ShiftLeft'];

// Adjust movement speed (px per keypress)
provider.keyboard.step = 8;
provider.keyboard.moveFaster = 4; // multiplier when Shift held

See also

• makeDraggable
• useDnDProvider