Compose Navigation in KMP: Patterns That Scale

Navigation in Compose Multiplatform is evolving fast. After trying Voyager, Decompose, and the official Compose Navigation, here are the patterns we settled on at MBS for our production apps.

The Navigation Challenge in KMP

Unlike single-platform apps, KMP navigation must work across Android (with its back stack), iOS (with swipe-to-go-back), and Desktop (with window management). The solution must handle deep links, state restoration, and type-safe argument passing — all in shared code.

Our Recommended Stack

For most KMP projects, we recommend Decompose for navigation logic and Compose Multiplatform for UI rendering. Decompose gives you lifecycle-aware components with proper back stack management on each platform. It integrates cleanly with Koin for DI and supports deep linking out of the box.

Patterns That Scale

Use a sealed class hierarchy for your navigation destinations. Keep navigation logic in your shared module. Use slot-based navigation for dialogs and bottom sheets. For tab-based apps, use child stack per tab with independent back stacks. These patterns have scaled to apps with 50+ screens in our production codebase.

Want to see these patterns in action? Our KMP Mastery Course implements navigation from scratch in a real production app. Module 2 covers Compose Navigation patterns in depth.