EUI tooltip content: no interactive elements

Applies to: EuiToolTip, EuiIconTip — the content and title props

Tooltip content and title render inside a portal with role="tooltip". The overlay only appears while the trigger is hovered or focused and is dismissed on blur, so any focusable element placed inside it is unreachable by keyboard and assistive-technology users. Use EuiPopover when the content needs to be interactive.

Related guides: overlays.md (EuiPopover for interactive content) · tooltip_icon.md (wrapping EuiButtonIcon with EuiToolTip) · icons_and_tooltips.md (EuiIconTip vs EuiToolTip + EuiIcon).

Canonical usage

• EuiToolTip / EuiIconTip content and title may contain:
  • Plain strings (preferred — easy to localize and read).
  • Non-interactive JSX — text nodes, <span>, <p>, EuiText, EuiIcon, and the display-only badges/cards (EuiBadge, EuiBetaBadge, EuiCard) used without onClick / href.
• They must not contain anything focusable:
  • Native <a>, <button>, <input>, <select>, <textarea>.
  • Interactive EUI components — EuiLink, EuiButton, EuiButtonEmpty, EuiButtonIcon, EuiFieldText, EuiFieldNumber, EuiFieldSearch, EuiFieldPassword, EuiTextArea, EuiSelect, EuiSuperSelect, EuiComboBox, EuiSelectable, EuiSwitch, EuiCheckbox, EuiRadio, EuiRange, EuiDualRange, EuiColorPicker, EuiDatePicker, EuiSuperDatePicker, EuiFilterButton, EuiPagination, EuiTab, EuiTreeView, EuiContextMenuItem, EuiKeyPadMenuItem, EuiListGroupItem, EuiBreadcrumbs, EuiBasicTable, EuiInMemoryTable, EuiCheckableCard, …
• The rule searches recursively — interactive elements nested inside fragments, conditional renders (cond && …, cond ? … : …), or wrapper elements are reported too.
• When users need to interact with the content (click a link, fill a field), switch the wrapper to EuiPopover triggered by an explicit click — never by hover.

Manual-review cases (rule is silent)

• Variable content — content={tooltipContent} / title={titleNode} is intentionally skipped because it cannot be statically analyzed. Trace the variable and verify it never holds focusable JSX.
• Conditionally-interactive components — EuiBadge, EuiBetaBadge, EuiCard are excluded from the rule because they render as a plain element without onClick / href. As soon as you add onClick or href, they become focusable and the same restriction applies — move the interaction out of the tooltip.

Examples

<EuiToolTip content="Just text">
  <EuiButton>Hover me</EuiButton>
</EuiToolTip>

<EuiToolTip content={<EuiText><p>Description</p></EuiText>}>
  <EuiButton>Hover me</EuiButton>
</EuiToolTip>

<EuiIconTip content="Informational text" type="info" />

// Display-only badge is fine
<EuiToolTip content={<EuiBadge>v2.0</EuiBadge>}>
  <EuiButton>Hover me</EuiButton>
</EuiToolTip>

Common mistakes

// WRONG — link inside tooltip is not keyboard-reachable
<EuiToolTip content={<EuiLink href="/docs">Learn more</EuiLink>}>
  <EuiButton>Hover me</EuiButton>
</EuiToolTip>

// RIGHT — switch to EuiPopover so the link participates in the focus order
const [isOpen, setIsOpen] = useState(false);
const togglePopover = () => setIsOpen((open) => !open);
const closePopover = () => setIsOpen(false);

<EuiPopover
  button={<EuiButton onClick={togglePopover}>More info</EuiButton>}
  isOpen={isOpen}
  closePopover={closePopover}
>
  <EuiLink href="/docs">Learn more</EuiLink>
</EuiPopover>

// WRONG — button inside `EuiIconTip` content
<EuiIconTip content={<EuiButton>Click</EuiButton>} type="info" />

// RIGHT — keep the icon tip purely informational
<EuiIconTip content="Informational text" type="info" />

// WRONG — interactive element inside `title` is also reported
<EuiToolTip title={<EuiLink href="#">Learn more</EuiLink>} content="Info">
  <EuiButton>Hover</EuiButton>
</EuiToolTip>

// WRONG — interactive child wrapped in a fragment is reported recursively
<EuiToolTip content={<><span>Text</span><EuiLink href="#">Link</EuiLink></>}>
  <EuiButton>Hover</EuiButton>
</EuiToolTip>

// WRONG — interactive child behind `cond && …` is reported
<EuiToolTip content={<span>{cond && <EuiLink href="#">Link</EuiLink>}</span>}>
  <EuiButton>Hover</EuiButton>
</EuiToolTip>

// WRONG — interactive child inside a ternary is reported
<EuiToolTip content={cond ? <EuiLink href="#">Link</EuiLink> : null}>
  <EuiButton>Hover</EuiButton>
</EuiToolTip>

// WRONG — conditionally-interactive badge with onClick becomes focusable
<EuiToolTip content={<EuiBadge onClick={onClick}>Open</EuiBadge>}>
  <EuiButton>Hover</EuiButton>
</EuiToolTip>