Choosing the right primitive

Use this page as a short chooser, then follow the component usage pages for the authoritative details.

• Trigger work in the current view: use Button.
• Navigate to another route, page, or document: use Link.
• Show or hide related content: use a disclosure primitive such as Accordion or Collapsible.
• Structure a page or region: start with layouts.
• Build a repeated multi-part flow: check patterns before inventing a new composition.

User intent	Prefer	Main thing to avoid
Trigger work	Button	Link or custom link-like actions
Navigate somewhere	Link	Button used as route or document navigation
Repeated multi-part flow	Patterns	ad hoc assemblies
Arrange page or shell structure	Layouts	generic wrappers that add no value
Existing Salt screen	Salt primitives	recreated native or role-based interactive elements

• Use Button for actions such as save, apply, retry, or open dialog.
• Use Link for real destinations such as routes, pages, help articles, or document downloads.

• Start with a component when you need one UI element with clear semantics.
• Start with a pattern when the job spans multiple components or repeated page structure.

• Prefer the Salt primitive first.
• Add a wrapper only when it adds stable semantics, shared behavior, or a real domain API.

• Button usage
• Link usage
• Layouts overview
• Patterns overview
• Composition pitfalls
• Custom wrappers