How to get Context in Jetpack Compose

Question

I am trying to show a Toast message when I click on the item, but how do I get the context to pass the Toast class?

fun createListItem(itemIndex: Int) {
    Padding(left = 8.dp, right = 8.dp, top = 8.dp, bottom = 8.dp) {
        FlexRow(crossAxisAlignment = CrossAxisAlignment.Center) {
            expanded(1.0f) {
                Text("Item $itemIndex")
            }
            inflexible {
                Button(
                    "Button $itemIndex",
                    style = ContainedButtonStyle(),
                    onClick = {
                        Toast.makeText(
                            this@MainActivity,
                            "Item name $itemIndex",
                            Toast.LENGTH_SHORT
                        ).show()
                    })
            }
        }
    }
}

You might want to explain exactly what your problem was. I have used Toast in onClick handlers in Compose without a problem. If you were getting a compile error, please provide the complete details of the error. If you were getting a runtime error, please edit your question and post the stack trace. — CommonsWare
– CommonsWare, Commented Nov 7, 2019 at 12:04
FYI: while the answers below are valid, the compose team now recommends using Snackbar over Toast in Compose: kotlinlang.slack.com/archives/CJLTWPH7S/…. — Raman
– Raman, Commented Apr 19, 2021 at 18:57

Rosário P. Fernandes · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-01 09:20:24Z

409

Update March 2021: The previous answer has been deprecated. You should now use:

val context = LocalContext.current

Previous answer for reference:

You can access to context with define ambientContext.

Example:

val context = ContextAmbient.current

edited Mar 1, 2021 at 9:20

Rosário P. Fernandes

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answered Nov 13, 2019 at 9:46

Raka Adi Nugroho

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7 Comments

Raka Adi Nugroho Over a year ago

compose is declarative & as a tree, so if you have complex trees and you need some state that could not provided from root component, you can use ambient or memo

Vladimir Over a year ago

Is there any doc that explains the use of this unaryPlus operator? I can't find anything solid to understand what it is and how to use it @Raka

Alex Zezekalo Over a year ago

When I add val context = +ambient(ContextAmbient) to Clickable then get java.lang.IllegalStateException: Composition requires an active composition context

Raka Adi Nugroho Over a year ago

please show your code (by gist.github.com) @AlexZezekalo

Alex Zezekalo Over a year ago

@RakaAdiNugroho I found out that I used a wrong place for getting context: firstly I wrote <code>val context = +ambient(ContextAmbient)<code> inside Clickable and it was the reason of that exception. Then I put this line out of the Clickable to the head of the function and everything became Ok. My fault.

|

Ahmed Bakhet · Accepted Answer · 2022-08-16 04:12:59Z

97

ContextAmbient and AmbientContext has been deprecated.

You can replace them with LocalContext

Example:

val context = LocalContext.current

edited Aug 16, 2022 at 4:12

answered Feb 12, 2021 at 13:56

Ahmed Bakhet

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3 Comments

Cypher Over a year ago

How can I use this val context = LocalContext.current as a global variable in my Activity?

nichidori Over a year ago

@gauravkumar I think the most you can do is declaring it as the first line in setContent method because it only works inside composable function. If you need a context outside setContent, just use this.

Saty Over a year ago

Android changes faster than the speed of light.😁. I have never used ContextAmbient and AmbientContext in my life.

mitch · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-06 21:29:23Z

42

~~ContextAmbient.current~~ is deprecated as of alpha-09.

~~AmbientContext.current~~ is deprecated. I think as of alpha-11.

LocalContext.current is how you get the context in a composable now.

edited Apr 6, 2021 at 21:29

answered Dec 23, 2020 at 19:30

mitch

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Comments

Anas Mehar · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-13 09:38:08Z

37

ContextAmbient and AmbientContext is deprecated

Update

Now Jetpack way to do this has been updated. It's now:

val context = LocalContext.current

edited May 13, 2022 at 9:38

answered Nov 7, 2019 at 7:51

Anas Mehar

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2 Comments

IgorGanapolsky Over a year ago

What about Application context?

johngray1965 Over a year ago

@IgorGanapolsky Once you have the local context, context.getApplicationContext()

Ryan M · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-16 23:46:58Z

36

The way to do this has been updated. It's now:

val context = LocalContext.current

LocalContext docs

edited Apr 16, 2021 at 23:46

answered Mar 9, 2020 at 20:50

Ryan M♦

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Comments

0xBADABA55 · Accepted Answer · 2024-10-15 06:14:06Z

33

LocalContext.current is the right approach. But the problem is you can't use LocalContext.current inside a @Composable function.

You need to create separate function to use Context:

@Composable
fun DoneButton() {
    val context = LocalContext.current
    Button(onClick = { showToast(context, "Button clicked")}) {
        Text(text = "Done")
    }
}

fun showToast(context: Context, msg: String) {
    Toast.makeText(context, msg, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()
}

edited Oct 15, 2024 at 6:14

0xBADABA55

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answered Jul 5, 2021 at 10:48

Ranjithkumar

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1 Comment

0xBADABA55 Over a year ago

This answer is somewhat contradictory. You definitely can use LocalContext.current inside a @Composable, it's just that you can't use it from inside the lambda argument scope.

Brian Mutiso · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-28 21:09:38Z

14

ContextAmbient.current has been deprecated, use val context = LocalContext.current instead.

edited Jul 28, 2021 at 21:09

answered Dec 23, 2020 at 15:24

Brian Mutiso

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Comments

brucemax · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-06 20:48:42Z

10

Some useful if you need get context as Activity from last Android Studio template:

val view = LocalView.current
(view.context as Activity).<activity method>

Better solution

fun Context.getActivity(): Activity? = when (this) {
    is Activity -> this
    is ContextWrapper -> baseContext.getActivity()
    else -> null
}

val activity = LocalContext.current.getActivity()

edited Feb 6, 2022 at 20:48

answered Nov 20, 2021 at 0:29

brucemax

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2 Comments

Emad Razavi Over a year ago

It is not safe as the context may not be an activity.

brucemax Over a year ago

@EmadRazavi Agree, I updated my answer

Ali Azaz Alam · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-25 11:47:46Z

6

For getting context in jetpack compose:

val context = ContextAmbient.current

Working on 0.1.0-dev14

How to use it in TOAST:

@Composable
fun cardViewImplementer(item: Int) {
   val context = ContextAmbient.current
   Card(
     shape = RoundedCornerShape(10.dp),
     modifier = Modifier.padding(10.dp)
   ) {
     Box(
        modifier = Modifier
            .fillMaxWidth()
            .drawShadow(5.dp)
            .clickable(onClick = {
                Toast.makeText(context, "Clicked $item", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
            }), children = {

        })
}

For accessing the Resource:

Text("Read this string: "+context.getString(R.string.name))

edited Jun 25, 2020 at 11:47

answered Jun 25, 2020 at 11:41

Ali Azaz Alam

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1 Comment

SMBiggs Over a year ago

What does the unary plus mean in this context? (pun intended)

Gianluca Veschi · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-24 21:31:22Z

5

Issues with compose_version = '1.0.0-alpha12' ? AmbientContext is now LocalContext

answered Feb 24, 2021 at 21:31

Gianluca Veschi

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Comments

Nazanin Nasab · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-16 16:02:41Z

2

You can use the LocalUriHandler:

val handler = LocalUriHandler.currenthandler 

Button( 
    onClick = { handler.openUri("https://www.stackoverflow.com") } 
) {    
     Text("Open") 
}

answered Oct 16, 2022 at 16:02

Nazanin Nasab

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Comments

Tawhid Monowar · Accepted Answer · 2025-06-20 08:24:12Z

In Jetpack Compose, you can get the Context using:

val context = LocalContext.current

It’s the easiest and most Compose-friendly way to do things like showing a Toast.

So if you want to show a Toast when clicking a button, your code should look like this:

@Composable
fun CreateListItem(itemIndex: Int) {
    val context = LocalContext.current

    Row(modifier = Modifier.padding(8.dp)) {
        Text("Item $itemIndex", modifier = Modifier.weight(1f))
        Button(onClick = {
            Toast.makeText(context, "Item name $itemIndex", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
        }) {
            Text("Button $itemIndex")
        }
    }
}

Other (less common) ways:

Pass context as a parameter from your Activity or ViewModel.
Use LocalView.current.context if you’re already working with views.

Just stick with LocalContext.current in most cases it works great!

Sharath kumar · Accepted Answer · 2025-06-20 12:26:43Z

Modify your createListItem function to accept a Context parameter:

fun createListItem(itemIndex: Int, context: Context) {
    Padding(left = 8.dp, right = 8.dp, top = 8.dp, bottom = 8.dp) {
        FlexRow(crossAxisAlignment = CrossAxisAlignment.Center) {
            expanded(1.0f) {
                Text("Item $itemIndex")
            }
            inflexible {
                Button(
                    "Button $itemIndex",
                    style = ContainedButtonStyle(),
                    onClick = {
                        Toast.makeText(
                            context,
                            "Item name $itemIndex",
                            Toast.LENGTH_SHORT
                        ).show()
                    }
                )
            }
        }
    }
}

Then call createListItem like this from an activity or composable that has access to context:

createListItem(itemIndex = 0, context = this) // inside Activity

// or from Compose
val context = LocalContext.current
createListItem(itemIndex = 0, context = context)

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