---
name: building-streamlit-multipage-apps
description: Building multi-page Streamlit apps. Use when creating apps with multiple pages, setting up navigation, or managing state across pages.
license: Apache-2.0
---

# Streamlit multi-page apps

Structure and navigation for apps with multiple pages.

## Directory structure

```
streamlit_app.py          # Main entry point
app_pages/
    home.py
    analytics.py
    settings.py
```

**Important:** Name your pages directory `app_pages/` (not `pages/`). Using `pages/` conflicts with Streamlit's old auto-discovery API and can cause unexpected behavior.

## Main module

```python
# streamlit_app.py
import streamlit as st

# Initialize global state (shared across pages)
if "api_client" not in st.session_state:
    st.session_state.api_client = init_api_client()

# Define navigation
page = st.navigation([
    st.Page("app_pages/home.py", title="Home", icon=":material/home:"),
    st.Page("app_pages/analytics.py", title="Analytics", icon=":material/bar_chart:"),
    st.Page("app_pages/settings.py", title="Settings", icon=":material/settings:"),
])

# App-level UI runs before page content
# Useful for shared elements like titles
st.title(f"{page.icon} {page.title}")

page.run()
```

**Note:** When you handle titles in `streamlit_app.py`, individual pages should NOT use `st.title` again.

## Navigation position

**Few pages (3-7) → Top navigation:**

```python
page = st.navigation([...], position="top")
```

Creates a clean horizontal menu. Great for simple apps. Sections are supported too—they appear as dropdowns in the top nav.

**Many pages or nested sections → Sidebar:**

```python
page = st.navigation({
    "Main": [
        st.Page("app_pages/home.py", title="Home"),
        st.Page("app_pages/analytics.py", title="Analytics"),
    ],
    "Admin": [
        st.Page("app_pages/settings.py", title="Settings"),
        st.Page("app_pages/users.py", title="Users"),
    ],
}, position="sidebar")
```

**Mixed: Some pages ungrouped:**

Use an empty string key `""` for pages that shouldn't be in a section. These ungrouped pages always appear first, before any named groups. Put all ungrouped pages in a single `""` key:

```python
page = st.navigation({
    "": [
        st.Page("app_pages/home.py", title="Home"),
        st.Page("app_pages/about.py", title="About"),
    ],
    "Analytics": [
        st.Page("app_pages/dashboard.py", title="Dashboard"),
        st.Page("app_pages/reports.py", title="Reports"),
    ],
}, position="top")
```

## Page modules

```python
# app_pages/analytics.py
import streamlit as st

# Access global state
api = st.session_state.api_client
user = st.session_state.user

# Page-specific content (title is handled in streamlit_app.py)
data = api.fetch_analytics(user.id)
st.line_chart(data)
```

## Global state

Initialize state in the main module only if it's needed across multiple pages:

```python
# streamlit_app.py
st.session_state.api = init_client()
st.session_state.user = get_user()
st.session_state.settings = load_settings()
```

**Tip:** Use `st.session_state.setdefault("key", default_value)` to initialize values only if they don't exist.

**Why main module (for global state):**
- Runs before every page
- Ensures state is initialized
- Single source of truth

## Page-specific state

Use prefixed keys for page-specific state:

```python
# app_pages/analytics.py
if "analytics_date_range" not in st.session_state:
    st.session_state.analytics_date_range = default_range()
```

## Share elements between pages

Put shared UI in the entrypoint (before `page.run()`) so it appears on all pages:

```python
# streamlit_app.py
import streamlit as st

pages = [...]
page = st.navigation(pages)

# Shared title
st.title(f"{page.icon} {page.title}")

# Shared sidebar widgets
with st.sidebar:
    st.selectbox("Theme", ["Light", "Dark"])

page.run()
```

## Programmatic navigation

Navigate to another page programmatically:

```python
if st.button("Go to Settings"):
    st.switch_page("app_pages/settings.py")
```

Create navigation links with `st.page_link`:

```python
st.page_link("app_pages/home.py", label="Home", icon=":material/home:")
st.page_link("https://example.com", label="External", icon=":material/open_in_new:")
```

> **Note:** Prefer `st.navigation` over `st.page_link` for standard navigation. Do not use `st.page_link` to recreate the nav bar you get with `st.navigation`. Only use `st.page_link` when linking to pages from somewhere other than the sidebar, or when building a more complex navigation menu.

## Conditional pages

Show different pages based on user role, authentication, or any other condition by building the pages list dynamically:

```python
# streamlit_app.py
import streamlit as st

pages = [st.Page("app_pages/home.py", title="Home", icon=":material/home:")]

if st.user.is_logged_in:
    pages.append(st.Page("app_pages/dashboard.py", title="Dashboard", icon=":material/bar_chart:"))

if st.session_state.get("is_admin"):
    pages.append(st.Page("app_pages/admin.py", title="Admin", icon=":material/settings:"))

page = st.navigation(pages)
page.run()
```

Common conditions for showing/hiding pages:
- `st.user.is_logged_in` for authenticated users
- `st.session_state` flags (roles, permissions, feature flags)
- Environment variables or secrets
- Time-based access (e.g., beta features)

## Imports from pages

When importing from page files in `app_pages/`, always import from the root directory perspective:

```python
# app_pages/dashboard.py - GOOD
from utils.data import load_sales_data

# app_pages/dashboard.py - BAD (don't use relative imports)
from ..utils.data import load_sales_data
```

## References

- [Multipage apps docs](https://docs.streamlit.io/develop/concepts/multipage-apps)
- [st.navigation](https://docs.streamlit.io/develop/api-reference/navigation/st.navigation)
- [st.Page](https://docs.streamlit.io/develop/api-reference/navigation/st.page)
- [st.session_state](https://docs.streamlit.io/develop/api-reference/caching-and-state/st.session_state)
- [st.switch_page](https://docs.streamlit.io/develop/api-reference/navigation/st.switch_page)
- [st.page_link](https://docs.streamlit.io/develop/api-reference/widgets/st.page_link)