Basic Parcelable Recipe

This recipe shows a basic example of how to create a persistent back stack that survives configuration changes, without using kotlinx.serialization. Instead, it uses Android's Parcelable and the kotlin-parcelize plugin to save and restore the navigation state.

How it works

In this example, RouteA and RouteB implement a marker interface, Route, which itself extends Parcelable. They are also annotated with @Parcelize from the kotlin-parcelize plugin, which automatically generates a Parcelable implementation:

sealed interface Route : Parcelable

@Parcelize
data object RouteA : Route

@Parcelize
data class RouteB(val id: String) : Route

To make the back stack persistent, this recipe defines the rememberParcelableBackStack function. To ensure that NavDisplay and other composables are aware of changes to the back stack, the back stack is stored in a SnapshotStateList.

@Composable
fun <T : Parcelable> rememberParcelableBackStack(vararg elements: T): SnapshotStateList<T> {
    return rememberSaveable {
        mutableStateListOf(*elements)
    }
}

This acts as an alternative to the built-in rememberNavBackStack from androidx.navigation3.runtime which relies on kotlinx.serialization. Use this approach if your application strictly prefers Parcelable and avoids depending on kotlinx.serialization.

/*
 * Copyright 2026 The Android Open Source Project
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package com.example.nav3recipes.basicparcelable

import android.os.Bundle
import android.os.Parcelable
import androidx.activity.ComponentActivity
import androidx.activity.compose.setContent
import androidx.compose.material3.Button
import androidx.compose.material3.Text
import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
import androidx.compose.runtime.mutableStateListOf
import androidx.compose.runtime.saveable.rememberSaveable
import androidx.compose.runtime.snapshots.SnapshotStateList
import androidx.lifecycle.compose.dropUnlessResumed
import androidx.navigation3.runtime.NavEntry
import androidx.navigation3.ui.NavDisplay
import com.example.nav3recipes.content.ContentBlue
import com.example.nav3recipes.content.ContentGreen
import com.example.nav3recipes.ui.setEdgeToEdgeConfig
import kotlinx.parcelize.Parcelize

sealed interface Route : Parcelable

@Parcelize
data object RouteA : Route

@Parcelize
data class RouteB(val id: String) : Route

/**
 * Creates and remembers a [SnapshotStateList] to hold a back stack of [Parcelable] routes
 * that survives configuration changes and process death.
 *
 * @param T The route type, which must implement [Parcelable].
 * @param elements The initial routes to populate the back stack.
 * @return A reactive [SnapshotStateList] managing the navigation back stack.
 */
@Composable
fun <T : Parcelable> rememberParcelableBackStack(vararg elements: T): SnapshotStateList<T> {
    return rememberSaveable {
        mutableStateListOf(*elements)
    }
}

class BasicParcelableActivity : ComponentActivity() {

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        setEdgeToEdgeConfig()
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContent {
            val backStack = rememberParcelableBackStack<Route>(RouteA)

            NavDisplay(
                backStack = backStack,
                onBack = { backStack.removeLastOrNull() },
                entryProvider = { key ->
                    when (key) {
                        is RouteA -> NavEntry(key) {
                            ContentGreen("Welcome to Nav3") {
                                Button(onClick = dropUnlessResumed {
                                    backStack.add(RouteB("123"))
                                }) {
                                    Text("Click to navigate")
                                }
                            }
                        }

                        is RouteB -> NavEntry(key) {
                            ContentBlue("Route id: ${key.id} ")
                        }
                    }
                }
            )
        }
    }
}

BasicParcelableActivity.kt