Controller

createSelkit(config) returns a SelkitController. Adapters create and own one internally; you can reach it via the instance (instance.controller in vanilla, useSelkit().controller in Vue/React).

State access

getState()

Returns a readonly snapshot of the current state.

subscribe(listener)

Registers a listener called on every state change with the new state. Returns an unsubscribe function.

const off = controller.subscribe((state) => render(state))
off() // stop listening

isSearchable()

Returns whether the search input should be shown — searchable combined with the minResultsForSearch threshold against the current option count.

Open / close

Method	Description
open()	Open the dropdown (no-op if disabled or already open).
close()	Close the dropdown.
toggle()	Toggle open state.

Searching

setQuery(query)

Sets the search query. With loadOptions, debounces and triggers a load (respecting minInputLength); otherwise filters the local options. Fires search.

loadMore()

Loads and appends the next page. No-op without loadOptions, when hasMore is false, or while loading. See Async & Pagination.

Highlight

Method	Description
setActiveIndex(index)	Highlight a specific visible index.
moveActive(delta)	Move highlight by delta, skipping disabled, without wrapping.
moveActiveToStart()	Highlight the first enabled option.
moveActiveToEnd()	Highlight the last enabled option.

Selection

Method	Description
select(value)	Select an option by value.
deselect(value)	Remove a value from the selection.
toggleSelect(value)	Toggle a value.
selectActive()	Select the highlighted option, or create a tag when taggable and there is no match.
clear()	Clear all selections.
moveSelected(from, to)	Reorder selected items (for tag drag-and-drop).
createTag()	Create and select a tag from the current query.
backspace()	For adapters to call on Backspace: when multiple and the query is empty, removes the last tag (and restores its label to the query when restoreOnBackspace is set).

Dynamic updates

Method	Description
setOptions(options)	Replace the options.
setDisabled(disabled)	Enable / disable the control.

Events

on(event, handler)

Subscribe to a semantic event. Returns an unsubscribe function.

const off = controller.on('change', ({ value }) => console.log(value))

Derived views

a11y()

Returns ARIA attributes for trigger, listbox and option(index).

getGroupedView()

Returns the row sequence to render — group headers interleaved with options whose index aligns with state.visibleOptions.

getEmptyMessage()

Returns the string to show when the dropdown has no rows — one of loading, minInputLength(remaining) or noResults, picked from the current state. Customize the strings via the messages config.

getEmptyReason()

Returns why the dropdown is empty — 'loading' | 'min-input' | 'no-results', using the same precedence as getEmptyMessage(). Adapters pass this to the empty swappable component so you can branch (e.g. render a spinner only while 'loading').

Lifecycle

destroy()

Clears timers, listeners and subscribers. Adapters call this from their own teardown.