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Tooltip

Tooltip is a contextual overlay that appears on hover (or focus) to provide brief help or explanations.

Use tooltips for:

  • icon-only buttons

  • dense toolbars

  • exposing extra detail without cluttering the UI

Tooltips should be short, readable, and optional.

Quick start

import bootstack as bs

app = bs.App()

btn = bs.Button(app, text="Refresh")
btn.pack(padx=20, pady=20)

bs.Tooltip(btn, text="Reload the current view")
app.mainloop()

When to use

Use Tooltip when:

  • the control meaning isn't obvious (especially icon-only UI)

  • you want "learnable" UI without permanent labels

Consider a different control when...

  • the text is essential to completing the task — use labels or inline help

  • you need to show notifications or feedback — use Toast

Appearance

Variants

Tooltips can be styled using the accent parameter (if supported).

Design System

See the Colors & Styling guide for complete color options.

Examples & patterns

Common options

  • text — the tooltip content

  • delay — time before showing (in milliseconds)

  • wraplength — max line width for text wrapping

  • accent — visual style (if supported)

Behavior

  • Appears on hover (and optionally focus)

  • Disappears on leave or after a delay

  • Should not steal focus or block interaction

Additional resources

  • Toast — non-blocking notifications

  • MessageBox — blocking alerts and confirmations

Framework concepts

  • Widgets — overview of all widgets

API reference