Paper 6.0.0: merge order, ground rules and decisions

Start with the linked 6.x getting-started guide, then test 6.0.0-alpha.1 in a real app; the issue says 6.x needs React 19 and the New Architecture. If you find a bug or missing migration note, open a separate issue with “6.0.0-alpha.1” in the title and include your platform and React Native and Expo versions. Done means the report has those details so maintainers can reproduce it.

This issue is the map to react-native-paper 6.0.0: the order PRs merge in, the rules every PR follows, and the decisions that shape the release. The roadmap conversation stays in #4949. This issue is updated at each phase change; each PR's own state lives on the PR.

Where we are

• 6.0.0-alpha.1 is on npm under alpha: npm install react-native-paper@alpha. It is the first prerelease since 6.0.0-alpha.0 in June, with 41 commits, 11 of them breaking. Release notes.
• We are in Phase 1, Foundations.
• There is no target date. Each phase ends when its gate passes. Review and merge throughput, not the code, sets the pace, so the plan is built on order and gates.

Phases and gates

Phase	What lands	Gate
0. Unblock ✅	The release pipeline fix (#5149), 6.0.0-alpha.1, quick wins, overdue PRs closed	Met on 2026-10-29: alpha.1 on npm under alpha, and the example app's store pipeline green
1. Foundations (now)	The five lanes below	Every lane merged
2. Breaking changes	The component rewrites below	Every PR merged or deferred to 7.0, the supported versions declared, known bugs re-tested on main, an Expo smoke test on the latest SDK. Then 6.0.0-beta.0 and the breaking-change freeze
3. Release readiness	Docs, the example app, the migration guide, release notes	The go/no-go list passes. Then 6.0.0 on latest
After 6.0	New components and other additions, on the 6.1.0 milestone

Merge order

PRs merge lane by lane, top to bottom, and lanes run side by side. If your PR is in a lane, rebase only when it is next. We will ping you, so nobody rebases twice.

Phase 1: Foundations

Checkbox follow-up

• #5104

Button and styles

The Button API that Card, Dialog and later components build on.

• #5097
• #5114
• #5148

Touch targets and focus

All of these touch TouchableRipple.

• #5108
• #5071
• #5107
• #5046

Overlays

• #5127
• #5129

Theme merge

• #5136
• #5027

Phase 2: Breaking changes

Small rewrites, smallest first

• #5110
• #5102
• #5065
• #5111
• #5007
• #5089
• #5020
• #5135
• #5103
• #5081

Avatar, Banner and DataTable

• #5016
• #5058
• #5056
• #5082

Button consumers

These build on #5097.

• #5116
• #5072
• #5075
• #5064

Decide first, then merge

Each follows a decision below.

• #4996
• #4997
• #5006
• #5143
• #5121 (its dynamic-theme fix only, see D6)
• #5122
• #5051
• #5073
• #4994
• #5052
• #5112

Phase 3: Release readiness

• #5069
• #5053
• #5059 (the final pass)
• The docs sweep, #4991
• The docs switch: 6.x becomes the default docs version on release day
• Hand-written 6.0.0 release notes, reviewed in a PR

After 6.0

New components and other additions wait on the 6.1.0 milestone. They stay open there rather than being closed (D8).

Ground rules

1. Breaking changes land before 6.0.0 or wait for 7.0. The breaking-change freeze starts at 6.0.0-beta.0.
2. New components ship in 6.1 or later, with no exceptions in 6.0. Deprecations can land in a minor release.
3. PRs merge in the lane order above, and an author rebases only when their PR is next.
4. A PR branched from a main older than 2026-09-02 gets a rebase and a fresh CI run before it merges, even if its checks are green.
5. A breaking PR carries ! in its title, a BREAKING CHANGE: footer in the squash message, and its own section in the migration guide (docs/6.x/docs/guides/migration.md).
6. A prerelease goes out each time a lane of breaking changes lands, so you can follow along.
7. 5.x, on the 5.0 branch, keeps getting crash and critical fixes, and every 5.x fix gets checked against main.

Reviews, waiting PRs and closing

• Reviews. Every PR gets two reviews: a first pass that lists only what blocks it, in one comment, and then a maintainer's line-by-line pass after the rebase.
• Waiting PRs. After 14 days without an author response to a review, we ping once and name the blocker. After 21 days, a maintainer or another contributor may take the PR over, keeping the original commits and crediting the author, with both PRs linked.
• Closing. Duplicates, superseded and empty PRs, and PRs stale 30 days after a review. Each close says why and where the work continues, and the door stays open.
• CI. Runs from forks wait for a maintainer to approve them. We approve them at the weekly triage, on Mondays.

Decisions

	Decision	Status
D1	Supported versions: peerDependencies stay at *, so release candidates and forks install. Before beta, the getting-started guide names the minimum React, React Native and Expo versions, with a smoke test on the matching Expo SDK (#4996)	Decided
D2	Bottom navigation: #5006 (NavigationBar, which replaces BottomNavigation) for 6.0; #5120 closed	Decided
D3	Progress indicators: ProgressBar and ActivityIndicator stay in 6.0 with no react-native-svg dependency, which can regress performance. #4995 closed; new indicators come later, and only without react-native-svg	Decided
D4	The stateLayerPressed token is removed before 6.0.0, keeping today's default look (#4997, which needs a new owner)	Decided
D5	No per-component rippleColor: Material 3 has no theme-level state layer color. #5097 drops the one it re-adds; a prop can come back in 6.x if needed	Decided
D6	Menu: #5073 uses the Material 3 Expressive container role (surfaceContainerLow); #5121 keeps only its dynamic-theme fix; #5122 and #5051 land before #5073; a container prop waits for 6.1	Decided
D7	Appbar keeps its compound API in 6.0, built on context, with the Expressive variants as props. The bottom app bar stays, deprecated, until Toolbar lands in 6.1 (#5075)	Decided
D8	New components ship in 6.1 or later, Toolbar (#5043) and ConnectedButtonGroup (#5074) included. SegmentedButtons is deprecated in 6.1 and removed in 7.0	Decided
D9	Theme merge: PaperProvider keeps its shallow merge (only colors merge over the defaults), and the theming guide says a key such as fonts must be complete. #5047 closed; #5136, then #5027	Decided
D10	Who merges: one merger for now, after the final pass; more reviewers and mergers will follow	Decided
D11	The FAB variant rename lands in 6.0, without the branded variant (#5110)	Decided
D12	PaperProvider stays required in 6.0, as the docs have always said	Decided
D13	Before the freeze: RadioButtonAndroidProps and RadioButtonIOSProps go (with #5007), and so does the unused theme.elevation key. useReduceMotion and ThemeProp stay unexported for now	Decided
D14	The release notes preset switches from angular to conventionalcommits, which reads the ! in breaking PR titles	Decided
D15	Sliders: 6.1, with one owner (#5000, #5132); #5033 closed	Decided
D16	Policies: takeovers and closing as in the ground rules above; apps built with Paper go in #5155 instead of pull requests to the Showcase page; the 5.x support window is set after 6.0	Decided
D17	The docs landing page (#5138): after 6.0	Decided

A decision is posted on each PR it changes. To weigh in on one, comment on that PR or in #4949.

How to help

• Test 6.0.0-alpha.1 in a real app. Set up from the 6.x getting-started guide. 6.x needs React 19 and the New Architecture. Open an issue with 6.0.0-alpha.1 in the title, your platform and your React Native and Expo versions. Missing migration notes count too.
• Review. Take the next PR in a lane and do a first pass: does the scope match the title, did CI run on the latest commit, does it overlap with another open PR, and how does it behave on a device?
• Keep your PR ready for its turn. Check the lane it is in, and rebase when it is next.
• Milestones: 6.0.0 · 6.1.0