January 05, 2024
Angular's CDK Overlay is the foundation behind dialogs, tooltips, dropdowns, and floating panels, but most developers only interact with it indirectly through Angular Material. In this guide, you'll learn how to use the Angular CDK Overlay directly to create fully custom floating UI elements with precise positioning, layering, and lifecycle control. This article is updated for Angular v19+ and shows the modern, production-ready way to create overlays without relying on deprecated patterns. If you've ever needed a custom popup, context menu, or floating panel, this is the missing piece.