How do I install Beams?

Beams is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/beams. It copies beams.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.

Is Beams free for commercial use?

Beams needs a Charcoal UI Pro seat, monthly or a one-time lifetime price. A seat covers unlimited personal and commercial projects, including client work, and every future Pro component.

Does Beams work with Next.js?

Yes. It is a client component for React 19 styled with Tailwind CSS 4, so it works in the Next.js App Router and Pages Router, Vite, Remix and Astro.

Can an AI coding agent install Beams?

Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Beams's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.

Beams

Shafts of light falling through haze: soft beams drift sideways, flicker along their length and fade as they fall, under a little film grain. WebGL, written in the file.

Category: Backgrounds
Licence: Charcoal UI Pro
Built with: React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, Motion
Dependencies: motion, clsx, tailwind-merge

Examples

Beams

API reference

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`speed`	`number`	`1`	0 holds still.
`color`	`string`	`"var(--ember)"`
`count`	`number`	`8`
`width`	`number`	`1`
`rotation`	`number`	`25`	Degrees.
`noise`	`number`	`0.25`
`className`	`string`	—

About Beams

Beams fills a section with shafts of light falling through haze: soft beams drift sideways, flicker along their length and fade as they fall, under a little film grain. Tilt, count, width and colour are all props.

Beams is an animated background for React 19, styled with Tailwind CSS 4 and animated with Motion. It drops into Next.js, Vite, Remix or Astro through the shadcn CLI as a single file you own.

When to use Beams

Hero sections for AI and developer tools.
Launch and keynote pages.
Pricing and CTA bands.
Event and music sites.

How it works

Each beam is a Gaussian falloff from a drifting line, modulated by noise along its length. The shader is written in the file, with no three.js or other dependency. It pauses when scrolled out of view, caps the pixel ratio at 2, re-reads your theme colours when the theme changes, and falls back to a soft gradient where WebGL is missing.

The whole layer is decorative and aria-hidden, sits behind your content without taking pointer events it does not need, and pauses when scrolled off screen. With prefers-reduced-motion on, it holds still or settles instantly instead of animating.

Customizing Beams

Every prop is documented in the API reference above with its type and default. The ones you will reach for first are listed here.

The Customize panel next to the preview lets you change speed, count, width, rotation, noise and more live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.

speed (number, default 1): 0 holds still.
color (string, default "var(--ember)").
count (number, default 8).
width (number, default 1).
rotation (number, default 25): Degrees.
noise (number, default 0.25).

Goes well with Beams

These backgrounds pieces share its tokens and motion language, so they sit together on one page without clashing.

Ember Field: An animated React ember background: glowing embers drift up and flicker as they cool
Smoke: A slow React smoke background: blurred plumes drifting over dark sections, CSS only
Aurora: An animated React aurora background: soft light bands drifting across a section
Grid Beams: A React grid background with beams of light running along its lines
Meteors: A React meteor shower background: streaks falling diagonally, CSS only

Install Beams

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/beams

Beams is part of Charcoal UI Pro. One seat unlocks all 393 Pro components, 112 landing-page sections and 100 full templates, for every personal and client project, with updates included. Add the @charcoal registry once with your access token, then the command above copies beams.tsx into components/ui and installs clsx, tailwind-merge.

You own the file you install: no runtime package, no lock-in, nothing to keep in sync. Change it however your product needs.

See Charcoal UI Pro pricing · Pro setup

Frequently asked questions

How do I install Beams?: Beams is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/beams. It copies beams.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
Is Beams free for commercial use?: Beams needs a Charcoal UI Pro seat, monthly or a one-time lifetime price. A seat covers unlimited personal and commercial projects, including client work, and every future Pro component.
Does Beams work with Next.js?: Yes. It is a client component for React 19 styled with Tailwind CSS 4, so it works in the Next.js App Router and Pages Router, Vite, Remix and Astro.
Can an AI coding agent install Beams?: Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Beams's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.

Beams as Markdown · llms.txt