Border Glow
A glow that tracks the pointer along the border of a card, so the edge nearest the cursor lights up and slides around as you move. CSS variables carry the pointer; nothing re-renders.
- Category: Display
- Licence: Charcoal UI Pro
- Built with: React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, Motion
- Dependencies: motion, clsx, tailwind-merge
Examples
Border Glow
API reference
| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
radius | number | 220 | |
color | string | "var(--ember)" | |
width | number | 1.5 | Border thickness in px. |
intensity | number | 1 | |
...props | ComponentProps<"div"> | — |
About Border Glow
Border Glow lights the part of a card's border nearest the cursor and slides around as you move. CSS variables carry the pointer, so nothing re-renders.
Border Glow is a display component 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 Border Glow
- Feature cards.
- Pricing plans.
- Settings panels.
- Forms that should feel premium.
How it works
A radial gradient under the pointer is masked to the border ring, with a softer wash inside. radius, colour, width and intensity are props.
Interactive parts are buttons or links with accessible names, decorative layers are hidden from assistive tech, and everything is reachable by keyboard. With prefers-reduced-motion on, it holds still or settles instantly instead of animating.
Customizing Border Glow
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 radius, color, width, intensity live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.
- radius (number, default 220).
- color (string, default "var(--ember)").
- width (number, default 1.5): Border thickness in px.
- intensity (number, default 1).
Goes well with Border Glow
These display pieces share its tokens and motion language, so they sit together on one page without clashing.
- Tilt Card: A 3D tilt card for React that leans toward the pointer with a moving glare
- Spotlight Card: A React spotlight card: an accent glow follows the pointer across card and border
- Sortable List: A drag-to-reorder React list with lifted shadows and keyboard sorting
- Card Stack: A swipeable React card stack where the next card rises to meet you
- Image Compare: A React before and after image comparison slider you can drag anywhere
Install Border Glow
npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/border-glowBorder Glow is part of Charcoal UI Pro. One seat unlocks all 300 Pro components, 107 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 border-glow.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
- Does border glow re-render on mouse move?
- No. The pointer position goes into CSS variables, so the glow follows the cursor without React re-rendering.
- How do I install Border Glow?
- Border Glow is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/border-glow. It copies border-glow.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
- Is Border Glow free for commercial use?
- Border Glow 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 Border Glow 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 Border Glow?
- Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Border Glow's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.