Cursor Trail
Ember sparks fly off the pointer, drift down and cool, scoped to one area.
- Category: Cursor
- Licence: Charcoal UI Pro
- Built with: React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, Motion
- Dependencies: motion, clsx, tailwind-merge
Examples
Cursor Trail
API reference
| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
intensity | number | 3 | Sparks per move. |
children | ReactNode | — |
About Cursor Trail
Cursor Trail throws sparks off the pointer that drift down and cool, scoped to one area of the page so it decorates a hero without following people everywhere.
Cursor Trail is a cursor effect 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 Cursor Trail
- Hero sections with a playful edge.
- Celebration and launch pages.
- Gaming and fantasy brands.
- Interactive portfolios.
How it works
Sparks spawn by distance travelled and fade over their life on a canvas. It only reacts to a mouse, keeps the real cursor visible unless you choose otherwise, and does nothing on touch screens or under reduced motion.
It only reacts to a mouse, never hides the real cursor unless you ask it to, and does nothing on touch screens. With prefers-reduced-motion on, it holds still or settles instantly instead of animating.
Customizing Cursor Trail
Every prop is documented in the API reference above with its type and default. The ones you will reach for first are listed here.
Style it with className like any other element. It only uses your theme's tokens, so it follows light and dark mode without extra work.
- intensity (number, default 3): Sparks per move.
Goes well with Cursor Trail
These cursor pieces share its tokens and motion language, so they sit together on one page without clashing.
- Blob Cursor: A React blob cursor that trails the pointer and swells over links
- Spotlight Reveal: A React spotlight reveal: the pointer cuts a circle to show hidden content
- Image Trail: A React image trail: photos drop along the pointer path and fade
- Cursor Label: A React cursor label: a pill that follows the pointer and says View or Play
- Glow Cursor: A React glow cursor: a soft light follows the pointer and flares over links
Install Cursor Trail
npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/cursor-trailCursor Trail 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 cursor-trail.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 Cursor Trail?
- Cursor Trail is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/cursor-trail. It copies cursor-trail.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
- Is Cursor Trail free for commercial use?
- Cursor Trail 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 Cursor Trail 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 Cursor Trail?
- Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Cursor Trail's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.