Depth Carousel
The active card stands in front while its neighbours step back into depth, blur and shadow. Drag, scroll or arrow keys move a continuous position; release snaps.
- Category: Display
- Licence: Charcoal UI Pro
- Built with: React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, Motion
- Dependencies: motion, clsx, tailwind-merge
Examples
Depth Carousel
API reference
| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
items | { src: string; title?: string; alt?: string }[] | — | |
depth | number | 120 | Pixels each step recedes. |
spacing | number | 150 | |
blur | number | 2 | Blur per step back, in px. |
cardWidth | number | 220 | |
defaultIndex | number | 0 | |
onChange | (index: number) => void | — | |
className | string | — |
About Depth Carousel
Depth Carousel puts the active card in front while its neighbours step back into depth, blur and shadow. Drag, scroll or arrow keys move it; release snaps.
Depth Carousel 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 Depth Carousel
- Product galleries.
- Testimonials.
- Portfolio work.
- Film and episode browsers.
How it works
Each card's position, depth, rotation and blur are transforms of its distance from the current position, so motion is continuous.
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 Depth Carousel
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 depth, spacing, blur live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.
- items.
- depth (number, default 120): Pixels each step recedes.
- spacing (number, default 150).
- blur (number, default 2): Blur per step back, in px.
- cardWidth (number, default 220).
- defaultIndex (number, default 0).
Goes well with Depth Carousel
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 Depth Carousel
npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/depth-carouselDepth Carousel 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 depth-carousel.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
- Can I set how far the side cards recede?
- Yes. depth sets how far each step back goes, spacing the gap between cards and blur how soft the far cards get.
- How do I install Depth Carousel?
- Depth Carousel is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/depth-carousel. It copies depth-carousel.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
- Is Depth Carousel free for commercial use?
- Depth Carousel 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 Depth Carousel 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 Depth Carousel?
- Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Depth Carousel's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.