Draggable Cards
Polaroids scattered on a table. Drag one and it lifts to the top.
- Category: Interactive
- Licence: Charcoal UI Pro
- Built with: React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, Motion
- Dependencies: motion, clsx, tailwind-merge
Examples
Draggable Cards
API reference
| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
cards | { src: string; caption: string }[] | — |
About Draggable Cards
Draggable Cards scatters polaroid cards on a table; drag one and it lifts to the top.
Draggable Cards is an interactive 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 Draggable Cards
- Photo memories and team pages.
- Mood boards.
- Portfolio playgrounds.
- Event recaps.
How it works
Each card is a Motion drag constrained to the table, with z-order raised on grab.
Pointer effects have a keyboard or static equivalent, and nothing that matters depends on hover alone. With prefers-reduced-motion on, it holds still or settles instantly instead of animating.
Customizing Draggable Cards
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.
- cards.
Goes well with Draggable Cards
These interactive pieces share its tokens and motion language, so they sit together on one page without clashing.
- Hover Reveal List: A React hover reveal list: hovering a row floats its image beside the pointer
- Pixel Grid: A React pixel grid: cells light up under the pointer and fade slowly
- Image Accordion: A React image accordion: the hovered panel expands to reveal its caption
- Velocity Marquee: A React velocity marquee: big text that speeds up and flips with scroll
- Stack Cards: React stack cards: cards pin as you scroll and stack on each other
Install Draggable Cards
npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/draggable-cardsDraggable Cards 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 draggable-cards.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 cards be dragged off the table?
- No. Each card's drag is constrained to its container, and the card you grab is raised to the top, so the pile behaves like real photos on a desk.
- How do I install Draggable Cards?
- Draggable Cards is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/draggable-cards. It copies draggable-cards.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
- Is Draggable Cards free for commercial use?
- Draggable Cards 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 Draggable Cards 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 Draggable Cards?
- Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Draggable Cards's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.