How do I install Floating Nav?

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

Is Floating Nav free for commercial use?

Floating Nav 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 Floating Nav 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 Floating Nav?

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

Floating Nav

A pill nav that slips away while you scroll down and returns as soon as you scroll up, with a hover highlight that glides between links.

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

Examples

Floating Nav

API reference

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`items`	`{ label: string; href: string }[]`	—
`active`	`string`	—	href of the current page.
`container`	`RefObject<HTMLElement>`	—	Defaults to the window.
`cta`	`ReactNode`	—

About Floating Nav

Floating Nav is a pill-shaped navigation bar that slips away while you scroll down and returns the moment you scroll up, with a hover highlight that glides between links. It saves space without hiding the way out.

Floating Nav is a navigation 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 Floating Nav

Landing pages and marketing sites.
Long-form articles and docs.
Portfolios with section links.
Product pages with a sticky call to action.

How it works

Scroll direction is read from Motion's scroll velocity with a small threshold so it does not flicker. The hover highlight is a shared layout element, and the active link is marked with aria-current.

Links and buttons keep their roles, arrow keys move where a group is expected, the current item is marked with aria-current, and focus is always visible. With prefers-reduced-motion on, it holds still or settles instantly instead of animating.

Customizing Floating Nav

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 active, ctaLabel live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.

items.
active (string): href of the current page.
container (RefObject<HTMLElement>): Defaults to the window.
cta (ReactNode).

Goes well with Floating Nav

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

Dock: A macOS-style React dock whose icons swell with pointer distance and show labels
Expandable Tabs: Compact React icon tabs where the active tab expands to reveal its label
Context Menu: A React right-click context menu that opens at the pointer and stays on screen
Bottom Nav: An animated React mobile tab bar with a sliding pill, hopping icons and badges
Scroll Progress: A glowing React scroll progress bar for the page or any scroll container

Install Floating Nav

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/floating-nav

Floating Nav 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 floating-nav.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 Floating Nav?: Floating Nav is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/floating-nav. It copies floating-nav.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
Is Floating Nav free for commercial use?: Floating Nav 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 Floating Nav 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 Floating Nav?: Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Floating Nav's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.

Floating Nav as Markdown · llms.txt