Can I move the lens with the keyboard?

Yes. Focus the lens and use the arrow keys, with Shift for bigger steps.

How do I install Fluid Glass?

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

Is Fluid Glass free for commercial use?

Fluid Glass 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 Fluid Glass 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 Fluid Glass?

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

Fluid Glass

A draggable glass lens that magnifies the content beneath it and bends it at the rim, built from a clipped, scaled copy of the children and an SVG displacement filter. Arrow keys move it too.

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

Examples

Fluid Glass

API reference

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`children`	`ReactNode`	—
`size`	`number`	`160`	Lens diameter in px.
`strength`	`number`	`0.6`	Refraction at the rim.
`magnify`	`number`	`1.15`
`shape`	`"circle" \| "pill"`	`"circle"`
`className`	`string`	—

About Fluid Glass

Fluid Glass is a draggable glass lens that magnifies the content beneath it and bends it at the rim. Arrow keys move it too.

Fluid Glass 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 Fluid Glass

Product detail inspection.
Interactive hero headlines.
Map and image exploration.
Creative portfolios.

How it works

A clipped, scaled copy of the children sits inside the lens and runs through an SVG displacement filter. The lens is a slider-like control with arrow keys.

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 Fluid Glass

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 size, strength, magnify, shape live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.

size (number, default 160): Lens diameter in px.
strength (number, default 0.6): Refraction at the rim.
magnify (number, default 1.15).
shape ("circle" | "pill", default "circle").

Goes well with Fluid Glass

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 Fluid Glass

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/fluid-glass

Fluid Glass 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 fluid-glass.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 move the lens with the keyboard?: Yes. Focus the lens and use the arrow keys, with Shift for bigger steps.
How do I install Fluid Glass?: Fluid Glass is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/fluid-glass. It copies fluid-glass.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
Is Fluid Glass free for commercial use?: Fluid Glass 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 Fluid Glass 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 Fluid Glass?: Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Fluid Glass's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.

Fluid Glass as Markdown · llms.txt