Flux Lines
A grid of short segments that flow along a drifting noise field and swing round to face the pointer, like a compass bed under a magnet.
- Category: Backgrounds
- Licence: Charcoal UI Pro
- Built with: React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, Motion
- Dependencies: motion, clsx, tailwind-merge
Examples
Flux Lines
Move the pointer across the field; segments nearby turn to point at it and brighten.
API reference
| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
density | number | 1 | Grid density; 1 puts a segment every 22 px, 2 packs twice as many into the same area. |
speed | number | 1 | Drift speed of the underlying field. |
length | number | 14 | Segment length in px. |
color | string | "var(--ember)" | Any CSS colour, including var(--token). |
interactive | boolean | true | Segments near the pointer align toward it. |
className | string | — |
About Flux Lines
Flux Lines fills a section with short segments that flow along a drifting noise field and swing round to face the pointer, like a compass bed under a magnet.
Flux Lines is an animated background 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 Flux Lines
- Physics and science brands.
- Energy and electric products.
- Interactive heroes.
- Data and AI platforms.
How it works
Each segment's angle blends the noise field with the direction to the pointer. It runs on a canvas capped at 2x pixel density, pauses when scrolled off screen, and reads its colours from your theme tokens so it follows dark mode.
The whole layer is decorative and aria-hidden, sits behind your content without taking pointer events it does not need, and pauses when scrolled off screen. With prefers-reduced-motion on, it holds still or settles instantly instead of animating.
Customizing Flux Lines
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 density, speed, length, color, interactive live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.
- density (number, default 1): Grid density; 1 puts a segment every 22 px, 2 packs twice as many into the same area.
- speed (number, default 1): Drift speed of the underlying field.
- length (number, default 14): Segment length in px.
- color (string, default "var(--ember)"): Any CSS colour, including var(--token).
- interactive (boolean, default true): Segments near the pointer align toward it.
The example on this page
- Flux Lines: Move the pointer across the field; segments nearby turn to point at it and brighten.
Goes well with Flux Lines
These backgrounds pieces share its tokens and motion language, so they sit together on one page without clashing.
- Ember Field: An animated React ember background: glowing embers drift up and flicker as they cool
- Smoke: A slow React smoke background: blurred plumes drifting over dark sections, CSS only
- Aurora: An animated React aurora background: soft light bands drifting across a section
- Grid Beams: A React grid background with beams of light running along its lines
- Meteors: A React meteor shower background: streaks falling diagonally, CSS only
Install Flux Lines
npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/flux-linesFlux Lines 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 flux-lines.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 Flux Lines?
- Flux Lines is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/flux-lines. It copies flux-lines.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
- Is Flux Lines free for commercial use?
- Flux Lines 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 Flux Lines 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 Flux Lines?
- Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Flux Lines's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.