How do I install Galaxy?

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

Is Galaxy free for commercial use?

Galaxy 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 Galaxy 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 Galaxy?

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

Galaxy

A tilted spiral of thousands of precomputed points with a bright core and dense arms. Inner stars orbit faster than outer ones, so the arms keep winding, and the whole disc leans with the pointer.

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

Examples

Galaxy

Move the pointer to tilt the disc.

API reference

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`arms`	`number`	`3`	Spiral arms.
`density`	`number`	`1`	Star count multiplier; the base count scales with the box area, capped at 8000.
`speed`	`number`	`1`	Rotation speed multiplier.
`color`	`string`	`var(--ember)`	Arm tint; the core stays foreground-coloured.
`twinkle`	`boolean`	`true`	Stars flicker in brightness.
`className`	`string`	—

About Galaxy

Galaxy renders a tilted spiral of thousands of precomputed stars with a bright core and dense arms. Inner stars orbit faster than outer ones, so the arms keep winding.

Galaxy 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 Galaxy

Space and science products.
Gaming and sci-fi brands.
Launch pages.
Immersive about sections.

How it works

Star positions are computed once and rotated with differential speed each frame. 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 Galaxy

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 arms, density, speed, color, twinkle live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.

arms (number, default 3): Spiral arms.
density (number, default 1): Star count multiplier; the base count scales with the box area, capped at 8000.
speed (number, default 1): Rotation speed multiplier.
color (string, default var(--ember)): Arm tint; the core stays foreground-coloured.
twinkle (boolean, default true): Stars flicker in brightness.

The example on this page

Galaxy: Move the pointer to tilt the disc.

Goes well with Galaxy

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 Galaxy

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/galaxy

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

Galaxy as Markdown · llms.txt