How do I install Letter Glitch?

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

Is Letter Glitch free for commercial use?

Letter Glitch 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 Letter Glitch 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 Letter Glitch?

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

Letter Glitch

A field of monospace glyphs that flicker and change colour at random, a few cells every frame, with vignettes so copy can sit over it.

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

Examples

Letter Glitch

API reference

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`speed`	`number`	`50`	Glyph changes per second.
`colors`	`string[]`	`["var(--muted-foreground)", "var(--ember)", "var(--foreground)"]`
`centerVignette`	`boolean`	`false`
`outerVignette`	`boolean`	`true`
`smooth`	`boolean`	`true`	Ease colour changes.
`cell`	`number`	`16`
`className`	`string`	—

About Letter Glitch

Letter Glitch fills a section with monospace glyphs that flicker and change colour at random, a few cells every frame, with vignettes so copy can sit over it.

Letter Glitch 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 Letter Glitch

Hacker and security themes.
Developer tool heroes.
Cyberpunk and gaming.
404 pages.

How it works

Cells change at a set rate and can ease their colour; vignettes are CSS gradients. 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 Letter Glitch

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 speed, smooth, centerVignette, outerVignette live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.

speed (number, default 50): Glyph changes per second.
colors (string[], default ["var(--muted-foreground)", "var(--ember)", "var(--foreground)"]).
centerVignette (boolean, default false).
outerVignette (boolean, default true).
smooth (boolean, default true): Ease colour changes.
cell (number, default 16).

Goes well with Letter Glitch

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 Letter Glitch

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/letter-glitch

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

Letter Glitch as Markdown · llms.txt