How do I install Light Rays?

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

Is Light Rays free for commercial use?

Light Rays 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 Light Rays 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 Light Rays?

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

Light Rays

Volumetric rays fanning out from one edge, swaying on slow noise and leaning toward the pointer. Rendered at a fifth of the size and upscaled, so the softness is free.

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

Examples

Light Rays

Move the pointer across the box: the source leans after it.

API reference

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`origin`	`"top" \| "top-left" \| "top-right" \| "left" \| "right"`	`"top"`	Edge the light comes from.
`color`	`string`	`"var(--ember)"`	Any CSS colour.
`speed`	`number`	`1`	Sway speed multiplier.
`spread`	`number`	`0.5`	Fan angle as a fraction of a half turn.
`length`	`number`	`0.9`	Reach as a fraction of the box diagonal.
`rays`	`number`	`14`
`followPointer`	`boolean`	`true`	The source leans toward the pointer. Mouse only; off under reduced motion.

About Light Rays

Light Rays fans volumetric rays out from one edge, swaying on slow noise and leaning toward the pointer. Rendered small and upscaled, so the softness is free.

Light Rays 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 Light Rays

Spiritual and wellness brands.
Product reveals.
Hero sections with drama.
Event pages.

How it works

Rays are drawn at a fifth of the size and upscaled for a soft volumetric look. 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 Light Rays

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 origin, color, speed, spread, followPointer live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.

origin (default "top"): Edge the light comes from.
color (string, default "var(--ember)"): Any CSS colour.
speed (number, default 1): Sway speed multiplier.
spread (number, default 0.5): Fan angle as a fraction of a half turn.
length (number, default 0.9): Reach as a fraction of the box diagonal.
rays (number, default 14).

The example on this page

Light Rays: Move the pointer across the box: the source leans after it.

Goes well with Light Rays

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 Light Rays

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/light-rays

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

Light Rays as Markdown · llms.txt