How do I install Lightning?

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

Is Lightning free for commercial use?

Lightning 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 Lightning 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 Lightning?

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

Lightning

Branching bolts strike at random intervals, each one jittered segment by segment, with a flash and a fading afterglow.

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

Examples

Lightning

API reference

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`interval`	`number`	`2.2`	Mean seconds between strikes.
`branches`	`number`	`3`
`color`	`string`	—	Glow colour; defaults to ember.
`flash`	`boolean`	`true`	Wash the box with light on each strike.
`className`	`string`	—

About Lightning

Lightning strikes branching bolts at random intervals, each jittered segment by segment, with a flash and a fading afterglow.

Lightning 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 Lightning

Energy and electric brands.
Gaming and esports.
Storm and weather themes.
Dramatic launch pages.

How it works

Bolts are generated recursively with random offsets and drawn with glow, then fade. 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 Lightning

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 interval, branches, flash live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.

interval (number, default 2.2): Mean seconds between strikes.
branches (number, default 3).
color (string): Glow colour; defaults to ember.
flash (boolean, default true): Wash the box with light on each strike.

Goes well with Lightning

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 Lightning

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/lightning

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

Lightning as Markdown · llms.txt