How do I install Liquid Metal?

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

Is Liquid Metal free for commercial use?

Liquid Metal 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 Liquid Metal 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 Liquid Metal?

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

Liquid Metal

A ring of moving liquid metal around buttons, icons and badges: a wandering halo, a pool of reflected light, and a highlight that swings towards the cursor. Chromatic, silver and gold, plus metal text.

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

Examples

Send button

Presets

Text and badge

MetalText casts a headline in the same metal.

Playground

API reference

Send button

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`preset`	`"chromatic" \| "silver" \| "gold"`	`"chromatic"`
`variant`	`"button" \| "circle" \| "badge"`	`"button"`
`strength`	`number`	`0.9`	0 to 1: brightness and opacity of the metal.
`thickness`	`number`	—	Ring thickness in px. 2.5, or 1.5 for badges.
`radius`	`number`	`14`	Corner radius for the button variant.
`glow`	`boolean`	`true`
`reflection`	`boolean`	`true`
`bend`	`boolean`	`true`	The highlight follows a nearby pointer.
`speed`	`number`	`1`

Text and badge

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`preset`	`MetalPreset`	`"chromatic"`
`duration`	`number`	`6`	Seconds per sweep.

About Liquid Metal

Liquid Metal wraps buttons, icons and badges in a ring of moving liquid metal: a wandering halo, a pool of reflected light and a highlight that swings toward the cursor. Metal text is included.

Liquid Metal is a display component 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 Liquid Metal

Premium call-to-action buttons.
Pro and upgrade badges.
App icons and logos.
Hero headlines with metal text.

How it works

The ring is a WebGL shader sized to its child, sampling a moving environment so the metal reads as reflective. It pauses off screen and holds a static frame under reduced motion.

Interactive parts are buttons or links with accessible names, decorative layers are hidden from assistive tech, and everything is reachable by keyboard. With prefers-reduced-motion on, it holds still or settles instantly instead of animating.

Customizing Liquid Metal

Every prop is documented in the API reference above with its type and default. The ones you will reach for first are listed here.

Style it with className like any other element. It only uses your theme's tokens, so it follows light and dark mode without extra work.

preset ("chromatic" | "silver" | "gold", default "chromatic").
variant ("button" | "circle" | "badge", default "button").
strength (number, default 0.9): 0 to 1: brightness and opacity of the metal.
thickness (number): Ring thickness in px. 2.5, or 1.5 for badges.
radius (number, default 14): Corner radius for the button variant.
glow (boolean, default true).

4 examples on this page

Send button.
Presets.
Text and badge: MetalText casts a headline in the same metal.
Playground.

Goes well with Liquid Metal

Liquid Metal is already composed into 2 ready-made sections, so you can see it in context or install the whole block.

Hero Landscape: Hero section
CTA Landscape: CTA section
Tilt Card: A 3D tilt card for React that leans toward the pointer with a moving glare
Spotlight Card: A React spotlight card: an accent glow follows the pointer across card and border
Sortable List: A drag-to-reorder React list with lifted shadows and keyboard sorting
Card Stack: A swipeable React card stack where the next card rises to meet you
Image Compare: A React before and after image comparison slider you can drag anywhere

Install Liquid Metal

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/liquid-metal

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

Liquid Metal as Markdown · llms.txt