Pixel Card
A card whose surface fills with shimmering pixels from the edges inward on hover and drains back out when the pointer leaves.
- Category: Display
- Licence: Charcoal UI Pro
- Built with: React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, Motion
- Dependencies: motion, clsx, tailwind-merge
Examples
Pixel Card
API reference
| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
variant | "ember" | "mono" | "muted" | "ember" | |
gap | number | 6 | Pixel pitch in px. |
speed | number | 1 | |
color | string | — | Override the palette with one colour. |
...props | ComponentProps<"div"> | — |
About Pixel Card
Pixel Card fills its surface with shimmering pixels from the edges inward on hover and drains them back out when the pointer leaves.
Pixel Card 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 Pixel Card
- Feature cards in tech and gaming brands.
- Pricing tiers.
- Portfolio tiles.
- Retro-styled landing pages.
How it works
Pixels are drawn on a canvas with per-cell delays based on distance from the edge. Focus triggers it too, and variants switch between accent, mono and muted palettes.
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 Pixel Card
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 variant, gap, speed live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.
- variant ("ember" | "mono" | "muted", default "ember").
- gap (number, default 6): Pixel pitch in px.
- speed (number, default 1).
- color (string): Override the palette with one colour.
Goes well with Pixel Card
These display pieces share its tokens and motion language, so they sit together on one page without clashing.
- 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 Pixel Card
npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/pixel-cardPixel Card 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 pixel-card.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
- Can pixel card match my brand colours?
- Yes. Choose the accent, mono or muted variant, or pass a single colour, and the pixels use your theme tokens.
- How do I install Pixel Card?
- Pixel Card is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/pixel-card. It copies pixel-card.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
- Is Pixel Card free for commercial use?
- Pixel Card 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 Pixel Card 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 Pixel Card?
- Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Pixel Card's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.