Scanner

A scanning line sweeps the field with a trailing glow over a faint grid, and scattered points flash as the line reaches them. CSS only.

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

Examples

Scanner

API reference

About Scanner

Scanner sweeps a line across a faint grid with a trailing glow, and scattered points flash as the line reaches them. It reads as detection, analysis or security.

Scanner 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 Scanner

• Security and threat detection products.
• AI vision and analysis tools.
• Biometric and identity apps.
• Tech product heroes.

How it works

Blip flashes are scheduled to the line's position so they light exactly as it passes. It is pure CSS, so it costs almost nothing to keep running, and it stops under reduced motion.

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 Scanner

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, direction, grid live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.

• speed (number, default 3): Seconds per sweep.
• color (string, default "var(--ember)").
• grid (boolean, default true).
• direction ("down" | "up" | "right" | "left", default "down").
• blips (number, default 14).

Goes well with Scanner

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 Scanner

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/scanner

Scanner 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 scanner.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 Scanner?

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

Is Scanner free for commercial use?

Scanner 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 Scanner 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 Scanner?

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

Scanner as Markdown · llms.txt