Does shape blur work on touch screens?

It reacts to a mouse only. On touch screens and with reduced motion the shape rests quietly behind the content, so the layout looks right everywhere.

How do I install Shape Blur?

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

Is Shape Blur free for commercial use?

Shape Blur 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 Shape Blur 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 Shape Blur?

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

Shape Blur

A blurred shape lives behind your content and trails the mouse on a spring, swelling while it moves and settling when it stops. Mouse only; it rests in the centre under reduced motion.

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

Examples

Shape Blur

Flick the pointer across the box and watch it grow.

API reference

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`shape`	`"circle" \| "square" \| "ring" \| "triangle"`	`"circle"`
`size`	`number`	`160`	Resting diameter in px.
`blur`	`number`	`40`	Blur radius in px.
`color`	`string`	`"var(--ember)"`
`lag`	`number`	`0.5`	How far it trails the pointer, 0 (glued) to 1 (lazy).
`children`	`ReactNode`	—
`className`	`string`	—

About Shape Blur

Shape Blur keeps a blurred shape behind your content that trails the mouse on a spring, swelling while it moves and settling when it stops.

Shape Blur is an interactive effect 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 Shape Blur

Hero backgrounds.
Behind call-to-action cards.
Portfolio sections.
Soft interactive accents.

How it works

Position and scale are springs driven by pointer velocity.

Pointer effects have a keyboard or static equivalent, and nothing that matters depends on hover alone. With prefers-reduced-motion on, it holds still or settles instantly instead of animating.

Customizing Shape Blur

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 shape, size, blur, lag live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.

shape (default "circle").
size (number, default 160): Resting diameter in px.
blur (number, default 40): Blur radius in px.
color (string, default "var(--ember)").
lag (number, default 0.5): How far it trails the pointer, 0 (glued) to 1 (lazy).

The example on this page

Shape Blur: Flick the pointer across the box and watch it grow.

Goes well with Shape Blur

These interactive pieces share its tokens and motion language, so they sit together on one page without clashing.

Hover Reveal List: A React hover reveal list: hovering a row floats its image beside the pointer
Pixel Grid: A React pixel grid: cells light up under the pointer and fade slowly
Draggable Cards: React draggable cards: polaroids scattered on a table you can pick up
Image Accordion: A React image accordion: the hovered panel expands to reveal its caption
Velocity Marquee: A React velocity marquee: big text that speeds up and flips with scroll

Install Shape Blur

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/shape-blur

Shape Blur 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 shape-blur.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

Does shape blur work on touch screens?: It reacts to a mouse only. On touch screens and with reduced motion the shape rests quietly behind the content, so the layout looks right everywhere.
How do I install Shape Blur?: Shape Blur is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/shape-blur. It copies shape-blur.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
Is Shape Blur free for commercial use?: Shape Blur 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 Shape Blur 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 Shape Blur?: Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns Shape Blur's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.

Shape Blur as Markdown · llms.txt