Can true focus be hover only?

Yes. Set manual and the frame only moves when someone hovers a word.

How do I install True Focus?

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

Is True Focus free for commercial use?

True Focus 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 True Focus 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 True Focus?

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

True Focus

Every word is blurred except the one in focus, framed by four corner brackets that hop from word to word on an interval. Hovering a word pulls the focus there and pauses the hop.

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

Examples

True Focus

Hover a word to pull the focus there.

API reference

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`text`	`string`	—
`interval`	`number`	`1800`	Milliseconds between hops.
`blur`	`number`	`4`	Blur on the unfocused words, in px.
`color`	`string`	`"var(--color-ember)"`	Frame colour.
`manual`	`boolean`	`false`	Only hover moves the frame.
`pad`	`number`	`6`	Frame inset beyond the word, in px.
`className`	`string`	—

About True Focus

True Focus blurs every word except the one in focus, framed by four corner brackets that hop from word to word on an interval. Hovering a word pulls the focus there.

True Focus is a text animation 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 True Focus

Hero taglines with several ideas.
Mission statements.
Feature lists in one line.
Presentations.

How it works

The frame is measured to each word and moved on springs; blur is a CSS filter. manual stops the timer so only hover moves it.

The real text stays in the page for screen readers and search engines; the animated letters are decorative copies marked aria-hidden. With prefers-reduced-motion on, it holds still or settles instantly instead of animating.

Customizing True Focus

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 text, interval, blur, color, manual live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.

text (string).
interval (number, default 1800): Milliseconds between hops.
blur (number, default 4): Blur on the unfocused words, in px.
color (string, default "var(--color-ember)"): Frame colour.
manual (boolean, default false): Only hover moves the frame.
pad (number, default 6): Frame inset beyond the word, in px.

The example on this page

True Focus: Hover a word to pull the focus there.

Goes well with True Focus

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

Scramble Text: React scramble text: characters cycle through glyphs before locking in
Rotating Text: React rotating text that rolls between words letter by letter and resizes smoothly
Highlight Text: React highlight text: a marker sweep, hand-drawn underline or scribbled circle on scroll
Text Morph: React text morph: shared letters glide to new spots while the rest blur in and out
Split Flap: A React split-flap display: every cell flips through the drum to its letter

Install True Focus

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/true-focus

True Focus 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 true-focus.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 true focus be hover only?: Yes. Set manual and the frame only moves when someone hovers a word.
How do I install True Focus?: True Focus is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/true-focus. It copies true-focus.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
Is True Focus free for commercial use?: True Focus 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 True Focus 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 True Focus?: Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns True Focus's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.

True Focus as Markdown · llms.txt