React Animated Cursor

A React component that replaces the native cursor with a custom animated jawn. Available options and props allow you to easily craft a unique cursor experience.

Contents

1. 📌 Features
2. 🎯 Quickstart
3. 🤖 Commands
4. 🧬 Options
5. 🕹️ Usage
6. 🎨 Cursor Types
7. 📓 Notes
8. 📅 To Dos

📌 Features

The custom cursor is comprised of

• An inner dot (cursorInner)
• An outer, outlining circle (cursorOuter), with slight opacity based on the dot/primary color
• A slight trailing animation of the outer outline
• An inversely scaling effect between the inner and outer cursor parts on click or link hover

Options exist for modifying the color and scaling of the cursor elements (see props/options below). Style props for in the inner and outer cursor allow you to easily create unique cursor types.

Live Demo→

🎯 Quickstart

Install package from npm

npm i react-animated-cursor

Add to you project

Add to a global location, like _app.js

import React from "react";
import AnimatedCursor from "react-animated-cursor"

export default function App() {
  return (
    <div className="App">
      <AnimatedCursor />
    </div>
  );
}

🤖 Commands

Install npm i react-animated-cursor
Build: npm run build
Dev: npm run dev
Demo Run: npm run demo:start
Demo Build: npm run demo:build
Demo Clean: npm run demo:clean

Demo

The demo is bundled with Parcel.js and served up at http://localhost:1234/.

Dist

On build, lib populates dist with commonjs, es, umd versions of the component.

🕹️ Usage

import React from "react";
import AnimatedCursor from "react-animated-cursor"

export default function App() {
  return (
    <div className="App">
      <AnimatedCursor />
    </div>
  );
}

Example Usage - with options

import React from "react";
import AnimatedCursor from "react-animated-cursor"

export default function App() {
  return (
    <div className="App">
    <AnimatedCursor
      innerSize={8}
      outerSize={8}
      color='193, 11, 111'
      outerAlpha={0.2}
      innerScale={0.7}
      outerScale={5}
      clickables={[
        'a',
        'input[type="text"]',
        'input[type="email"]',
        'input[type="number"]',
        'input[type="submit"]',
        'input[type="image"]',
        'label[for]',
        'select',
        'textarea',
        'button',
        '.link'
      ]}
    />
    </div>
  );
}

Example Usage - with simple options and custom config for one class

import React from "react";
import AnimatedCursor from "react-animated-cursor"

export default function App() {
  return (
    <div className="App">
    <AnimatedCursor
      innerSize={8}
      outerSize={8}
      color='193, 11, 111'
      outerAlpha={0.2}
      innerScale={0.7}
      outerScale={5}
      clickables={[
        'a',
        'input[type="text"]',
        'input[type="email"]',
        'input[type="number"]',
        'input[type="submit"]',
        'input[type="image"]',
        'label[for]',
        'select',
        'textarea',
        'button',
        '.link',
        {
          target: '.custom',
          options: {
            innerSize: 12,
            outerSize: 12,
            color: '255, 255, 255',
            outerAlpha: 0.3,
            innerScale: 0.7,
            outerScale: 5
          }
        }
      ]}
    />
    </div>
  );
}

Client Components, Next.js, SSR

In previous versions of the component, integration with Next's SSR environment required using a Dynamic Import. However, as of version 2.10.1, you should be good to go with a simple import.

Relevant updates:

• Included module directive 'use client' to indicate a client side component.
• Updated useEventListener hook with window checks.
• Wrapped the document use in a check.

However, if you do run into any issues, you could try including with Dynamic Import.

Next's Dynamic Import

'use client'; // indicates Client Component

// Import with next's dynamic import
import dynamic from 'next/dynamic';

const AnimatedCursor = dynamic(() => import('react-animated-cursor'), {
    ssr: false,
});

<AnimatedCursor/>

🧬 Options

🎨 Cursor Types

You can use the innerStyle and outerStyle props to provide custom styles and create a variery of custom cursor types. Additionally, you can pass custom styles and css vars to create unique cursors or update style based on events.

Dynamic Styles

Use CSS variables with innerStyle and outerStyle props to create dynamic styles that you can easily update. For example, perhaps you have a light and dark mode experience and what your cursor to also adapt it's colors.

CSS Vars

html {
  --cursor-color: #333
}

html.dark-mode {
  --cursor-color: #fff
}

Pass CSS Var as Style Props

<AnimatedCursor
  innerSize={8}
  outerSize={35}
  innerScale={1}
  outerScale={1.7}
  outerAlpha={0}
  outerStyle={{
    border: '3px solid var(--cursor-color)'
  }}
  innerStyle={{
    backgroundColor: 'var(--cursor-color)'
  }}
/>

Donut Cursor

A donut style cursor basically resembles a donut. You can easily create on by applying using the outerStyle props to apply an outer border

<AnimatedCursor
  innerSize={8}
  outerSize={35}
  innerScale={1}
  outerScale={2}
  outerAlpha={0}
  hasBlendMode={true}
  innerStyle={{
    backgroundColor: 'var(--cursor-color)'
  }}
  outerStyle={{
    border: '3px solid var(--cursor-color)'
  }}
/>

Donut Demo→

Blend Mode Cursor

You can use CSS mix-blend-mode with the style props to create an intersting cursor effect on hover that inverts the content's color. Works best with white / black cursors.

<AnimatedCursor
  color="#fff"
  innerSize={8}
  outerSize={35}
  innerScale={1}
  outerScale={1.7}
  outerAlpha={0}
  outerStyle={{
    mixBlendMode: 'exclusion'
  }}
/>

Blend Mode Demo→

📓 Notes

Mobile / Touch

helpers/isDevice.js uses UA sniffing to determine if on a common device so we can avoid rendering cursors. Yes... I know, there are other and probably better ways to handle this. Whatevers.

📅 To Dos

• Either remove on mobile, or provide touch events.

• Separate click and hover scalings to provide a different scaling when clicking on links/clickables

• Fix transform blur in Safari, which may mean migrating from scale to a width &height update 4/4/23

• Make clickables (cursor targets / selectors) a prop

• Add PropType checks

• Open cursor styles as props

• Add ability to maintain system cursor for the squeamish 4/4/23

• Migrate to TS

• Allow for different behavior based on the element hovered

• Options to control cursor transition speed and bezier

• Solution for impacting state during route changes

• Add some proper tests

Have fun ya'll.