| name | frontend-aceternity |
| description | Dramatic animated effects for landing pages and marketing sites. Use when user needs "wow-factor", hero sections with spotlights/aurora, 3D hover cards, text reveal animations, animated backgrounds. Built on Framer Motion + Tailwind. NOT for basic UI (use shadcn) or SaaS dashboards (use Magic UI). |
| allowed-tools | Read, Edit, Write, Bash (*) |
Aceternity UI
Copy-paste animated effects for stunning landing pages. Built on Framer Motion + Tailwind.
When to Use
- Hero sections with spotlight/aurora effects
- 3D card hover effects
- Text reveal animations
- Animated backgrounds (beams, stars, meteors)
- User asks for "cool effects", "wow factor"
When NOT to Use
- Basic UI components → shadcn/ui
- SaaS stats/marquees → Magic UI
- State-driven animations → Rive
Process
IDENTIFY → INSTALL → CUSTOMIZE
- Identify effect type needed
- Install:
npx aceternity-ui@latest add [component] - Customize colors/timing
Dependencies
npm install framer-motion clsx tailwind-merge
Component Categories
Backgrounds: spotlight, aurora-background, background-beams, wavy-background, meteors, sparkles
Cards: 3d-card, evervault-card, focus-cards, infinite-moving-cards, wobble-card
Text: text-generate-effect, flip-words, typewriter-effect, hero-highlight
Navigation: floating-navbar, floating-dock, navbar-menu
Special: lamp, tracing-beam, parallax-scroll, globe, timeline
Buttons: moving-border, hover-border-gradient
Decision Tree
Need dramatic effect?
├─ Hero background → spotlight, aurora-background, background-beams
├─ Feature cards → 3d-card, focus-cards
├─ Testimonials → infinite-moving-cards
├─ Headlines → text-generate-effect, flip-words
└─ Section divider → lamp, tracing-beam
Quick Patterns
// Spotlight Hero
<div className="relative h-screen bg-black">
<Spotlight className="absolute top-0 left-0" fill="white" />
<div className="relative z-10">
<h1>Content</h1>
</div>
</div>
// 3D Card
<CardContainer>
<CardBody className="bg-gray-50 rounded-xl p-6">
<CardItem translateZ="50">Title</CardItem>
<CardItem translateZ="100"><img src="..." /></CardItem>
</CardBody>
</CardContainer>
// Flip Words
<h1>Build <FlipWords words={["faster", "better", "smarter"]} /> apps</h1>
SSR & Hydration
// ALL components require 'use client'
'use client'
// Heavy components: dynamic import
import dynamic from 'next/dynamic'
const Globe = dynamic(() => import('@/components/ui/globe'), { ssr: false })
// Hydration fix pattern
const [mounted, setMounted] = useState(false)
useEffect(() => setMounted(true), [])
if (!mounted) return null
Performance Tips
// Reduce particles on mobile
const count = isMobile ? 20 : 100
// Respect reduced motion
const prefersReducedMotion = window.matchMedia('(prefers-reduced-motion: reduce)').matches
References
- components.md — Full component API with all props and patterns
External Resources
- https://ui.aceternity.com/components
- For latest API → use context7 skill