Aceternity UI Skill

Overview

Aceternity UI is a premium, production-ready React component library designed for Next.js applications. It provides 100+ beautifully animated and interactive components built with Tailwind CSS and Framer Motion. Components are installed via the shadcn CLI and can be customized directly in your codebase.

Key Features:

• 100+ animated, production-ready components
• Built for Next.js 13+ with App Router support
• Full TypeScript support
• Tailwind CSS v3+ styling
• Framer Motion animations
• Dark mode support
• Copy-paste friendly (not an npm package)
• Full source code access for customization

Prerequisites:

• Next.js 13+ (App Router recommended)
• React 16.8+
• Tailwind CSS v3+
• TypeScript (recommended)
• Node.js 18+ with bun, npm, or pnpm

Installation

Initial Setup

For New Projects:

# Create Next.js project (bun preferred)
bunx create-next-app@latest my-app
# or: npx create-next-app@latest my-app
# or: pnpm create next-app@latest my-app

cd my-app

# Select these options:
# - TypeScript: Yes
# - ESLint: Yes
# - Tailwind CSS: Yes
# - src/ directory: Optional
# - App Router: Yes (recommended)
# - Import alias: @/* (default)

Initialize Aceternity UI via shadcn CLI:

# Using bun (preferred)
bunx --bun shadcn@latest init

# Using npm
npx shadcn@latest init

# Using pnpm
pnpm dlx shadcn@latest init

# During setup:
# - Style: New York (recommended)
# - Color: Zinc (or your preference)
# - CSS variables: Yes (recommended)

Configure Registry:

After initialization, update components.json to add Aceternity registry:

{
  "$schema": "https://ui.shadcn.com/schema.json",
  "style": "new-york",
  "rsc": true,
  "tsx": true,
  "tailwind": {
    "config": "tailwind.config.ts",
    "css": "app/globals.css",
    "baseColor": "zinc",
    "cssVariables": true
  },
  "aliases": {
    "components": "@/components",
    "utils": "@/lib/utils"
  },
  "registries": {
    "@aceternity": "https://ui.aceternity.com/registry/{name}.json"
  }
}

Installing Components

Using shadcn CLI 3.0+ (Namespaced Registry):

# Install specific component
bunx shadcn@latest add @aceternity/background-beams
# or: npx shadcn@latest add @aceternity/background-beams
# or: pnpm dlx shadcn@latest add @aceternity/background-beams

# Component will be added to: components/ui/background-beams.tsx

Manual Installation:

If the registry method doesn't work, install manually:

1. Install required dependencies:

bun add motion clsx tailwind-merge
# or: npm install motion clsx tailwind-merge

2. Add utility function to lib/utils.ts:

import { clsx, type ClassValue } from "clsx"
import { twMerge } from "tailwind-merge"

export function cn(...inputs: ClassValue[]) {
  return twMerge(clsx(inputs))
}

3. Copy component code from ui.aceternity.com to your project

Component Categories

1. Backgrounds & Effects (28 components)

Create stunning animated backgrounds and visual effects for hero sections and full-page layouts.

Key Components:

• Background Beams - Animated glowing beams following SVG paths
• Background Gradient - Smooth gradient backgrounds with transitions
• Wavy Background - Animated wave patterns
• Aurora Background - Northern lights inspired animated gradients
• Sparkles - Particle sparkle effects
• Meteors - Falling meteor animations
• Spotlight - Dynamic spotlight effects
• Grid and Dot Backgrounds - Subtle grid/dot patterns
• Vortex - Swirling vortex animations
• Canvas Reveal Effect - Revealing content with canvas animations

Usage Example:

"use client";
import { BackgroundBeams } from "@/components/ui/background-beams";

export default function HeroSection() {
  return (
    <div className="h-screen w-full relative">
      <div className="max-w-4xl mx-auto z-10 relative p-8">
        <h1 className="text-5xl font-bold">Welcome</h1>
        <p className="text-xl mt-4">Beautiful animated backgrounds</p>
      </div>
      <BackgroundBeams />
    </div>
  );
}

When to Use:

• Hero sections requiring visual impact
• Landing pages with animated backgrounds
• Full-screen sections needing depth
• Portfolio or agency websites
• Marketing pages with call-to-actions

2. Card Components (15 components)

Interactive cards with hover effects, animations, and 3D transformations.

Key Components:

• 3D Card Effect - Cards with CSS perspective and 3D transforms
• Card Hover Effect - Smooth hover animations and transitions
• Expandable Card - Cards that expand to show more content
• Focus Cards - Cards that focus/highlight on hover
• Card Spotlight - Spotlight effect following mouse
• Glare Card - Holographic glare effect
• Wobble Card - Playful wobble animations
• Infinite Moving Cards - Auto-scrolling card carousel
• Direction Aware Hover - Hover effects based on cursor direction

Usage Example:

"use client";
import { CardBody, CardContainer, CardItem } from "@/components/ui/3d-card";

export function ProductCard() {
  return (
    <CardContainer>
      <CardBody className="bg-gray-50 rounded-xl p-6">
        <CardItem translateZ="50" className="text-2xl font-bold">
          Product Title
        </CardItem>
        <CardItem translateZ="60" as="p" className="text-sm mt-2">
          Product description goes here
        </CardItem>
        <CardItem translateZ="100" className="w-full mt-4">
          <img src="/product.jpg" className="rounded-xl" alt="Product" />
        </CardItem>
      </CardBody>
    </CardContainer>
  );
}

When to Use:

• Product showcases
• Feature highlights
• Portfolio items
• Team member profiles
• Pricing tiers
• Blog post previews

3. Scroll & Parallax (5 components)

Create engaging scroll-based animations and parallax effects.

Key Components:

• Parallax Scroll - Images with parallax scrolling
• Sticky Scroll Reveal - Content reveals while scrolling
• Container Scroll Animation - Animated scroll containers
• Hero Parallax - Parallax hero sections
• MacBook Scroll - MacBook-style scroll interactions

Usage Example:

import { StickyScroll } from "@/components/ui/sticky-scroll-reveal";

const content = [
  {
    title: "Feature One",
    description: "Description of feature one...",
    content: <div>Visual content here</div>
  },
  // More items...
];

export function Features() {
  return <StickyScroll content={content} />;
}

When to Use:

• Feature showcases with scroll interactions
• Storytelling layouts
• Product tours
• Long-form content with visual breaks
• Interactive timelines

4. Text Components (10 components)

Animated text effects for headings, titles, and interactive typography.

Key Components:

• Text Generate Effect - Text appearing character by character
• Typewriter Effect - Typing animation
• Flip Words - Word rotation animations
• Text Hover Effect - Interactive text on hover
• Hero Highlight - Gradient text highlights
• Encrypted Text - Matrix-style encrypted text effect
• Colourful Text - Gradient animated text

Usage Example:

import { TypewriterEffect } from "@/components/ui/typewriter-effect";

const words = [
  { text: "Build" },
  { text: "amazing" },
  { text: "websites", className: "text-blue-500" }
];

export function Hero() {
  return <TypewriterEffect words={words} />;
}

When to Use:

• Hero headings
• Attention-grabbing titles
• Dynamic content displays
• Interactive landing pages
• Animated CTAs

5. Buttons (4 components)

Enhanced button components with animations and effects.

Key Components:

• Tailwind CSS Buttons - Collection of styled buttons
• Hover Border Gradient - Animated gradient borders
• Moving Border - Animated border movement
• Stateful Button - Multi-state button with transitions

Usage Example:

import { MovingBorder } from "@/components/ui/moving-border";

export function CTAButton() {
  return (
    <MovingBorder duration={2000} className="p-4">
      <span>Get Started</span>
    </MovingBorder>
  );
}

6. Navigation (5 components)

Modern navigation menus and tab systems.

Key Components:

• Floating Navbar - Floating navigation bar
• Navbar Menu - Full-featured navigation menu
• Tabs - Animated tab components
• Resizable Navbar - Responsive navigation
• Sticky Banner - Sticky announcement banners

7. Input & Forms (3 components)

Enhanced form inputs and file upload components.

Key Components:

• Signup Form - Animated signup forms
• Placeholders and Vanish Input - Inputs with animated placeholders
• File Upload - Drag-and-drop file upload

Usage Example:

import { PlaceholdersAndVanishInput } from "@/components/ui/placeholders-and-vanish-input";

export function SearchBar() {
  const placeholders = [
    "Search for anything...",
    "What are you looking for?",
    "Type to search..."
  ];

  return (
    <PlaceholdersAndVanishInput
      placeholders={placeholders}
      onChange={(e) => console.log(e.target.value)}
      onSubmit={(e) => {
        e.preventDefault();
        console.log("submitted");
      }}
    />
  );
}

8. Overlays & Popovers (3 components)

Modal dialogs and tooltips with animations.

Key Components:

• Animated Modal - Modal with smooth animations
• Animated Tooltip - Tooltips with enter/exit animations
• Link Preview - Link preview popover on hover

Usage Example:

import { Modal, ModalBody, ModalContent, ModalTrigger } from "@/components/ui/animated-modal";

export function BookingModal() {
  return (
    <Modal>
      <ModalTrigger className="bg-black text-white px-4 py-2 rounded-md">
        Book Now
      </ModalTrigger>
      <ModalBody>
        <ModalContent>
          <h2>Booking Details</h2>
          {/* Modal content */}
        </ModalContent>
      </ModalBody>
    </Modal>
  );
}

9. Carousels & Sliders (4 components)

Image sliders and carousel components.

Key Components:

• Images Slider - Full-screen image slider
• Carousel - Standard carousel component
• Apple Cards Carousel - Apple-style card carousel
• Animated Testimonials - Testimonial slider

10. Layout & Grid (3 components)

Grid layouts and container components.

Key Components:

• Layout Grid - Animated grid layouts
• Bento Grid - Bento-box style grid
• Container Cover - Full-screen container

11. Data & Visualization (2 components)

Components for displaying data and comparisons.

Key Components:

• Timeline - Animated timeline component
• Compare - Before/after comparison slider

12. Cursor & Pointer (3 components)

Cursor-following effects and interactions.

Key Components:

• Following Pointer - Elements following cursor
• Pointer Highlight - Highlight effect on cursor
• Lens - Magnifying lens effect

13. 3D Components (2 components)

3D visual effects using CSS transforms.

Key Components:

• 3D Pin - Pinterest-style 3D card
• 3D Marquee - 3D rotating marquee

14. Loaders (2 components)

Loading animations and progress indicators.

Key Components:

• Multi-step Loader - Multi-step loading animation
• Loader - Various loading spinners

15. Sections & Blocks (3 components)

Pre-built section templates.

Key Components:

• Feature Sections - Feature showcase templates
• Cards - Pre-designed card layouts
• Hero Sections - Hero section templates

Common Patterns

Dark Mode Support

All Aceternity components support dark mode via Tailwind's dark mode classes:

<div className="bg-white dark:bg-black text-black dark:text-white">
  {/* Content */}
</div>

Responsive Design

Components are responsive by default. Use Tailwind's responsive prefixes:

<h1 className="text-2xl md:text-4xl lg:text-6xl">
  Responsive Heading
</h1>

Combining Components

Components can be combined for complex layouts:

import { BackgroundBeams } from "@/components/ui/background-beams";
import { TypewriterEffect } from "@/components/ui/typewriter-effect";
import { MovingBorder } from "@/components/ui/moving-border";

export default function Hero() {
  return (
    <div className="h-screen relative">
      <div className="z-10 relative flex flex-col items-center justify-center h-full">
        <TypewriterEffect words={words} />
        <MovingBorder>
          <button>Get Started</button>
        </MovingBorder>
      </div>
      <BackgroundBeams />
    </div>
  );
}

Best Practices

1. Performance Optimization

Use "use client" directive - Aceternity components use Framer Motion, requiring client-side rendering:

"use client";
import { Component } from "@/components/ui/component";

Lazy load heavy components:

import dynamic from 'next/dynamic';

const HeavyBackground = dynamic(
  () => import('@/components/ui/background-beams'),
  { ssr: false }
);

2. Accessibility

Add ARIA labels:

<button aria-label="Open menu">
  <MenuIcon />
</button>

Ensure keyboard navigation:

<div role="button" tabIndex={0} onKeyDown={handleKeyDown}>
  Interactive element
</div>

3. Customization

Override styles using className:

<BackgroundBeams className="opacity-50" />

Modify component source directly - Since components are copied to your project, you can edit them:

// components/ui/background-beams.tsx
export function BackgroundBeams({ className, myCustomProp }: Props) {
  // Customize as needed
}

4. Type Safety

Use TypeScript for prop types:

interface CardProps {
  title: string;
  description: string;
  image?: string;
}

export function Card({ title, description, image }: CardProps) {
  // Component implementation
}

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. "Module not found: motion"

bun add motion
# or: npm install motion

2. "cn is not defined" Ensure lib/utils.ts exists with the cn helper function.

3. Components not animating Verify "use client" directive is at the top of the file.

4. Tailwind classes not working Ensure Tailwind is configured and globals.css imports Tailwind directives:

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

5. Dark mode not working Check tailwind.config.ts has darkMode: "class" configured.

Token Efficiency

This skill provides significant token savings by:

• Pre-vetted component selection - Saves ~3k tokens exploring component options
• Installation instructions - Saves ~2k tokens debugging setup issues
• Component categorization - Saves ~2k tokens finding the right component
• Usage examples - Saves ~2k tokens writing boilerplate code
• Troubleshooting guide - Saves ~1k tokens debugging common issues

Estimated savings: ~10k tokens (65-70% reduction) per implementation

Errors prevented:

1. Missing motion dependency
2. Incorrect shadcn CLI initialization
3. Missing cn utility function
4. Missing "use client" directive
5. Incorrect registry configuration
6. Wrong Next.js configuration (Pages Router vs App Router)

When to Load References

Load reference files based on task context:

If User Asks About...	Load This Reference
New project setup, installation, getting started	references/quick-start.md (465 lines)
Finding specific components, component categories, CLI commands	references/component-catalog.md (635 lines)
Usage examples, patterns, troubleshooting	Main SKILL.md (this file)

Reference Summary:

• quick-start.md - 5-minute setup guide, first component examples, troubleshooting, project structure
• component-catalog.md - Complete list of 100+ components with install commands and use cases

Additional Resources

• Official Documentation: https://ui.aceternity.com/docs
• Component Gallery: https://ui.aceternity.com/components
• Shadcn UI: https://ui.shadcn.com
• Framer Motion: https://www.framer.com/motion
• Tailwind CSS: https://tailwindcss.com

Related Skills

When using this skill, consider combining with:

• nextjs - Next.js framework skill
• tailwind-v4-shadcn - Tailwind CSS v4 configuration
• react-hook-form-zod - Form validation
• clerk-auth - Authentication
• cloudflare-nextjs - Cloudflare deployment

License

This skill documentation is provided under MIT License. Aceternity UI components have their own licensing - check https://ui.aceternity.com for details.

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Last Updated: 2025-12-08 Version: 1.1.0 Maintainer: Claude Skills Maintainers