Motion Patterns

Copy-paste patterns for the most common UI animation needs. Every pattern here is built on motion-foundations tokens and springs. Do not define new duration or easing values here — import them.

When to Activate

• Animating a button, card, modal, or toast notification
• Building list entrances with stagger
• Setting up page transitions in Next.js App Router
• Adding entrance or exit animations to conditional content
• Implementing scroll-reveal, scroll-linked progress, or sticky story sections
• Building expanding cards, accordions, or shared-element transitions

Outputs

This skill produces:

• Accessible, SSR-safe animation for all standard UI components
• AnimatePresence-wrapped conditional renders with correct exit behavior
• Page transition wrapper component for Next.js App Router
• Scroll-reveal and scroll-linked patterns using useScroll + useTransform
• Layout animation patterns (layout, layoutId) for expanding and crossfading elements

Principles

• Every pattern imports from motion-foundations. No raw numbers.
• Every conditional render is wrapped in AnimatePresence with a key.
• Exit animations are always defined alongside enter animations — never as an afterthought.
• layout is used only for small, isolated shifts. Large subtrees get explicit transforms.

Rules

1. Always wrap conditional renders in AnimatePresence with a key on the direct child. Without a key, exit animations never fire.
2. Always define exit when defining initial + animate. An animation without an exit is incomplete.
3. Use mode="wait" on page transitions. Enter must not start until exit completes.
4. Never use layout on subtrees with more than ~5 children or deeply nested DOM. Use explicit x/y transforms instead.
5. Stagger interval must stay between 0.05s and 0.10s. Below feels mechanical; above feels sluggish.
6. Modals must always include: focus trap, Escape-key close, scroll lock, role="dialog", aria-modal="true".
7. Scroll reveals use viewport={{ once: true }}. Repeating on scroll-out is distracting, not informative.
8. All token values are imported from motion-foundations. No inline numbers.

Decision Guidance

Choosing the right pattern

When to use mode="wait" vs mode="sync"

Core Concepts

AnimatePresence contract

Three things must always be true:

1. AnimatePresence wraps the conditional
2. The direct child has a key
3. The child has an exit prop

Miss any one of these and the exit animation silently fails.

layout vs layoutId

• layout — animates the element's own size/position change in place
• layoutId — links two separate elements, crossfading between them across renders

Use layout="position" on text inside an expanding container to prevent text reflow from animating.

Code Examples

Button feedback

"use client"
import { motion } from "motion/react"
import { springs, motionTokens } from "@/lib/motion-tokens"

<motion.button
  whileHover={{ scale: motionTokens.scale.pop }}
  whileTap={{ scale: motionTokens.scale.press }}
  transition={springs.snappy}
/>

Stagger list

"use client"
import { motion } from "motion/react"
import { motionTokens, springs } from "@/lib/motion-tokens"

const container = {
  hidden: {},
  visible: {
    transition: {
      staggerChildren: 0.08,   // within the 0.05–0.10 rule
      delayChildren: 0.1,
    },
  },
}

const item = {
  hidden:  { opacity: 0, y: motionTokens.distance.md },
  visible: { opacity: 1, y: 0, transition: springs.gentle },
}


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