Vercel React View Transitions

React View Transitions

Animate between UI states using the browser's native document.startViewTransition. Declare what with <ViewTransition>, trigger when with startTransition / useDeferredValue / Suspense, control how with CSS classes. Unsupported browsers skip animations gracefully.

When to Animate

Every <ViewTransition> should communicate a spatial relationship or continuity. If you can't articulate what it communicates, don't add it.

Implement all applicable patterns from this list, in this order:

This is an implementation order, not a "pick one" list. Implement every pattern that fits the app. Only skip a pattern if the app has no use case for it.

Choosing Animation Style

Reserve directional slides for hierarchical navigation (list → detail) and ordered sequences (prev/next photo, carousel, paginated results). For ordered sequences, the direction communicates position: "next" slides from right, "previous" from left. Lateral/unordered navigation (tab-to-tab) should not use directional slides — it falsely implies spatial depth.

Availability

• Next.js: Do not install react@canary — the App Router already bundles React canary internally. ViewTransition works out of the box. npm ls react may show a stable-looking version; this is expected.
• Without Next.js: Install react@canary react-dom@canary (ViewTransition is not in stable React).
• Browser support: Chromium 111+, Firefox 144+, Safari 18.2+. Graceful degradation on unsupported browsers.

Core Concepts

The <ViewTransition> Component

import { ViewTransition } from 'react';

<ViewTransition>
  <Component />
</ViewTransition>

React auto-assigns a unique view-transition-name and calls document.startViewTransition behind the scenes. Never call startViewTransition yourself.

Animation Triggers

Only startTransition, useDeferredValue, or Suspense activate VTs. Regular setState does not animate.

Critical Placement Rule

<ViewTransition> only activates enter/exit if it appears before any DOM nodes:

// Works
<ViewTransition enter="auto" exit="auto">
  <div>Content</div>
</ViewTransition>

// Broken — div wraps the VT, suppressing enter/exit
<div>
  <ViewTransition enter="auto" exit="auto">
    <div>Content</div>
  </ViewTransition>
</div>

Styling with View Transition Classes

Props

Values: "auto" (browser cross-fade), "none" (disabled), "class-name" (custom CSS), or { [type]: value } for type-specific animations.

<ViewTransition default="none" enter="slide-in" exit="slide-out" share="morph" />

If default is "none", all triggers are off unless explicitly listed.

CSS Pseudo-Elements

• ::view-transition-old(.class) — outgoing snapshot
• ::view-transition-new(.class) — incoming snapshot
• ::view-transition-group(.class) — container
• ::view-transition-image-pair(.class) — old + new pair

Transition Types

Tag transitions with addTransitionType so VTs can pick different animations based on context. Call it multiple times to stack types — different VTs in the tree react to different types:

startTransition(() => {
  addTransitionType('nav-forward');
  addTransitionType('select-item');
  router.push('/detail/1');
});

Pass an object to map types to CSS classes. Works on enter, exit, and share:

<ViewTransition
  enter={{ 'nav-forward': 'slide-from-right', 'nav-back': 'slide-from-left', default: 'none' }}
  exit={{ 'nav-forward': 'slide-to-left', 'nav-back': 'slide-to-right', default: 'none' }}
  share={{ 'nav-forward': 'morph-forward', 'nav-back': 'morph-back', default: 'morph' }}
  default="none"
>
  <Page />
</ViewTransition>

TypeScript: ViewTransitionClassPerType requires a default key in the object.

For apps with multiple pages, extract the type-keyed VT into a reusable wrapper:

export function DirectionalTransition({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <ViewTransition
      enter={{ 'nav-forward': 'nav-forward', 'nav-back': 'nav-back', default: 'none' }}
      exit={{ 'nav-forward': 'nav-forward', 'nav-back': 'nav-back', default: 'none' }}
      default="none"
    >
      {children}
    </ViewTransition>
  );
}

router.back() and Browser Back Button

router.back() and the browser's back/forward buttons do not trigger view transitions (popstate is synchronous, incompatible with startViewTransition). Use router.push() with an explicit URL instead.

Shared Element Transitions

Same name on two VTs — one unmounting, one mounting — creates a shared element morph:

<ViewTransition name="hero-image">
  <img src="/thumb.jpg" => startTransition(() => onSelect())} />
</ViewTransition>

// On the other view — same name
<ViewTransition name="hero-image">
  <img src="/full.jpg" />
</ViewTransition>

• Only one VT with a given name can be mounted at a time — use unique names (photo-${id}).
• share takes precedence over enter/exit. When no matching pair forms, enter/exit fires instead.
• Never use a fade-out exit on pages with shared morphs — use a directional slide instead.

Common Patterns

Enter/Exit

{show && (
  <ViewTransition enter="fade-in" exit="fade-out"><Panel /></ViewTransition>
)}

List Reorder

{items.map(item => (
  <ViewTransition key={item.id}><ItemCard item={item} /></ViewTransition>
))}

Trigger inside startTransition. Avoid wrapper <div>s between list and VT.

Composing Shared Elements with List Identity

{items.map(item => (
  <ViewTransition key={item.id}>                                      {/* list identity */}
    <Link href={`/items/${item.id}`}>
      <ViewTransition name={`item-image-${item.id}`} share="morph">   {/* shared element */}
        <Image src={item.image} />
      </ViewTransition>
      <p>{item.name}</p>
    </Link>
  </ViewTransition>
))}

Force Re-Enter with key

<ViewTransition key={searchParams.toString()} enter="slide-up" default="none">
  <ResultsGrid />
</ViewTransition>

Caution: If wrapping <Suspense>, changing key remounts the boundary and refetches.

Suspense Fallback to Content

Simple cross-fade:

<ViewTransition>
  <Suspense fallback={<Skeleton />}><Content /></Suspense>
</ViewTransition>

Directional reveal:

<Suspense fallback={<ViewTransition exit="slide-down"><Skeleton /></ViewTransition>}>
  <ViewTransition enter="slide-up" default="none"><Content /></ViewTransition>
</Suspense>

How Multiple VTs Interact

Every VT matching the trigger fires simultaneously in a single document.startViewTransition. VTs in different transitions (navigation vs later Suspense resolve) don't compete.

Use default="none" Liberally

Without it, every VT fires the browser cross-fade on every transition — Suspense resolves, useDeferredValue updates, background revalidations. Always use default="none" and explicitly enable only desired triggers.

Two Patterns Coexist

Pattern A — Directional slides: Type-keyed VT on each page, fires during navigation. Pattern B — Suspense reveals: Simple string props, fires when data loads (no type).

They coexist because they fire at different moments. default="none" on both prevents cross-interference. Always pair enter with exit. Place directional VTs in page components, not layouts.

Nested VT Limitation

When a parent VT exits, nested VTs inside it do not fire their own enter/exit — only the outermost VT animates. Per-item staggered animations during page navigation are not possible today.

Accessibility

Always add the reduced motion CSS to your global stylesheet:

@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  ::view-transition-group(*),
  ::view-transition-old(*),
  ::view-transition-new(*) {
    animation: none !important;
  }
}