Motion Animation Patterns

Motion Animation Patterns

Overview

This skill provides comprehensive guidance for implementing Motion (Framer Motion) animations in React 19 applications. It ensures consistent, performant, and accessible animations across the UI using centralized animation presets.

When to use this skill:

• Adding page transition animations
• Implementing modal/dialog entrance/exit animations
• Creating staggered list animations
• Adding hover and tap micro-interactions
• Implementing skeleton loading states
• Creating collapse/expand animations
• Building toast/notification animations

Bundled Resources:

• references/animation-presets.md - Complete preset API reference
• examples/component-patterns.md - Common animation patterns

Core Architecture

Animation Presets Library (frontend/src/lib/animations.ts)

All animations MUST use the centralized animations.ts presets. This ensures:

• Consistent motion language across the app
• RTL-aware animations (Hebrew support)
• Performance optimization
• Easy maintainability

// ✅ CORRECT: Import from animations.ts
import { motion, AnimatePresence } from 'motion/react';
import { fadeIn, slideUp, staggerContainer, modalContent } from '@/lib/animations';

// ❌ WRONG: Inline animation values
<motion.div initial={{ opacity: 0 }} animate={{ opacity: 1 }}>

Available Presets

Transition Timing

Basic Animations

Slide Animations (RTL-Aware)

List/Stagger Animations

Modal/Dialog Animations

Page Transitions

Micro-Interactions

Loading States

Utility Animations

Implementation Patterns

1. Page Transitions

Wrap routes with AnimatePresence for smooth page changes:

// frontend/src/components/AnimatedRoutes.tsx
import { Routes, Route, useLocation } from 'react-router';
import { AnimatePresence, motion } from 'motion/react';
import { pageFade } from '@/lib/animations';

export function AnimatedRoutes() {
  const location = useLocation();

  return (
    <AnimatePresence mode="wait">
      <motion.div key={location.pathname} {...pageFade} className="min-h-screen">
        <Routes location={location}>
          {/* routes */}
        </Routes>
      </motion.div>
    </AnimatePresence>
  );
}

2. Modal Animations

Use AnimatePresence for enter/exit animations:

import { motion, AnimatePresence } from 'motion/react';
import { modalBackdrop, modalContent } from '@/lib/animations';

function Modal({ isOpen, onClose, children }) {
  return (
    <AnimatePresence>
      {isOpen && (
        <>
          <motion.div
            {...modalBackdrop}
            className="fixed inset-0 z-50 bg-black/50"
           
          />
          <motion.div
            {...modalContent}
            className="fixed inset-0 z-50 flex items-center justify-center p-4 pointer-events-none"
          >
            <div className="bg-white rounded-2xl p-6 pointer-events-auto">
              {children}
            </div>
          </motion.div>
        </>
      )}
    </AnimatePresence>
  );
}

3. Staggered List Animations

Use parent container with child variants:

import { motion } from 'motion/react';
import { staggerContainer, staggerItem } from '@/lib/animations';

function ItemList({ items }) {
  return (
    <motion.ul
      variants={staggerContainer}
      initial="initial"
      animate="animate"
      className="space-y-2"
    >
      {items.map((item) => (
        <motion.li key={item.id} variants={staggerItem}>
          <ItemCard item={item} />
        </motion.li>
      ))}
    </motion.ul>
  );
}

4. Card Hover Interactions

Apply micro-interactions to cards:

import { motion } from 'motion/react';
import { cardHover, tapScale } from '@/lib/animations';

function Card({ onClick, children }) {
  return (
    <motion.div
      {...cardHover}
      {...tapScale}
     
      className="p-4 rounded-lg bg-white cursor-pointer"
    >
      {children}
    </motion.div>
  );
}

5. Skeleton Loaders with Motion

Use Motion pulse for consistent animation:

import { motion } from 'motion/react';
import { pulse } from '@/lib/animations';

function Skeleton({ className }) {
  return (
    <motion.div
      variants={pulse}
      initial="initial"
      animate="animate"
      className={"bg-gray-200 rounded " + className}
      aria-hidden="true"
    />
  );
}

6. Collapse/Expand Animations

For accordions and expandable sections:

import { motion, AnimatePresence } from 'motion/react';
import { collapse } from '@/lib/animations';

function Accordion({ isExpanded, children }) {
  return (
    <AnimatePresence>
      {isExpanded && (
        <motion.div {...collapse} className="overflow-hidden">
          {children}
        </motion.div>
      )}
    </AnimatePresence>
  );
}

AnimatePresence Rules

MANDATORY: Use AnimatePresence for exit animations:

// ✅ CORRECT: Wrap conditional renders
<AnimatePresence>
  {isVisible && (
    <motion.div {...fadeIn}>Content</motion.div>
  )}
</AnimatePresence>

// ❌ WRONG: No exit animation
{isVisible && (
  <motion.div {...fadeIn}>Content</motion.div>
)}

Mode options:

• mode="wait" - Wait for exit before enter (page transitions)
• mode="popLayout" - Layout animations for removing items
• Default - Simultaneous enter/exit

RTL/Hebrew Considerations

The animation presets are RTL-aware:

• slideInRight - Natural entry direction for Hebrew
• staggerItemRight - RTL list animations
• pageSlide - Pages slide from left (correct for RTL)

Performance Best Practices

1. Use preset transitions: Already optimized
2. Avoid layout animations on large lists: Can cause jank
3. Use layout prop sparingly: Only when needed
4. Prefer opacity/transform: Hardware accelerated
5. Don't animate width/height directly: Use collapse preset

// ✅ CORRECT: Transform-based
<motion.div {...slideUp}>

// ❌ AVOID: Layout-heavy
<motion.div animate={{ width: '100%', marginLeft: '20px' }}>

Testing Animations

Verify 60fps performance:

1. Open Chrome DevTools > Performance tab
2. Record while triggering animations
3. Check for frame drops below 60fps

Checklist for New Components

When adding animations:

• Import from @/lib/animations, not inline values
• Use AnimatePresence for conditional renders
• Apply appropriate preset for the interaction type
• Test with RTL locale (Hebrew)
• Verify 60fps performance
• Ensure animations don't block user interaction

Anti-Patterns (FORBIDDEN)

// ❌ NEVER use inline animation values
<motion.div initial={{ opacity: 0 }} animate={{ opacity: 1 }}>

// ❌ NEVER animate without AnimatePresence for conditionals
{isOpen && <motion.div exit={{ opacity: 0 }}>}

// ❌ NEVER animate layout-heavy properties
<motion.div animate={{ width: newWidth, height: newHeight }}>

// ❌ NEVER use CSS transitions alongside Motion
<motion.div {...fadeIn} className="transition-all duration-300">

Integration with Agents

Frontend UI Developer

• Uses animation presets for all motion effects
• References this skill for implementation patterns
• Ensures consistent animation language

Rapid UI Designer

• Specifies animation types in design specs
• References available presets for motion design

Code Quality Reviewer

• Checks for inline animation anti-patterns
• Validates AnimatePresence usage
• Ensures performance best practices

Skill Version: 1.0.0 Last Updated: 2026-01-06 Maintained by: Yonatan Gross

Related Skills

• a11y-testing - Testing animations for reduced motion preferences and focus visibility
• focus-management - Focus management during modal animations and page transitions
• design-system-starter - Integrating animation presets into design system components
• i18n-date-patterns - RTL-aware animations for Hebrew and Arabic layouts

Key Decisions

Capability Details

animation-presets

Keywords: animation, motion, preset, fadeIn, slideUp, scaleIn Solves:

• How do I create consistent animations?
• What animation presets are available?
• Where should I define animations?

page-transitions

Keywords: page, transition, route, navigation, AnimatePresence Solves:

• How do I animate page transitions?
• Add route change animations
• AnimatePresence for page exits

modal-animations

Keywords: modal, dialog, overlay, backdrop, entrance, exit Solves:

• How do I animate modals?
• Dialog entrance/exit animations
• Backdrop fade effects

stagger-animations

Keywords: stagger, list, children, delay, sequence Solves:

• How do I stagger list animations?
• Animate children sequentially
• List item entrance effects

hover-interactions

Keywords: hover, tap, whileHover, whileTap, micro-interaction Solves:

• How do I add hover effects?
• Button press animations
• Micro-interactions for buttons

skeleton-loaders

Keywords: skeleton, loading, pulse, placeholder, shimmer Solves:

• How do I create skeleton loaders?
• Animated loading placeholders
• Pulse animation for loading states

rtl-animations

Keywords: rtl, ltr, hebrew, arabic, direction, i18n Solves:

• How do I handle RTL animations?
• Direction-aware slide animations
• Hebrew/Arabic animation support

collapse-expand

Keywords: collapse, expand, accordion, height, auto Solves:

• How do I animate height changes?
• Accordion expand/collapse
• Animate to auto height