React Native Reanimated

Overview

Reanimated runs animations on the native UI thread — no JS bridge bottleneck, no dropped frames. Animations stay at 60fps even when your JavaScript thread is busy. It uses "worklets" — small JavaScript functions that execute on the UI thread via JSI. The standard for production-quality animations in React Native: gesture-driven interactions, layout transitions, scroll-based effects, and shared element transitions.

When to Use

• Any animation in React Native beyond simple opacity/transform
• Gesture-driven interactions (swipe to delete, drag to reorder, pinch to zoom)
• Scroll-driven animations (parallax headers, sticky elements)
• Layout animations (items entering/leaving lists)
• Shared element transitions between screens

Instructions

Setup

npx expo install react-native-reanimated react-native-gesture-handler

// babel.config.js — Add the Reanimated plugin (MUST be last)
module.exports = function (api) {
  api.cache(true);
  return {
    presets: ["babel-preset-expo"],
    plugins: ["react-native-reanimated/plugin"],  // Must be last!
  };
};

Shared Values and Animated Styles

// components/FadeIn.tsx — Basic animation with shared values
import Animated, {
  useSharedValue,
  useAnimatedStyle,
  withTiming,
  withSpring,
} from "react-native-reanimated";
import { useEffect } from "react";

export function FadeInCard({ children }) {
  const opacity = useSharedValue(0);
  const translateY = useSharedValue(20);

  useEffect(() => {
    opacity.value = withTiming(1, { duration: 600 });
    translateY.value = withSpring(0, { damping: 15 });
  }, []);

  const animatedStyle = useAnimatedStyle(() => ({
    opacity: opacity.value,
    transform: [{ translateY: translateY.value }],
  }));

  return (
    <Animated.View style={animatedStyle} className="bg-white rounded-xl p-4 shadow-lg">
      {children}
    </Animated.View>
  );
}

Gesture Animations

// components/SwipeToDelete.tsx — Swipe gesture with animation
import Animated, {
  useSharedValue,
  useAnimatedStyle,
  withSpring,
  runOnJS,
} from "react-native-reanimated";
import { Gesture, GestureDetector } from "react-native-gesture-handler";

export function SwipeToDelete({ onDelete, children }) {
  const translateX = useSharedValue(0);

  const pan = Gesture.Pan()
    .onUpdate((event) => {
      // Only allow left swipe
      translateX.value = Math.min(0, event.translationX);
    })
    .onEnd((event) => {
      if (event.translationX < -150) {
        // Swipe far enough — delete
        translateX.value = withSpring(-400);
        runOnJS(onDelete)();
      } else {
        // Snap back
        translateX.value = withSpring(0);
      }
    });

  const animatedStyle = useAnimatedStyle(() => ({
    transform: [{ translateX: translateX.value }],
  }));

  return (
    <GestureDetector gesture={pan}>
      <Animated.View style={animatedStyle}>
        {children}
      </Animated.View>
    </GestureDetector>
  );
}

Layout Animations

// components/AnimatedList.tsx — Items animate in/out automatically
import Animated, { FadeInDown, FadeOutLeft, LinearTransition } from "react-native-reanimated";

export function AnimatedList({ items, onRemove }) {
  return (
    <Animated.FlatList
      data={items}
      itemLayoutAnimation={LinearTransition}
      renderItem={({ item, index }) => (
        <Animated.View
          entering={FadeInDown.delay(index * 100).springify()}
          exiting={FadeOutLeft.duration(300)}
          className="bg-white p-4 mx-4 my-1 rounded-lg"
        >
          <Text>{item.title}</Text>
          <Pressable onPress={() => onRemove(item.id)}>
            <Text className="text-red-500">Remove</Text>
          </Pressable>
        </Animated.View>
      )}
    />
  );
}

Scroll-Driven Animations

// components/ParallaxHeader.tsx — Parallax effect on scroll
import Animated, {
  useAnimatedScrollHandler,
  useSharedValue,
  useAnimatedStyle,
  interpolate,
} from "react-native-reanimated";

export function ParallaxHeader() {
  const scrollY = useSharedValue(0);

  const scrollHandler = useAnimatedScrollHandler({
    onScroll: (event) => {
      scrollY.value = event.contentOffset.y;
    },
  });

  const headerStyle = useAnimatedStyle(() => ({
    height: interpolate(scrollY.value, [-100, 0, 200], [400, 300, 100]),
    opacity: interpolate(scrollY.value, [0, 200], [1, 0.3]),
    transform: [
      { translateY: interpolate(scrollY.value, [0, 200], [0, -50]) },
    ],
  }));

  return (
    <>
      <Animated.View style={headerStyle} className="bg-blue-600">
        <Text className="text-white text-3xl font-bold">My App</Text>
      </Animated.View>
      <Animated.ScrollView onScroll={scrollHandler} scrollEventThrottle={16}>
        {/* Content */}
      </Animated.ScrollView>
    </>
  );
}

Examples

Example 1: Build a card swipe interface

User prompt: "Build a Tinder-style card swipe interface with smooth animations."

The agent will create a card stack with pan gestures, rotation based on swipe direction, spring animations for snap-back, and layout transitions for card removal.

Example 2: Animated bottom sheet

User prompt: "Create a bottom sheet that can be dragged up and snaps to positions."

The agent will use pan gestures with snap points, shared values for height, and spring animations for smooth snapping.

Guidelines

• Shared values for animation state — useSharedValue runs on UI thread
• useAnimatedStyle for dynamic styles — recalculated on UI thread
• withSpring for natural motion — withTiming for precise duration
• runOnJS to call JS from worklets — bridge back to JS thread when needed
• Gesture Handler integration — Gesture.Pan(), Gesture.Pinch(), etc.
• Layout animations are declarative — entering, exiting props on Animated components
• interpolate for value mapping — map scroll position to opacity, scale, etc.
• Babel plugin must be last — react-native-reanimated/plugin at end of plugins array
• Don't access JS objects in worklets — only shared values and primitives
• scrollEventThrottle={16} — 60fps scroll events for smooth animations