mcpbeat

Gsap

athevon/gsap

GSAP animation engine sub-skill - core, timeline, ScrollTrigger, plugins.

9k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
5
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
167
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/AThevon/genjutsu --skill gsap

The instruction itself

18 sections, as written by the author

GSAP — Animation Engine

When to use GSAP

| Criteria | CSS Transitions | Framer Motion | GSAP |

| --------------------- | --------------- | ------------- | ----------------- |

| Hover / simple toggle | Yes | Yes | Overkill |

| Sequenced timeline | No | Limited | Yes |

| Scroll-driven | scroll-timeline | Limited | ScrollTrigger |

| Complex stagger | No | Basic | Distribution |

| Mobile perf (60fps) | Good | Average | Excellent |

| Text splitting | No | No | SplitText |

| SVG morph / draw | No | No | MorphSVG |

| Bundle size concern | 0kb | ~30kb | ~25kb + plugins |

Rule: if the animation needs timeline, scroll-link, or distributed stagger, use GSAP. Otherwise CSS first.

Setup

// Always register plugins at the top level
import gsap from "gsap";
import { ScrollTrigger } from "gsap/ScrollTrigger";
import { SplitText } from "gsap/SplitText";

gsap.registerPlugin(ScrollTrigger, SplitText);

React: use useGSAP() from the @gsap/react package instead of useEffect + manual cleanup.

import { useGSAP } from "@gsap/react";

useGSAP(() => {
  gsap.to(".box", { x: 200 });
}, { scope: containerRef }); // auto-cleanup, auto-revert

Core Patterns

defaults{} to avoid repetition

const tl = gsap.timeline({
  defaults: { duration: 0.8, ease: "power2.out" },
});
tl.to(".a", { y: -20 })
  .to(".b", { y: -20 }, "<0.1")
  .to(".c", { y: -20 }, "<0.1");

fromTo for full control

gsap.fromTo(".card", { y: 40, opacity: 0 }, { y: 0, opacity: 1, stagger: 0.15 });

Stagger with distribution

gsap.to(".grid-item", {
  scale: 0,
  stagger: {
    each: 0.05,
    from: "center",   // "start" | "end" | "center" | "edges" | "random" | index
    grid: "auto",      // auto-detects the grid
    axis: "x",         // "x" | "y" | null (both)
  },
});

ScrollTrigger Patterns

Basic Pin + Scrub

gsap.to(".panel", {
  x: "-300%",
  ease: "none",
  scrollTrigger: {
    trigger: ".container",
    pin: true,
    scrub: 1,
    end: () => "+=" + document.querySelector(".container").scrollWidth,
  },
});

Batch for mass reveal

ScrollTrigger.batch(".card", {
  onEnter: (elements) => gsap.to(elements, { opacity: 1, y: 0, stagger: 0.1 }),
  start: "top 85%",
});

Horizontal scroll with containerAnimation

const scrollTween = gsap.to(".panels", {
  x: () => -(document.querySelector(".panels").scrollWidth - window.innerWidth),
  ease: "none",
  scrollTrigger: { trigger: ".wrapper", pin: true, scrub: 1 },
});

// Animate elements INSIDE the horizontal scroll
gsap.to(".panel-content", {
  scale: 1.2,
  scrollTrigger: {
    trigger: ".panel-content",
    containerAnimation: scrollTween, // linked to horizontal scroll
    start: "left center",
    end: "right center",
    scrub: true,
  },
});

DO NOT — Critical mistakes

1. Ease on containerAnimation

// BAD — ease breaks the scroll mapping
scrollTrigger: { containerAnimation: scrollTween, scrub: 1, ease: "power2.out" }

// GOOD — always ease: "none" on the parent tween
const scrollTween = gsap.to(".panels", { x: ..., ease: "none", scrollTrigger: { scrub: 1 } });

2. ScrollTrigger on a child tween in a timeline

// BAD — ScrollTrigger ignores child tweens of a timeline that has its own ScrollTrigger
const tl = gsap.timeline({ scrollTrigger: { trigger: ".section" } });
tl.to(".box", { x: 100, scrollTrigger: { trigger: ".box" } }); // IGNORE

// GOOD — one ScrollTrigger per timeline OR standalone tweens
gsap.to(".box", { x: 100, scrollTrigger: { trigger: ".box" } }); // tween standalone

3. setState in onUpdate

// BAD — setState 60x/s = re-render hell
scrollTrigger: { onUpdate: (self) => setProgress(self.progress) }

// GOOD — mutate a ref or DOM element directly
const progressRef = useRef(0);
scrollTrigger: { onUpdate: (self) => { progressRef.current = self.progress; } }
// Or better: gsap.quickSetter to mutate the DOM without React

4. immediateRender on from() in a timeline

// BAD — from() has immediateRender: true by default, breaks sequencing
tl.to(".box", { x: 100 });
tl.from(".box", { y: 50 }); // visually jumps to the start

// GOOD — disable immediateRender when from() follows another tween
tl.to(".box", { x: 100 });
tl.from(".box", { y: 50, immediateRender: false });

5. Animating non-transform properties

// BAD — width/height/top/left trigger layout reflow
gsap.to(".box", { width: 200, height: 200 });

// GOOD — use transforms (GPU-accelerated, composited)
gsap.to(".box", { scaleX: 1.5, scaleY: 1.5 });
// If actual size needed: use Flip plugin for layout transition

Refs

  • references/core.md — Complete gsap.to/from/fromTo/set API, options
  • references/timeline.md — Timeline, position parameter, nesting
  • references/scrolltrigger.md — Full ScrollTrigger reference
  • references/plugins.md — SplitText, Flip, MorphSVG, DrawSVG, MotionPath, Observer

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take athevon/gsap from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.