# Expandable card

A React component in [Beamline](https://beamline.io/)'s [Layout](https://beamline.io/components/layout) category. Live demo: https://beamline.io/components/expandable-card

A dense card that grows in place when asked: the frame resizes and the clamped preview opens into the full text.

## Use it for

- Dense cards (alerts, insights) that need room for detail on request.

## Not for

- Full records (open a [sheet](https://beamline.io/components/sheet)).

## Anatomy

- card (m-surface in both states)
- title
- description
- toggle (ghost icon Button, aria-expanded)
- body (owns 13px/1.6 ink-2 type; closed: previewLines lines, the last fading into the card)

## States

- closed (clamped preview, faded last line)
- open (full text, wider frame)

## Keyboard

- The toggle is a button with aria-expanded

## Motion

The frame resizes on spring.smooth (critically damped, about 300 ms) while title and body keep their position; reduced motion switches instantly. The surface role never changes between states.

## Props

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `title / description` | `ReactNode` | — |  |
| `expanded / defaultExpanded / onExpandedChange` | `boolean` | — |  |
| `width / expandedWidth` | `number` | `320 / 520` |  |
| `previewLines` | `number` | `2` |  |
| `classNames` | `ExpandableCardClassNames` | — |  |
| `style / ref` | `CSSProperties / native Ref` | — | native article |

## Dependencies

`lucide-react`, `motion`

## Import

```tsx
import { ExpandableCard } from "@/components/expandable-card/expandable-card";
```

## Get it

Expandable card is part of Beamline: 190 React components and screens your coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or any MCP client) installs into your app through Beamline's MCP server, as a ready-built package or as plain React source you can change. $49 one payment (regular $200), no subscription, a year of updates, one licence for your whole team. [Get Beamline](https://beamline.io/checkout?pack=complete) · [Connect your agent](https://beamline.io/connect)

## More in Layout

- [Accordion](https://beamline.io/components/accordion): Topics that open in place, one at a time or several: FAQs and settings sections; each header is a button and the panel's height follows its content.
- [Aspect ratio](https://beamline.io/components/aspect-ratio): Holds media, video and embeds at a fixed width-to-height ratio while the layout resizes.
- [Bezel](https://beamline.io/components/bezel): A double-bezel frame: an outer shell with a hairline, a small gap, and an inset panel with its own edge, so a preview, chart or media reads as set into…
- [Card](https://beamline.io/components/card): A record or a small group of related content and actions: optional media, avatar, title, status, action, meta, free content and a Details toggle; plain…
- [Carousel](https://beamline.io/components/carousel): A row of slides that snap into place: swipe on touch, drag or the arrows with a mouse, ← → when focused, or the dots; optional autoplay that pauses and…
- [Collapsible](https://beamline.io/components/collapsible): One region that opens and closes in place from its trigger, its height animating to the content.
- [Direction](https://beamline.io/components/direction): Sets left-to-right or right-to-left for everything inside: text and logical spacing flip, and Radix parts read the direction for keys and placement.
- [Resizable panels](https://beamline.io/components/resizable-panels): Panes that trade space across draggable dividers; each divider is a focusable separator with arrow keys, limits, folding for collapsible panes and…
- [Scroll area](https://beamline.io/components/scroll-area): A native scroll region with thin overlay thumbs and edge fades that show only where more content waits; thumbs can be dragged or clicked.
- [Separator](https://beamline.io/components/separator): A hairline between groups, horizontal or vertical; hidden from screen readers unless it carries meaning.
- [UI root](https://beamline.io/components/ui-root): Makes a region of any app a Beamline root: theme, brand and direction for everything inside, and a matching layer at page level where its menus, dialogs…