# Skeleton

A React component in [Beamline](https://beamline.io/)'s [Feedback](https://beamline.io/components/feedback) category. Live demo: https://beamline.io/components/skeleton

Holds the shape of content while it loads, then crossfades into it, so nothing jumps.

## Use it for

- Reserving layout while content loads so nothing jumps.

## Not for

- Long operations with progress ([progress](https://beamline.io/components/progress)). Empty results ([empty-state](https://beamline.io/components/empty-state)).

## Anatomy

- root (aria-busy region)
- avatar circle (optional)
- text lines (last one shorter)
- content (children, revealed when loaded)
- group (SkeletonGroup: many shapes under one visibility and motion check)
- line (SkeletonLine: one line of text that has not arrived, exactly the surrounding text style's line tall)

## Variants

- **shape**: lines, avatar + lines, custom (SkeletonBlock pieces), many shapes (SkeletonGroup with `sheen` elements inside)

## States

- loading
- loaded (crossfade into children)

## Keyboard

- None; the region is aria-busy while loading and announces its label.

## Motion

A soft sheen crosses the blocks while loading; it stops entirely under reduced motion. Loaded content fades in over --pui-duration-standard.

## Props

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `loading` | `boolean` | `true` | With children: shows the placeholder while true, the children after. |
| `lines` | `number` | `3` |  |
| `avatar` | `boolean` | — |  |
| `label` | `string` | `"Loading content"` | Announced to assistive tech. |
| `children` | `ReactNode` | — | The real content. |
| `classNames` | `SkeletonClassNames` | — |  |
| `style / ref` | `CSSProperties / native Ref` | — | Root styles; ref targets native wrapper div; SkeletonBlock span. |

## Built from

- SkeletonBlock: one placeholder shape (any width, height, radius) for building the real layout's silhouette.
- SkeletonGroup: many placeholder shapes (heatmap cells, chart bars, a list's loading rows) under one visibility and motion check; every element with the `sheen` class inside it, at any depth, pauses off screen and stills under reduced motion together. Use it instead of hundreds of SkeletonBlocks, and to keep a loading list's real row structure.
- SkeletonLine: inside a SkeletonGroup, a placeholder for one line of text; give it the real text's classes and a width, and the loaded line replaces it without a shift.

## Dependencies

`motion`

## Import

```tsx
import { SkeletonBlock, SkeletonGroup, SkeletonLine, Skeleton } from "@/components/skeleton/skeleton";
```

## Get it

Skeleton 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 Feedback

- [Alert](https://beamline.io/components/alert): A message that stays until it is dealt with: what happened, what to do, an action; danger and warning are announced; dismissing folds its height away.
- [Announcement bar](https://beamline.io/components/announcement-bar): A banner across the top for news and offers: messages take turns, a countdown ticks, and dismissing folds it away and can remember it.
- [Empty state](https://beamline.io/components/empty-state): What a place will hold and the first step to fill it, instead of a blank; a compact size for panels and filtered tables.
- [Notification centre](https://beamline.io/components/notification-center): Updates that wait to be read: a bell with the unread count opens All / Unread, new and earlier groups, and per item mark read or dismiss.
- [Progress](https://beamline.io/components/progress): How much of a known task is done, or a moving bar when the length is unknown, with an optional label and value.
- [Spinner](https://beamline.io/components/spinner): A ring that spins while work runs and closes into a drawn check or cross when it ends.
- [Usage meter](https://beamline.io/components/usage-meter): An allowance and what fills it: one bar split by source, the room left, a warning near the limit and the overflow in its own red well past a notch at the…