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Pinky UI

Spotlight

Lights the face of a surface under the pointer.

Live example

Try the interaction before reading the recipe.

real component · keyboard-safe

Spotlight · move through the bounded field

Purpose

Lights the face of a surface under the pointer.

Use it when

A surface should acknowledge the pointer without moving.

API shape

size, intensity, color, range.

Judgment

The distinction that matters when choosing: Glow Border lights the *edge* of a surface, Spotlight lights its *face*. Edge light frames something; face light draws the eye into a region of it. Using both on one surface doubles the effect and halves the meaning.

Because nothing moves, this is the effect to reach for in dense layouts where motion would be noise.

Performance

One gradient and two CSS variables. Opacity is rounded so a resting pointer produces no style writes at all.

Source: packages/skills/primitives/spotlight.md