Cuberto Mouse Follower

A powerful JavaScript library to create amazing and smooth effects for the mouse cursor on your website.

Dependencies

GSAP v3 (https://greensock.com/gsap/)

Quick start

Install from NPM

Mouse Follower requires the GSAP library to work.

npm install gsap --save
npm install mouse-follower --save

Import GSAP and Mouse Follower and initialize it:

import MouseFollower from "mouse-follower";
import {gsap} from "gsap";

MouseFollower.registerGSAP(gsap);

const cursor = new MouseFollower();

Don't forget to import the cursor styles from /src/scss/index.scss into your main SCSS file:

Use from CDN

If you don't want to include the Mouse Follower files in your project, you can use it from CDN.

The following files are available:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://unpkg.com/mouse-follower@1/dist/mouse-follower.min.css">

<script src="https://unpkg.com/mouse-follower@1/dist/mouse-follower.min.js"></script>

Mouse Follower requires the GSAP library to work. You need to import it before Mouse Follower if you don't already have it:

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/gsap/3.10.4/gsap.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/mouse-follower@1/dist/mouse-follower.min.js"></script>
<script>
    var cursor = new MouseFollower();
</script>

Options

You can configure Mouse Follower via options:

const cursor = new MouseFollower({
    container: '.mf-container',
    speed: 0.3
});

The following options and defaults are available:

const cursor = new MouseFollower({
    el: null,
    container: document.body,
    eventsTarget: document.body,
    className: 'mf-cursor',
    innerClassName: 'mf-cursor-inner',
    textClassName: 'mf-cursor-text',
    mediaClassName: 'mf-cursor-media',
    mediaBoxClassName: 'mf-cursor-media-box',
    iconSvgClassName: 'mf-svgsprite',
    iconSvgNamePrefix: '-',
    iconSvgSrc: '',
    iconImgClassName: 'mf-cursor-icon',
    dataAttr: 'cursor',
    hiddenState: '-hidden',
    textState: '-text',
    iconState: '-icon',
    activeState: '-active',
    mediaState: '-media',
    stateDetection: {
        '-pointer': 'a,button',
        '-hidden': 'iframe'
    },
    visible: true,
    visibleOnState: false,
    speed: 0.55,
    ease: 'expo.out',
    overwrite: true,
    skewing: 0,
    skewingText: 2,
    skewingIcon: 2,
    skewingMedia: 2,
    skewingDelta: 0.001,
    skewingDeltaMax: 0.15,
    stickDelta: 0.15,
    showTimeout: 20,
    hideOnLeave: true,
    hideTimeout: 300,
    hideMediaTimeout: 300
});

Name	Type	Description
el	string | HTMLElement	Existing cursor element. If not specified, the cursor will be created automatically.
container	string | HTMLElement	Cursor container. Body by default.
eventsTarget	string | HTMLElement	Target for cursor events. Body by default.
className	string	Cursor root element class name.
innerClassName	string	Inner element class name.
textClassName	string	Text element class name.
mediaClassName	string	Media element class name.
mediaBoxClassName	string	Media inner element class name.
iconSvgClassName	string	SVG sprite class name.
iconSvgNamePrefix	string	SVG sprite class name prefix for icons.
iconSvgSrc	string	SVG sprite source. If you are not using SVG sprites, leave this blank.
iconImgClassName	string	SVG icon img class name.
dataAttr	string | null	Name of the data attribute for changing cursor state directly in HTML markup. Uses event delegation.
hiddenState	string	Hidden class name state.
textState	string	Text class name state.
iconState	string	Icon class name state.
activeState	string | null	Active (mousedown) class name state. Set false to disable.
mediaState	string	Media (image/video) class name state.
visible	boolean	Whether the cursor is visible by default.
visibleOnState	boolean	Automatically show/hide cursor when a state is added. Can be useful when implementing a hidden cursor follower.
stateDetection	object | null	Allows you to set predefined states for different elements on the page. Uses event delegation.
speed	number	Cursor movement speed.
ease	string	Timing function of cursor movement. See GSAP easing.
overwrite	boolean	Overwrite or preserve the cursor position when the mousemove event fires. See GSAP overwrite modes.
skewing	number	Default "skewing" factor.
skewingText	number	Skew effect factor in the text state. Set 0 to disable skew in this mode.
skewingIcon	number	Skew effect factor in the icon state. Set 0 to disable skew in this mode.
skewingMedia	number	Skew effect factor in the media (image/video) state. Set 0 to disable skew in this mode.
skewingDelta	number	Skew effect base delta. Set 0 to disable skew in this mode.
skewingDeltaMax	number	Skew effect max delta. Set 0 to disable skew in this mode.
stickDelta	number	Stick effect delta.
showTimeout	number	Delay before showing. May be useful for the spawn animation to work properly.
hideOnLeave	boolean	Hide the cursor when the mouse leaves the event target.
hideTimeout	number	Hiding delay. Should be equal to the CSS hide animation time.
initialPos	array	Array (x, y) of the initial cursor position.

Advanced usage

Show or hide cursor

These basic methods allow you to show and hide the cursor:

const cursor = new MouseFollower();
const el = document.querySelector('.my-element');

el.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    cursor.hide();
});

el.addEventListener('mouseleave', () => {
    cursor.show();
});

or via a data attribute:

<div data-cursor="-hidden">Hover me to hide cursor!</div>

Toggle cursor state

A state is essentially a class that applies to the root element of the cursor. You can change the appearance of the cursor using CSS (see src/scss/index.scss).

To set/unset a state, use these methods:

const cursor = new MouseFollower();
const el = document.querySelector('.my-element');

el.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    cursor.addState('-inverse'); // you can pass multiple states separated by whitespace
});

el.addEventListener('mouseleave', () => {
    cursor.removeState('-inverse');
});

or via a data attribute:

<div data-cursor="-inverse">Hover me to invert cursor!</div>

State detection

You can customize the list of states for all elements on the page:

const cursor = new MouseFollower({
    stateDetection: {
        '-pointer': 'a,button',
        '-opaque': '.my-image',
        '-hidden': '.my-input'
    }
});

<a>On this element the cursor will be in the pointer state</a>
<div class="my-image">On this element the cursor will be in the opaque state</div>
<div class="my-input">On this element the cursor will be hidden</div>

Note: The state detection feature uses event delegation. Do not create a large number of rules or complex selectors to avoid performance problems. It is recommended to disable this in projects with a large number of nested DOM elements. This also applies to binding via a data attribute.

To fully disable event delegation:

const cursor = new MouseFollower({
    stateDetection: false,
    dataAttr: false
});

Text mode

To display text in the cursor, use this method:

const cursor = new MouseFollower();
const el = document.querySelector('.my-element');

el.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    cursor.setText('Hello!');
});

el.addEventListener('mouseleave', () => {
    cursor.removeText();
});

or via a data attribute:

<div data-cursor-text="Hello!">Hover me!</div>

Icon mode

If you use an SVG spritesheet in your project and want to display icons in the cursor, then you can use this method. In this case, you need to specify the path to the SVG sprite in the options and set the class names.

const cursor = new MouseFollower({
    iconSvgSrc: '/assets/img/sprites/svgsprites.svg',
    iconSvgClassName: 'my-spritesheet',
    iconSvgNamePrefix: '-',
});
const el = document.querySelector('.my-element');

el.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    cursor.setIcon('arrow-left');
});

el.addEventListener('mouseleave', () => {
    cursor.removeIcon();
});

or via a data attribute:

<div data-cursor-icon="arrow-left">Hover me!</div>

You can also pass an SVG element directly:

const icon = document.createElementNS('http://www.w3.org/2000/svg', 'svg');
icon.setAttribute('viewBox', '0 0 24 24');
icon.innerHTML = '<path d="M12 5l7 7-7 7M5 12h14"/>';

el.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    cursor.setIcon(icon);
});

You can also use any SVG icon by URL:

el.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    cursor.setIconImg('/img/arrow-left.svg');
});

or via a data attribute:

<div data-cursor-icon-img="/img/arrow-left.svg">Hover me!</div>

Image mode

This method allows you to show any image in the cursor:

const cursor = new MouseFollower();
const el = document.querySelector('.my-element');

el.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    cursor.setImg('/img/example.png');
});

el.addEventListener('mouseleave', () => {
    cursor.removeImg();
});

or via a data attribute:

<div data-cursor-img="/img/example.png">Hover me to show image!</div>

Video mode

You can also play videos:

const cursor = new MouseFollower();
const el = document.querySelector('.my-element');

el.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    cursor.setVideo('/video/example.mp4');
});

el.addEventListener('mouseleave', () => {
    cursor.removeVideo();
});

or via a data attribute:

<div data-cursor-video="/video/example.mp4">Hover me to show a video!</div>

Sticky effect

This method allows you to attach the cursor to an element with a magnet effect. This only works correctly with fixed elements on the page.

const cursor = new MouseFollower();
const box = document.querySelector('.my-fixed-box');
const el = document.querySelector('.my-fixed-element');

box.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    cursor.setStick(el);
});

box.addEventListener('mouseleave', () => {
    cursor.removeStick();
});

or via a data attribute:

<div data-cursor-stick>Hover me to stick the cursor!</div>

You can also pass an element selector to the data attribute:

<div data-cursor-stick="#stick-me">Hover <div id="stick-me">me</div> to stick the cursor!</div>

Skewing effect

The skew effect distorts the cursor while it moves. It looks good with round cursors.

const cursor = new MouseFollower();
const el = document.querySelector('.my-element');

el.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    cursor.setSkewing(3);
});

el.addEventListener('mouseleave', () => {
    cursor.removeSkewing();
});

Hidden cursor

In this example, the cursor is initialized as hidden by default and only appears on the desired element.

const cursor = new MouseFollower({
    visible: false
});
const el = document.querySelector('.my-element');

el.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    cursor.show();
    cursor.setText('Surprise!');
});

el.addEventListener('mouseleave', () => {
    cursor.removeText();
    cursor.hide();
});

or via a data attribute:

<div data-cursor-show data-cursor-text="Surprise!">Hover me to show cursor!</div>

Destroy cursor instance

Destroy the cursor completely and remove all event listeners.

const cursor = new MouseFollower();

cursor.destroy();

Events

Mouse Follower comes with useful events you can listen to. Events can be assigned this way:

const cursor = new MouseFollower();

cursor.on('show', () => {
    console.log('cursor appears');
});

You can also remove event listeners this way:

cursor.off('show');
cursor.off('show', myHandler);

Name	Arguments	Description
show	(cursor)	Fired when the show state is entered.
hide	(cursor)	Fired when the hidden state is entered.
addState	(cursor, state)	Fired when the state is added.
removeState	(cursor, state)	Fired when the state is removed.
render	(cursor)	Fired on each render tick.
destroy	(cursor)	Fired when the instance is destroyed.

Examples

• Cuberto: Digital design & development agency.
• Cuberto Hello: Our marketing page dedicated to our workflows.
• Minibricks: Model making company.
• Potion: Video email for top sales professionals.
• Wickret: 100% digital bank designed for you.
• Catchers: Saudi Arabia content creator & influencer agency.

See more examples in our portfolio on Awwwards.

License

The MIT License (MIT)