# View Transitions

> View Transitions is an Agent Skill for development published in the thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist repository on GitHub: a SKILL.md instruction file an AI agent can load to do this task.

Use when adding page transition animations, image expand/contract effects, shared-element transitions, or improving navigation UX in a single-page or multi-page application.

- Skill name: `view-transitions`
- Category: [Development](https://www.openparable.com/skill/development/1)
- Source: https://github.com/thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist/blob/HEAD/skills/view-transitions/SKILL.md
- Repository: thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist (73,218 GitHub stars when collected)

## SKILL.md

# Use the View Transitions API for smooth page and component transitions

Jarring instant page changes are one of the most noticeable perceived- performance problems in web applications. Smooth transitions help users maintain context during navigation — they understand where they came from and where they are going. Previously, achieving this required complex JavaScript animation libraries; the View Transitions API delivers it natively at a fraction of the code cost.

## Quick Reference

- Wrap DOM mutations in document.startViewTransition() for same-page transitions
- Add view-transition-name to elements that should animate individually (not the whole page)
- Use @starting-style and ::view-transition-* pseudo-elements to customise animations
- Enable cross-document transitions in CSS with @view-transition { navigation: auto }

## Check

Check whether the site uses the View Transitions API or a JavaScript animation library for page and component transitions.

## Fix

Implement view transitions using document.startViewTransition() for SPA route changes or @view-transition for MPA cross-document navigation.

## Explain

Explain how the View Transitions API captures before/after snapshots and animates between them, and how view-transition-name enables shared-element transitions.

## Code Review

Review transition implementation for missing prefers-reduced-motion guards, duplicate view-transition-name values (must be unique per snapshot), and transitions that may cause layout thrash in the old/new state.

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For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance,
see `references/rule.md`.

Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/en/rules/css/view-transitions

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Source: https://www.openparable.com/skill/development/view-transitions (OpenParable). Cite the canonical URL above.