reanimated-skia-performance

Use for state-driven style changes where you do not need bespoke worklets.

import Animated from 'react-native-reanimated';

<Animated.View
  style={{
    width: expanded ? 240 : 160,
    opacity: enabled ? 1 : 0.6,
    transitionProperty: ['width', 'opacity'],
    transitionDuration: 220,
    transitionTimingFunction: 'ease-in-out',
  }}
/>

Reanimated v4 CSS animations (keyframes)

Use for keyframe-like sequences (pulses, wiggles, repeated loops) without writing custom worklets.

Supported settings:

• animationName (keyframes object)

• animationDuration

• animationDelay

• animationTimingFunction

• animationDirection

• animationIterationCount

• animationFillMode

• animationPlayState

import Animated from 'react-native-reanimated';

const pulse = {
  from: { transform: [{ scale: 1 }], opacity: 0.9 },
  '50%': { transform: [{ scale: 1.06 }], opacity: 1 },
  to: { transform: [{ scale: 1 }], opacity: 0.9 },
};

<Animated.View
  style={{
    animationName: pulse,
    animationDuration: '900ms',
    animationDelay: '80ms',
    animationTimingFunction: 'ease-in-out',
    animationDirection: 'alternate',
    animationIterationCount: 'infinite',
    animationFillMode: 'both',
    animationPlayState: paused ? 'paused' : 'running',
  }}
/>

Dev-mode tuning panel (sliders)

Use sliders to tune animation configs or shader uniforms in __DEV__.

• Keep the tuning UI in a separate component to avoid re-rendering the animated scene.

• Write slider values into SharedValues via .set().

• For shader tuning: feed SharedValues into uniforms via useDerivedValue.

• For animation config tuning: store config params in SharedValues and read them when starting/restarting the animation.

See: references/dev-tuning.md.

Gesture-driven animation (Gesture Builder API)

Update shared values in onUpdate and drive visuals via animated styles.

import { Gesture, GestureDetector } from 'react-native-gesture-handler';
import Animated, { useAnimatedStyle, useSharedValue, withSpring } from 'react-native-reanimated';

const x = useSharedValue(0);
const gesture = Gesture.Pan()
  .onUpdate((e) => {
    x.set(e.translationX);
  })
  .onEnd(() => {
    x.set(withSpring(0));
  });

const style = useAnimatedStyle(() => ({ transform: [{ translateX: x.get() }] }));

<GestureDetector gesture={gesture}>
  <Animated.View style={style} />
</GestureDetector>;

Skia shader with animated uniforms

• Compile the runtime effect once (useMemo).

• Pass uniforms as a SharedValue<Uniforms> (Skia detects animated props by { value: T }).

• Do not access .value in your app code; pass the SharedValue object.

import { useMemo } from 'react';
import { Skia, Canvas, Fill, Paint, Shader, type Uniforms } from '@shopify/react-native-skia';
import { useDerivedValue } from 'react-native-reanimated';
import { useClock } from '@shopify/react-native-skia';

const sksl = `
uniform float2 u_resolution;
uniform float u_time;

half4 main(float2 xy) {
  float2 uv = xy / u_resolution;
  float v = 0.5 + 0.5 * sin(u_time * 0.002 + uv.x * 8.0);
  return half4(v, v * 0.6, 1.0 - v, 1.0);
}
`;

const effect = useMemo(() => Skia.RuntimeEffect.Make(sksl), []);
if (!effect) return null;

const clock = useClock(); // ms since first frame
const uniforms = useDerivedValue<Uniforms>(() => ({
  u_resolution: Skia.Point(width, height),
  u_time: clock.get(),
}));

<Canvas style={{ width, height }}>
  <Fill>
    <Paint>
      <Shader source={effect} uniforms={uniforms} />
    </Paint>
  </Fill>
</Canvas>;

Common pitfalls

• Do not read shared values in React render; read them in worklets (useAnimatedStyle, useDerivedValue).

• Do not call runOnJS/scheduleOnRN in onUpdate unless you must.

• Do not allocate big arrays/paths/images per frame; memoize Skia objects and update via animated props.

• For runtime effects, always provide every uniform declared in the shader; missing uniforms throw.

References

• Reanimated v4 patterns and repo conventions: references/reanimated-v4.md

• Skia Canvas + runtime effects/shaders patterns: references/skia-shaders.md

• Dev-mode tuning panels (sliders): references/dev-tuning.md

• Performance checklist + debugging: references/perf-checklist.md