Anime.js
A JavaScript animation library for CSS properties, SVG, DOM attributes and plain JavaScript objects, with timelines and staggering. Part of Open-source motion studio: 20 repos.
Checked 2026-10-27 against the GitHub repository, its README, and the npm or PyPI registry where relevant.
| Runtime | Browser (DOM, SVG) and JavaScript objects. Not a renderer. Needs a page to run in; headless only through something that hosts the page. |
| How an agent drives it | Library API in code. Frame-exact capture needs a host that seeks the timeline: [[./hyperframes |
| License | MIT. |
| Maintenance | Latest release v4.5.0, 2026-06-22; repo pushed 2026-08-21; not archived. |
What it gives you
- Input: JavaScript calls such as
animate('.square', { x: 320, rotate: { from: -180 }, delay: stagger(65, { from: 'center' }), ease: 'inOutQuint', loop: true }). Output: live DOM/SVG/object property changes in a page; no video of its own. - ES modules (v4), with ESM, UMD, CJS and IIFE builds and type declarations.
Key differentiator
Staggered, timeline-based choreography over many targets with a small API, working on CSS, SVG attributes and arbitrary object properties in one call. Source: README usage example.
Pick something else when
GSAP when you need its plugin ecosystem; it became free for everyone under a standard license announced on gsap.com (read the terms, they restrict some uses). Motion (formerly Framer Motion) for React apps. React Spring for physics-based interaction. Lottie when the animation comes from After Effects. See the animation comparison.
Agent fit
Moderate. Easy for an agent to write, but it only fits a video pipeline inside a renderer that controls the clock (HyperFrames adapter). On its own it cannot produce frames.
Overlap with the rest of the stack
Overlaps React Spring (both animate values) and GSAP-style timelines inside HyperFrames. Feeds HyperFrames.