Inverting Blend Cursor

A round cursor inverts whatever it passes over and grows into a lens when it reaches a link.

JS
Cursor
Pointer
Added 2026-10-30

Look closer

AI prompt

Create a custom React cursor that inverts the content under it. Inside the area, hide the native cursor (cursor: none, only when (pointer: fine)) and render a 20px white circle with position: absolute, pointer-events: none and mix-blend-mode: difference, so it inverts text and backgrounds beneath it. On pointermove, set its transform to translate(x, y) translate(-50%, -50%) directly (no lag). When the pointer is over an element with data-cursor="grow", scale the circle to 4 over 250ms with cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1). Hide it on pointerleave. Keep keyboard focus styles visible because the custom cursor does nothing for keyboard users. Under prefers-reduced-motion, keep the inversion but skip the scale transition. Content: the headline "Look closer" and a link "View case study".

Source

Demo.tsx

'use client'

import { useRef } from 'react'
import s from './demo.module.css'

export default function BlendCursor({ labels }: { labels: Record<string, string> }) {
  const dot = useRef<HTMLSpanElement>(null)

  const onMove = (e: React.PointerEvent<HTMLDivElement>) => {
    if (e.pointerType === 'touch' || !dot.current) return
    const r = e.currentTarget.getBoundingClientRect()
    const grow = (e.target as HTMLElement).closest('[data-cursor="grow"]') !== null
    dot.current.style.transform = `translate(${e.clientX - r.left}px, ${e.clientY - r.top}px) translate(-50%, -50%)`
    dot.current.dataset.grow = String(grow)
    dot.current.dataset.on = 'true'
  }

  return (
    <div className={s.area} onPointerMove={onMove} onPointerLeave={() => dot.current && (dot.current.dataset.on = 'false')}>
      <p className={s.text}>{labels.text}</p>
      <a className={s.link} href="#" data-cursor="grow" onClick={(e) => e.preventDefault()}>
        {labels.link} →
      </a>
      <span ref={dot} className={s.cursor} aria-hidden="true">
        <span className={s.lens} />
      </span>
    </div>
  )
}

demo.module.css

.area {
  --lens: oklch(100% 0 0);
  position: absolute;
  inset: 0;
  display: grid;
  place-content: center;
  justify-items: center;
  gap: 14px;
  overflow: hidden;
}

@media (pointer: fine) {
  .area, .area * { cursor: none; }
}

.text {
  margin: 0;
  font: 700 2.4rem / 1 var(--font-display);
  letter-spacing: -0.03em;
  color: var(--stage-ink);
  white-space: nowrap;
}

.link {
  padding: 10px 16px;
  border-radius: 999px;
  background: var(--stage-accent);
  color: var(--stage-accent-ink);
  font: 600 var(--text-sm) / 1 var(--font-body);
  text-decoration: none;
  white-space: nowrap;
}

.link:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid var(--color-focus); outline-offset: 3px; }

.cursor {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  pointer-events: none;
  mix-blend-mode: difference;
  opacity: 0;
}

.cursor[data-on='true'] { opacity: 1; }

.lens {
  display: block;
  width: 20px;
  height: 20px;
  border-radius: 50%;
  background: var(--lens);
  transition: transform 250ms var(--ease-out);
}

.cursor[data-grow='true'] .lens { transform: scale(4); }

@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
  .lens { transition: none; }
}