Primitives & Reference
Eight tools for searching animation primitives, retrieving and ranking personality rules, browsing reference breakdowns, and getting choreography recommendations.
search_primitives
Search animation primitives across all sources (engine, research, animate.style, breakdown, compound). Filter by name, personality, category, or source.
- Name
query- Type
- string
- Description
Search term to match against primitive name or ID (case-insensitive).
- Name
personality- Type
- string
- Description
Filter by personality affinity:
cinematic-dark,editorial,neutral-light,montage, oruniversal.
- Name
category- Type
- string
- Description
Filter by category — e.g.,
Entrances,Exits,Reveals / Staggers,Continuous / Ambient,Content Effects,Interactions,Transitions,Typography,Attention Seekers.
- Name
source- Type
- string
- Description
Filter by source:
engine(built into the runtime),research(cinematic techniques),animate.style(Animate.css),breakdown(extracted from reference breakdowns), orcompound(JS-driven primitives — bespoke Remotion components or library-driven entries; see compound-js-primitive.md).
Try asking your AI:
"Search for Entrances that work with the cinematic-dark personality"
"Find all primitives in the Attention Seekers category"
get_primitive
Get full details for a single animation primitive by ID. Returns catalog data (if engine primitive) plus CSS implementation from the registry.
- Name
id- Type
- string
- Description
Required. Primitive ID (e.g.,
cd-focus-stagger,ct-iris-open,bk-sparse-breathe).
Returns: Full CSS keyframes, recommended timing, easing curve, personality compatibility, source, and usage notes.
Try asking your AI:
"Show me the full CSS for the cd-focus-stagger primitive"
get_personality
Get the full personality definition including timing tiers, easing curves, characteristics, camera behavior rules (allowed movements, parallax, DOF, ambient motion), default primitives, and recommended primitives by category.
- Name
slug- Type
- string
- Description
Required. Personality slug —
cinematic-dark,editorial,neutral-light, ormontage.
Returns: Timing tiers (fast/medium/slow/spring), easing curves, camera preferences, recommended primitives, and guardrails.
Try asking your AI:
"What primitives and timing does the editorial personality use?"
recommend_personality_for_context
Rank the four animation personalities against a project context, so you don't have to read all four specs and hand-reason the fit. Personality choice determines the entire motion vocabulary, so this is the right first call when starting a project.
- Name
context- Type
- string
- Description
Required. What you are making (e.g., "15-second marketing-site explainer that cycles through product-UI states").
- Name
content_type- Type
- string
- Description
Optional content type (e.g., "product-ui", "brand film", "tutorial", "sizzle reel").
- Name
doctrine_tags- Type
- string[]
- Description
Optional doctrine / constraint tags to weigh (e.g., ["museum", "silver-light", "light-register"]).
Returns: Recommended personality with rationale, a scored ranking of all four, and a trade-off comparison table.
Try asking your AI:
"Recommend a personality for a 15-second marketing-site explainer that cycles through product-UI states"
search_breakdowns
Search animation reference breakdowns. Filter by personality, quality tier, type, or tag.
- Name
personality- Type
- string
- Description
Filter by personality:
cinematic-dark,editorial,neutral-light,montage, oruniversal.
- Name
quality- Type
- string
- Description
Filter by quality tier:
exemplary,strong, orinteresting.
- Name
type- Type
- string
- Description
Filter by type:
gif,video,website, ormotion-study.
- Name
tag- Type
- string
- Description
Filter by tag (e.g.,
stagger,grid,onboarding,spring).
Returns: Matching breakdowns with metadata — slug, title, personality, quality tier, and tags.
Try asking your AI:
"Find exemplary breakdowns tagged with stagger"
get_breakdown
Retrieve a detailed breakdown analysis of a real-world cinematic sequence by slug.
- Name
slug- Type
- string
- Description
Required. Breakdown slug (e.g.,
linear-homepage,dot-grid-ripple,nume-ai-chat-dashboard).
Returns: Full markdown analysis including signature moments, timing map, and extracted primitives.
Try asking your AI:
"Show me the linear-homepage breakdown"
get_reference_doc
Access animation principles, spring physics documentation, and other foundational reference material by name.
- Name
name- Type
- string
- Description
Required. Reference document name (e.g.,
animation-principles,spring-physics).
Returns: Full reference document content.
Try asking your AI:
"Show me the spring physics reference documentation"
recommend_choreography
Get a complete camera choreography plan for a given intent and personality. Returns concrete primitive IDs, timing, parallax/DOF settings, ambient motion, and companion primitives — automating the emotion-to-camera mapping instead of manually cross-referencing personality rules and primitive registries.
- Name
intent- Type
- string
- Description
Required. The choreographic intent — one of the catalog's intent slugs (e.g.,
dramatic-reveal,build-tension,content-focus).
- Name
personality- Type
- string
- Description
Target personality slug. Built-ins:
cinematic-dark,editorial,neutral-light,montage. A custom slug is accepted too and resolves to a built-in choreography matrix. If omitted, returns plans for all built-in personalities the intent supports.
- Name
subject_count- Type
- integer
- Description
Number of subjects in the scene. Affects framing and stagger hints.
Returns: A structured choreography plan with ordered primitive IDs, timing, parallax/DOF settings, ambient motion, and companion primitives.
Try asking your AI:
"Recommend choreography for a dramatic-reveal intent in cinematic-dark"
"Plan camera choreography for build-tension with 3 subjects"