remocn/remocn-studio/remotion-interactivity

By writing Remotion markup in a specific way, the Remotion Studio is able to recognize the structure of the code and makes it interactive:

• Allowing items to be selected by clicking on them
• Allowing drag+drop, resizing and rotation
• Editing the CSS styles
• Making keyframes and easing values editable

If the markup is too complex for the Studio to make it interactive, then the values become grayed out.

Prefer interactive components with their own timelines

Use Interactive.withSchema({wrapInSequence: true, layout: 'absolute-fill'}) for components that fill their parent. The wrapper provides their visual root and timeline item, and clips overflow by default, so the inner component can return a fragment. Put timing, premounting, dimensions, and per-instance styles on the exported component.

Keep visuals that belong together in the same component, so they move and trim together. An inner layout container can still provide alignment, clipping within a smaller area, or an animated group; a container that only fills the scene is usually unnecessary. Cards, text boxes, and SVGs with their own bounds can keep the default layout: 'none' and forward style to their visual root.

import {Video} from '@remotion/media';
import type React from 'react';
import {Interactive, useVideoConfig, type InteractivitySchema} from 'remotion';
 
type SceneProps = {
  readonly title: string;
};
 
const SceneInner: React.FC<SceneProps> = ({title}) => {
  const {fps} = useVideoConfig();
 
  return (
    <>
      <Video
        name="Background footage"
        src="https://remotion.media/video.mp4"
        premountFor={fps}
        objectFit="cover"
        style={{width: '100%', height: '100%'}}
      />
      <Interactive.Div
        name="Scene title"
        style={{
          position: 'absolute',
          left: 80,
          bottom: 80,
          color: 'white',
          fontFamily: 'Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif',
          fontSize: 80,
        }}
      >
        {title}
      </Interactive.Div>
    </>
  );
};
 
const sceneSchema = {
  title: {type: 'string', default: '', description: 'Title'},
} as const satisfies InteractivitySchema;
 
export const Scene = Interactive.withSchema({
  Component: SceneInner,
  componentName: 'Scene',
  schema: sceneSchema,
  wrapInSequence: true,
  layout: 'absolute-fill',
});

Choose schema fields

Each key in the schema is a prop that Studio can read and edit at the call site. Props that are not in the schema still work, but are not editable in Studio. Keys may use dot notation, such as style.color.

Every field needs a default and should have a description, which Studio shows as the label. Set keyframable: false to show a static control.

Expose content and per-instance appearance, such as the text and an accent color. Do not add fields for style.translate, style.scale, style.rotate, style.transformOrigin and style.opacity: wrapInSequence: true already adds them.

To make CSS properties of the root editable per instance, spread the built-in schema fragments:

const cardSchema = {
  ...Interactive.textSchema, // style.color, style.fontSize, style.fontWeight, ...
  ...Interactive.backgroundSchema, // style.backgroundColor
  ...Interactive.borderRadiusSchema, // style.borderRadius, ...
} as const satisfies InteractivitySchema;

Also available: Interactive.borderSchema, and Interactive.captionsSchema for components that accept captions. For components that accept React.ReactNode children, add ...Interactive.childrenSchema. It provides controls for children content and may evolve to support richer content. Currently, it uses a string field labeled "Text" with a default of ''. If a component requires string-only children, declare an explicit children field with type: 'string' instead. Interactive.textSchema controls typography styles; childrenSchema controls content. The children fragment is not included in baseSchema or automatically added to custom components. Nested markup and computed children are currently read-only. text-content is a deprecated alias for the string field type. See `InteractivitySchema` for all options.

Register reusable components as connected compositions

Register substantial scenes and reusable components with their own layers or animation as standalone compositions. Studio calls these connected compositions: they can be opened in their own timeline while sharing the same component implementation with the parent video.

Define required styles and load fonts inside the component so it works without its parent. See parent independence.

Register the same exported component reference that the parent renders. For the example above, use component={Scene}, not SceneInner or an inline wrapper. With wrapInSequence: true, no extra <Sequence> is needed for the connection.

import {Composition} from 'remotion';
import {Scene} from './Scene';
 
export const RemotionRoot = () => (
  <Composition
    id="Scene"
    component={Scene}
    width={1280}
    height={720}
    fps={30}
    durationInFrames={30}
    defaultProps={{
      title: 'A new perspective',
    }}
  />
);

Choose a unique ID, representative inline defaults, and dimensions, fps, and duration suitable for previewing the component. Registration defaults do not automatically copy props from a parent instance. See connected compositions for registration and extraction details.

Put timing directly on the component

Avoid a separate <Sequence> around one component that already accepts timing props. Built-in interactive components and custom components made with wrapInSequence: true can receive name, from, durationInFrames, trimBefore, playbackRate, and premountFor directly.

<Scene
  name="Opening scene"
  from={30}
  durationInFrames={90}
  premountFor={fps}
  style={{opacity: 0.9}}
  title="A new perspective"
/>

When removing a redundant sequence, move its timing and name to the child. Preserve any existing child timing; do not overwrite or double-apply offsets. A useCurrentFrame() call inside the component reads its local frame, while a style expression at the call site still uses the caller's frame. Preserve that distinction when moving animation styles.

Keep a <Sequence> when it provides shared timing for multiple siblings, wraps a component that does not handle timing, or supplies dimensions the child cannot accept directly. Managed roots also accept width and height for useVideoConfig(). Keep <TransitionSeries.Sequence> for consecutive layout, with or without transitions; direct from props do not replace those behaviors.

Give every independently editable item its own JSX node

The Studio edits the JSX source node that created an item. If multiple runtime items come from the same JSX node, they share one source-editing target.

For every composition registration, clip, scene, layer or sequence that should be editable on its own, write a separate JSX node and keep its editable props on that node. This applies to <Composition>, <Still>, built-in media components, <Sequence>, <TransitionSeries.Sequence> and custom components.

For example, author an editable timeline like this:

import { TransitionSeries } from "@remotion/transitions";
 
<TransitionSeries>
  <TransitionSeries.Sequence name="Introduction" durationInFrames={90}>
    <Introduction />
  </TransitionSeries.Sequence>
  <TransitionSeries.Sequence name="Demo" durationInFrames={150}>
    <Demo />
  </TransitionSeries.Sequence>
</TransitionSeries>

A .map() or another programmatic loop would create multiple runtime items from one JSX source node. That is appropriate for repeated output that is intentionally controlled as one template, such as visualization bars or particles. It is not appropriate when the instances need independent IDs or names, props, metadata, timing, ordering, deletion or duplication in the Studio.

Make an HTML element interactive using Interactive

Every HTML and SVG element (except <Img>, it already is interactive) such as <div> can be turned interactive using Interactive:

<Interactive.Div
  name="Greeting card"
  style={{fontSize: 80, padding: 24}}
>
  Hello
</Interactive.Div>

This allows styles and keyframes to be set in the Studio. Be sensible, if a component has many elements, the timeline might get messy.

Prefer inline text

If text is fixed and only used once, write it directly inside the interactive element instead of extracting it into a constant.

// 👍 Fixed copy stays editable
<Interactive.Div name="Title">
  Remotion Best Practices
</Interactive.Div>

Use a prop or variable only when the text is dynamic or reused.

Give interactive elements a descriptive name

Add a name prop to elements to make them easily identifyable. Avoid computed names, hardcode them.

<>
  <Interactive.Div name="Hero title" style={{fontSize: 80}}>
    Launch day
  </Interactive.Div>
  <Img name="Avatar" src="https://remotion.media/image.jpeg" />
  <Video name="Background" src="https://remotion.media/video.mp4" />
  <Interactive.Div name="Title">
    Launch day
  </Interactive.Div>
</>