title: Particles description: Fire particles along edges from the server. order: 4

Particles

Particles are small animated dots that travel along edges, showing data flow, progress, or activity. Fire them from the server with flowSendParticle() on individual edges, or use flowHighlightPath() to cascade particles through a sequence of nodes.

flowSendParticle

Fire a single particle along an edge:

$this->flowSendParticle('e-api-db');

Options

Customize the particle appearance and speed:

$this->flowSendParticle('e-api-db', [
    'color' => '#3b82f6',    // Particle color (default: theme accent)
    'size' => 6,             // Particle radius in pixels (default: 4)
    'duration' => 1500,      // Travel time in ms (default: 1000)
]);

Firing multiple particles

Call flowSendParticle() multiple times to fire particles on different edges:

public function showDataFlow(): void
{
    $this->flowSendParticle('e-api-auth', ['color' => '#3b82f6']);
    $this->flowSendParticle('e-api-db', ['color' => '#22c55e']);
    $this->flowSendParticle('e-db-cache', ['color' => '#f59e0b']);
}

flowHighlightPath

Fire cascading particles along edges that connect a sequence of nodes. Particles fire segment by segment with a configurable delay between each:

$this->flowHighlightPath(['step-1', 'step-2', 'step-3', 'step-4']);

The method finds the edges connecting each consecutive pair of nodes and fires particles along each one in sequence.

Options

$this->flowHighlightPath(['start', 'process', 'review', 'done'], [
    'color' => '#22c55e',    // Particle color
    'size' => 5,             // Particle radius
    'duration' => 800,       // Travel time per segment
    'delay' => 200,          // Delay between each segment
]);

CSS styling

Particles render as .flow-particle elements inside the canvas SVG layer. Override the defaults with CSS:

.flow-particle {
    filter: blur(1px);           /* Soft glow effect */
    mix-blend-mode: screen;      /* Blend with dark backgrounds */
}

You can also target particles by color or add animations:

.flow-particle {
    filter: drop-shadow(0 0 4px currentColor);
}

Complete example

A pipeline monitor that fires particles to show data flowing through the system:

<?php

namespace App\Livewire;

use ArtisanFlow\WireFlow\Concerns\WithWireFlow;
use Livewire\Attributes\Renderless;
use Livewire\Component;

class ParticleDemo extends Component
{
    use WithWireFlow;

    public array $nodes = [
        ['id' => 'ingest', 'position' => ['x' => 0, 'y' => 0], 'data' => ['label' => 'Ingest']],
        ['id' => 'transform', 'position' => ['x' => 250, 'y' => 0], 'data' => ['label' => 'Transform']],
        ['id' => 'validate', 'position' => ['x' => 500, 'y' => 0], 'data' => ['label' => 'Validate']],
        ['id' => 'store', 'position' => ['x' => 750, 'y' => 0], 'data' => ['label' => 'Store']],
    ];

    public array $edges = [
        ['id' => 'e-1', 'source' => 'ingest', 'target' => 'transform'],
        ['id' => 'e-2', 'source' => 'transform', 'target' => 'validate'],
        ['id' => 'e-3', 'source' => 'validate', 'target' => 'store'],
    ];

    #[Renderless]
    public function fireSingle(): void
    {
        $this->flowSendParticle('e-1', [
            'color' => '#3b82f6',
            'size' => 5,
            'duration' => 1200,
        ]);
    }

    #[Renderless]
    public function fireAll(): void
    {
        $this->flowSendParticle('e-1', ['color' => '#3b82f6']);
        $this->flowSendParticle('e-2', ['color' => '#8b5cf6']);
        $this->flowSendParticle('e-3', ['color' => '#22c55e']);
    }

    #[Renderless]
    public function firePath(): void
    {
        $this->flowHighlightPath(['ingest', 'transform', 'validate', 'store'], [
            'color' => '#f59e0b',
            'size' => 6,
            'duration' => 800,
            'delay' => 150,
        ]);
    }

    public function render()
    {
        return view('livewire.particle-demo');
    }
}

{{-- resources/views/livewire/particle-demo.blade.php --}}
<div>
    <div class="mb-4 flex gap-2">
        <button wire:click="fireSingle" class="rounded bg-blue-500 px-3 py-1 text-sm text-white">
            Fire Single
        </button>
        <button wire:click="fireAll" class="rounded bg-purple-500 px-3 py-1 text-sm text-white">
            Fire All
        </button>
        <button wire:click="firePath" class="rounded bg-amber-500 px-3 py-1 text-sm text-white">
            Fire Path
        </button>
    </div>

    <x-flow :nodes="$nodes" :edges="$edges" :fit-view-on-init="true" style="height: 400px;">
        <x-slot:node>
            <x-flow-handle type="target" position="left" />
            <span x-text="node.data.label" class="px-2"></span>
            <x-flow-handle type="source" position="right" />
        </x-slot:node>
    </x-flow>
</div>

::demo

<button id="demo-particle-fire" class="rounded-md border border-border-subtle bg-elevated px-3 py-1 font-mono text-[11px] text-text-muted cursor-pointer hover:text-text-body">Fire</button>

<div x-data="flowCanvas({
    nodes: [
        { id: 'a', position: { x: 0, y: 60 }, data: { label: 'Source' } },
        { id: 'b', position: { x: 250, y: 0 }, data: { label: 'Process' } },
        { id: 'c', position: { x: 500, y: 60 }, data: { label: 'Output' } },
    ],
    edges: [
        { id: 'e1', source: 'a', target: 'b' },
        { id: 'e2', source: 'b', target: 'c' },
    ],
    background: 'dots',
    fitViewOnInit: true,
    controls: false,
    pannable: false,
    zoomable: false,
})" class="flow-container" style="height: 250px;"
   x-init="
       const fireBtn = document.getElementById('demo-particle-fire');
       if (fireBtn) fireBtn.addEventListener('click', () => {
           $flow.sendParticle('e1', { color: '#DAA532', size: 5, duration: '1s' });
           setTimeout(() => {
               $flow.sendParticle('e2', { color: '#8B5CF6', size: 5, duration: '1s' });
           }, 500);
       });
   ">
    <div x-flow-viewport>
        <template x-for="node in nodes" :key="node.id">
            <div x-flow-node="node">
                <div x-flow-handle:target></div>
                <span x-text="node.data.label"></span>
                <div x-flow-handle:source></div>
            </div>
        </template>
    </div>
</div>

::enddemo

Related

• Update & Animate -- flowUpdate and flowAnimate
• Timeline -- multi-step animations via Alpine
• Camera Control -- focus and follow nodes
• Convenience Methods -- flowHighlightPath details