react-native-reanimated is an MIT-licensed TypeScript library that reimplements React Native's Animated library for smooth animations and interactions, and it ships alongside react-native-worklets, which enables multi-threaded JavaScript execution in React Native applications.

What it is

The repository contains two main packages. React Native Reanimated is the animation and interaction library that gives the project its name; React Native Worklets is the companion library that enables multi-threaded JavaScript execution in React Native applications. The project lives in the React Native ecosystem, is written in TypeScript, is released under the MIT licence, and keeps its documentation at docs.swmansion.com/react-native-reanimated/. The current generation is Reanimated 4, and nightly continuous integration publishes development builds of both packages to npm.

The problem it addresses is the cost and ergonomics of animation in React Native. React Native already ships an Animated library, and Reanimated is an explicit reimplementation of it: instead of driving values on the JavaScript thread, the project runs animation and gesture logic inside worklets that can execute off that thread, which is what the Worklets package provides. For gesture-driven interfaces, this is the difference between interactions that keep pace with a finger and interactions that stutter when the JavaScript thread is busy. Reanimated replaces the stock Animated library specifically; Worklets supplies the multithreading primitive that makes the replacement work.

Key capabilities

• Animation and interaction for React Native, shipped as the react-native-reanimated package.
• Multi-threaded JavaScript execution through the react-native-worklets package.
• Worklets as a core concept of the project, listed among its topics together with animation and gesture.
• Nightly npm publish pipelines for each package, so react-native-reanimated and react-native-worklets can be consumed as matching development builds.
• A dedicated Reanimated and Worklets compatibility check, plus a separate recurring Reanimated compatibility check, guarding that pairing.
• TypeScript compatibility testing against the library's typed surface on a recurring nightly schedule.
• Verified builds against React Native nightlies, Expo DevClient, Windows-hosted applications, and framework-based projects.

Who uses it and how

• React Native teams building animated, gesture-driven screens who need the stock Animated library replaced.
• Expo-based projects, since a recurring Expo DevClient build check indicates attention to Expo development workflows.
• Windows-hosted React Native applications, which are covered by their own build verification workflow.
• Teams that track React Native nightlies, because a separate workflow builds against them to catch incompatibilities early.
• The scale of the open-source project is visible in 11,008 stars, 1,518 forks and 353 open issues.

Getting started

Both packages are published to npm as react-native-reanimated and react-native-worklets, and are used from within a React Native application. Installation guidance and the Reanimated 4 documentation live at docs.swmansion.com/react-native-reanimated/.

How it compares

The only comparable tool named in these facts is React Native's own Animated library, which the project describes itself as reimplementing, so it functions as a conceptual replacement for the animation primitives bundled with the framework rather than an unrelated animation layer. It goes further only through its second package, since react-native-worklets exposes multi-threaded JavaScript execution as a building block. No paid or proprietary alternative appears in this registry entry.

When to use it — and when not to

Choose it when you are building React Native interfaces whose animation and gesture work must stay off the JavaScript thread, and when you can keep react-native-reanimated and react-native-worklets version-matched, because the project runs an explicit compatibility check for exactly that pairing. It is not a fit for applications outside React Native, and teams needing a frozen API surface should note that the project verifies itself against React Native nightlies and Expo DevClient builds, meaning it moves with a fast-changing upstream. The README is also thin: it is a two-line package summary followed by nightly CI badges, so nearly all practical documentation comes from the external docs site.