Liquid Glass Design System (iOS 26)

Patterns for implementing Apple's Liquid Glass — a dynamic material that blurs content behind it, reflects color and light from surrounding content, and reacts to touch and pointer interactions. Covers SwiftUI, UIKit, and WidgetKit integration.

When to Activate

• Building or updating apps for iOS 26+ with the new design language
• Implementing glass-style buttons, cards, toolbars, or containers
• Creating morphing transitions between glass elements
• Applying Liquid Glass effects to widgets
• Migrating existing blur/material effects to the new Liquid Glass API

Core Pattern — SwiftUI

Basic Glass Effect

The simplest way to add Liquid Glass to any view:

Text("Hello, World!")
    .font(.title)
    .padding()
    .glassEffect()  // Default: regular variant, capsule shape

Customizing Shape and Tint

Text("Hello, World!")
    .font(.title)
    .padding()
    .glassEffect(.regular.tint(.orange).interactive(), in: .rect(cornerRadius: 16.0))

Key customization options:

• .regular — standard glass effect
• .tint(Color) — add color tint for prominence
• .interactive() — react to touch and pointer interactions
• Shape: .capsule (default), .rect(cornerRadius:), .circle

Glass Button Styles

Button("Click Me") { /* action */ }
    .buttonStyle(.glass)

Button("Important") { /* action */ }
    .buttonStyle(.glassProminent)

GlassEffectContainer for Multiple Elements

Always wrap multiple glass views in a container for performance and morphing:

GlassEffectContainer(spacing: 40.0) {
    HStack(spacing: 40.0) {
        Image(systemName: "scribble.variable")
            .frame(width: 80.0, height: 80.0)
            .font(.system(size: 36))
            .glassEffect()

        Image(systemName: "eraser.fill")
            .frame(width: 80.0, height: 80.0)
            .font(.system(size: 36))
            .glassEffect()
    }
}

The spacing parameter controls merge distance — closer elements blend their glass shapes together.

Uniting Glass Effects

Combine multiple views into a single glass shape with glassEffectUnion:

@Namespace private var namespace

GlassEffectContainer(spacing: 20.0) {
    HStack(spacing: 20.0) {
        ForEach(symbolSet.indices, id: \.self) { item in
            Image(systemName: symbolSet[item])
                .frame(width: 80.0, height: 80.0)
                .glassEffect()
                .glassEffectUnion(id: item < 2 ? "group1" : "group2", namespace: namespace)
        }
    }
}

Morphing Transitions

Create smooth morphing when glass elements appear/disappear:

@State private var isExpanded = false
@Namespace private var namespace

GlassEffectContainer(spacing: 40.0) {
    HStack(spacing: 40.0) {
        Image(systemName: "scribble.variable")
            .frame(width: 80.0, height: 80.0)
            .glassEffect()
            .glassEffectID("pencil", in: namespace)

        if isExpanded {
            Image(systemName: "eraser.fill")
                .frame(width: 80.0, height: 80.0)
                .glassEffect()
                .glassEffectID("eraser", in: namespace)
        }
    }
}

Button("Toggle") {
    withAnimation { isExpanded.toggle() }
}
.buttonStyle(.glass)

Extending Horizontal Scrolling Under Sidebar

To allow horizontal scroll content to extend under a sidebar or inspector, ensure the ScrollView content reaches the leading/trailing edges of the container. The system automatically handles the under-sidebar scrolling behavior when the layout extends to the edges — no additional modifier is needed.

Core Pattern — UIKit

Basic UIGlassEffect

let glassEffect = UIGlassEffect()
glassEffect.tintColor = UIColor.systemBlue.withAlphaComponent(0.3)
glassEffect.isInteractive = true

let visualEffectView = UIVisualEffectView(effect: glassEffect)
visualEffectView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
visualEffectView.layer.cornerRadius = 20
visualEffectView.clipsToBounds = true

view.addSubview(visualEffectView)
NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
    visualEffectView.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.centerXAnchor),
    visualEffectView.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.centerYAnchor),
    visualEffectView.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 200),
    visualEffectView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 120)
])

// Add content to contentView
let label = UILabel()
label.text = "Liquid Glass"
label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false
visualEffectView.contentView.addSubview(label)
NSLayoutConstraint.activate([
    label.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo
how to use liquid-glass-design
CursorClaude CodeClineCodexWindsurfGooseGitHub CopilotVS CodeGemini CLIKiloOpencodeKimi CLIRoo ClineAiderContinueZedBolt.newLovablev0Replit AgentSweepSmol DeveloperDevinCavemanAmpAntigravity
How to use liquid-glass-design on Cursor
AI-first code editor with Composer
1
Prerequisites
Before installing skills in Cursor, ensure your development environment meets these requirements:
›Cursor installed and configured on your development machine
›Node.js version 16.0+ with npm package manager (verify with node --version)
›Active project directory or workspace where you want to add liquid-glass-design
2
Execute installation command
Execute the skills CLI command in your project's root directory to begin installation:
$npx skills add https://github.com/affaan-m/everything-claude-code --skill liquid-glass-designcopy
The skills CLI fetches liquid-glass-design from GitHub repository affaan-m/everything-claude-code and configures it for Cursor.
3
Select Cursor when prompted
The CLI will show a list of available agents. Use arrow keys to navigate and space to select Cursor:
◆ Which agents do you want to install to?
│
│ ── Universal (.agents/skills) ── always included ────
│   • Amp
│   • Antigravity
│   • Cline
│   • Codex
│ ●Cursor(selected)
│   • Cursor
│   • Windsurf
4
Verify installation
Confirm successful installation by checking the skill directory location:
.cursor/skills/liquid-glass-design
Reload or restart Cursor to activate liquid-glass-design. Access the skill through slash commands (e.g., /liquid-glass-design) or your agent's skill management interface.
⚠
Security & Verification Notice
We perform automated surface-level scans (Gen AI Scanner, Socket, Snyk) during installation. These checks detect common vulnerabilities but do not guarantee complete security. Always review skill source code and verify the publisher's reputation before production use.
Skills execute code in your development environment. Always verify the publisher's identity, review recent commits, and test in isolated environments before production deployment.
Additional Resources
›View source code on GitHub›Skills CLI documentation›Learn more about Cursor›What are agent skills?