# pixijs-blend-modes

A skill that tells your agent how to composite PixiJS v8 display objects with blendMode: standard modes, advanced ones, and batch-friendly ordering.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 5700 installs · ★ 358
- Author: pixijs
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/pixijs/pixijs-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/pixijs-blend-modes/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-01
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/pixijs-blend-modes

## What it does

The skill kicks in whenever `blendMode` shows up in PixiJS v8 code. Your agent gets working patterns: standard modes (`normal`, `add`, `multiply`, `screen`, `erase`, `min`, `max`) run on GPU blend equations and stay cheap, while advanced ones like `color-burn` or `overlay` need the `pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes` import and go through the filter pipeline.

The silent fallback is the part worth knowing. Skip the extension import, or forget `useBackBuffer: true` when initialising on WebGL, and the mode quietly becomes `normal` with a warning in the console. In v8 `BLEND_MODES` is a TypeScript type only, so the old `BLEND_MODES.ADD` from v7 throws at runtime.

Ordering gets its own section. A blend-mode change breaks the render batch: two `screen` sprites in a row cost 2 draw calls, alternating `screen / normal / screen / normal` costs 4. Advanced modes rely on `Filter.defaultOptions`, whose resolution defaults to 1, so on a high-DPI target the blended object can look clipped or only partly applied. That is your cue to check the filter resolution.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pixijs/pixijs-skills --skill pixijs-blend-modes -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/pixijs-blend-modes/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/pixijs-blend-modes/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pixijs/pixijs-skills --skill pixijs-blend-modes -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/pixijs-blend-modes/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pixijs/pixijs-skills --skill pixijs-blend-modes -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/pixijs-blend-modes/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install pixijs/pixijs-skills pixijs-blend-modes
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/pixijs-blend-modes/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pixijs/pixijs-skills --skill pixijs-blend-modes -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/pixijs/pixijs-skills --path skills/pixijs-blend-modes
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/pixijs-blend-modes/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add pixijs/pixijs-skills --skill pixijs-blend-modes -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/pixijs/pixijs-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/pixijs-blend-modes/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- build a glow effect from sprites with additive blending
- darken a scene with a multiply layer instead of editing pixels
- enable overlay and color-burn, which are not in the standard set
- reorder container children to cut draw calls
- migrate code from the v7 BLEND_MODES enum to v8 strings

## Example prompts
- Set the glow sprite's blendMode to add and put it on the stage
- Import pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes and set the overlay sprite to color-burn
- Reorder the container children so sprites sharing a blendMode sit next to each other

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 1c22c1cfd58da46c.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 1c22c1cfd58da46c
````text
---
name: pixijs-blend-modes
description: "Use this skill when compositing display objects with blend modes in PixiJS v8. Covers standard modes (normal, add, multiply, screen, erase, min, max), advanced modes via pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes (color-burn, overlay, hard-light, etc.), batch-friendly ordering. Triggers on: blendMode, additive, multiply, screen, overlay, color-burn, color-dodge, advanced-blend-modes, glow, erase."
license: MIT
---

Set `container.blendMode` to composite display objects with GPU blend equations (standard modes) or filter-based advanced modes. Blend-mode transitions break render batches, so group like-mode siblings together.

## Quick Start

```ts
const light = new Sprite(await Assets.load("light.png"));
light.blendMode = "add";
app.stage.addChild(light);

const shadow = new Sprite(await Assets.load("shadow.png"));
shadow.blendMode = "multiply";
app.stage.addChild(shadow);

import "pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes";
const overlay = new Sprite(await Assets.load("overlay.png"));
overlay.blendMode = "color-burn";
app.stage.addChild(overlay);
```

**Related skills:** `pixijs-filters` (advanced modes use the filter pipeline), `pixijs-performance` (batching with blend modes), `pixijs-color` (color manipulation).

## Core Patterns

### Standard blend modes

Standard modes are built in and use GPU blend equations directly:

```ts
import { Sprite } from "pixi.js";

sprite.blendMode = "normal"; // standard alpha compositing (effective default at root)
sprite.blendMode = "add"; // additive (lighten, glow effects)
sprite.blendMode = "multiply"; // multiply (darken, shadow effects)
sprite.blendMode = "screen"; // screen (lighten, dodge effects)
sprite.blendMode = "erase"; // erase pixels from render target
sprite.blendMode = "none"; // no blending, overwrites destination
sprite.blendMode = "inherit"; // inherit from parent (this is the actual default value)
sprite.blendMode = "min"; // keeps minimum of source and destination (WebGL2+ only)
sprite.blendMode = "max"; // keeps maximum of source and destination (WebGL2+ only)
```

These are hardware-accelerated and cheap. They do not require filters.

### Advanced blend modes

Advanced modes require an explicit import to register the extensions. On the WebGL renderer they also require `useBackBuffer: true` at init time, or PixiJS logs a warning and the blend silently falls back:

```ts
import "pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes";
import { Application, Sprite, Assets } from "pixi.js";

const app = new Application();
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 1c22c1cfd58da46c

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the 1c22c1cfd58da46c tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

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