animation

# Animation - step-based explainer diagrams `.anim.json` files open in Nimbalyst's Animation editor: a named scene plus an ordered list of steps that assign states to the scene's parts. You write plain JSON. Any agent can author or edit one with `Write` and `Edit` -- there is no binary format and no tool call required. ## When to use this - Explaining how a system behaves **over time**: a request crossing a network, a consensus round, a cache filling, a build pipeline, a queue draining. - Turning a static architecture diagram into something that plays. - Showing a failure and a recovery: the retry, the rollback, the rejected review. **Do not use it** when a static diagram says the same thing. If nothing changes between the first frame and the last, you want Excalidraw or a Mermaid block, not an animation. ## The mental model Three rules drive every decision in this format: 1. **The document says what is true when, never how to tween.** There are no keyframes, easing curves, or property tracks. You assign a *state* to a part, and CSS transitions interpolate. Adding motion means naming a state, not scripting a timeline. 2. **States are cumulative.** A step asserts only what changes; every part it does not mention keeps whatever the previous step left it in. Write deltas. **To turn something off you must explicitly set it back** -- it will not decay on its own. 3. **Ids are names, not handles.** `store`, `title-card`, `queueTask01`. You will reference them constantly in `...