Choosing lite or full

Pick the stack that matches how you ship animation—not just how you author during development.

Decision table

Need	Full Backstage	Backstage Lite
Timelines & keyframes on props	Yes	No
sheet.sequence.play() / scrubbing in production	Yes	No (stub only)
GSAP bridge / clip tracks in Studio	Yes	No
Page scroll or other sequence modes	Yes	No
Static prop values + export JSON	Yes	Yes (primary workflow)
Per-sheet variants (breakpoint layouts, quality tiers)	Yes (static + per-variant timelines)	Yes (static overrides only)
Smaller production bundle (no interpolation/playback code)	No	Yes
Open same JSON in full Studio later and add sequences	—	Yes

Static + variants JSON workflow (lite sweet spot)

1. Develop with @unseenco/backstage/studio-lite and @unseenco/backstage/core-lite (or studio-lite on full core while prototyping).
2. Author static values and variant folders in the outline; export project JSON from the outline toolbar.
3. Ship with getProject(id, { state }) and no studio package in the bundle.
4. At runtime, call declareSequenceVariants with the same ids you used in Studio, then setActiveSequenceVariant when breakpoints or prefs change.
5. Wire onValuesChange (or Three.js autoAddObject) to apply values.

If you later need one prop to animate over time, migrate to full packages—the exported state stays compatible (Upgrading to full).

When full Backstage is the better default

• Marketing sites with hero timelines, choreographed UI, or audio-synced motion.
• Games or tools that scrub or loop sequences from code.
• Teams already using @unseenco/backstage/gsap or scroll-driven sheets.

When lite fits

• Design-system-driven UIs: spacing, colors, copy, layout per variant.
• Three.js scenes where transforms/materials are tweaked statically per variant, not keyframed.
• Production bundles where every KiB of sequence machinery matters.

See Overview for package names and licenses.