diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/PropertyPanelFlat.tsx b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/PropertyPanelFlat.tsx
index 73fc90905..9bd267983 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/PropertyPanelFlat.tsx
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/PropertyPanelFlat.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { type ReactNode, useState } from "react";
+import { type ReactNode, useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { resolveEditingSections } from "@hyperframes/core/editing";
 import type { DomEditSelection } from "./domEditing";
 import { isTextEditableSelection } from "./domEditing";
@@ -235,6 +235,24 @@ export function PropertyPanelFlat({
           : "layout",
   );
 
+  // Tracks which single group is actively transitioning, so its header/body
+  // gets the fast entrance animation (hf-flat-group-enter) and no one else's
+  // does. Deliberately NOT derived from remounting alone: FlatGroupHeader
+  // instances are keyed by group id and React normally preserves them across
+  // re-renders, but toggling a non-adjacent group still shifts the untouched
+  // collapsed siblings between the before/after-open slices below, and
+  // Chromium restarts a CSS animation on that kind of position shift even
+  // though nothing about the sibling actually changed. Gating on this id
+  // (cleared shortly after the 120ms CSS animation finishes) keeps the
+  // animation scoped to only the group that actually just toggled.
+  const [justToggledId, setJustToggledId] = useState<string | null>(null);
+  const justToggledTimeoutRef = useRef<ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | null>(null);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    return () => {
+      if (justToggledTimeoutRef.current) clearTimeout(justToggledTimeoutRef.current);
+    };
+  }, []);
+
   // Grade group state. Called unconditionally (React rules-of-hooks) even when
   // sections.colorGrading is false — unlike the legacy ColorGradingSection,
   // which is only mounted when the section is active, PropertyPanelFlat is not
@@ -251,8 +269,12 @@ export function PropertyPanelFlat({
 
   const isTextEditable = isTextEditableSelection(element);
   const elementKind = sections.media ? "media" : element.textFields.length > 0 ? "text" : "other";
-  const toggleOpen = (groupId: string) =>
+  const toggleOpen = (groupId: string) => {
     setOpenGroupId((current) => (current === groupId ? "" : groupId));
+    setJustToggledId(groupId);
+    if (justToggledTimeoutRef.current) clearTimeout(justToggledTimeoutRef.current);
+    justToggledTimeoutRef.current = setTimeout(() => setJustToggledId(null), 200);
+  };
   // Basis for the Layout keyframe gutter (X/Y/W/H/Angle + 3D Transform) —
   // must agree with Motion's Timing row (FlatTimingRow), which infers the
   // range from animations when there's no explicit data-duration. Computed
@@ -488,6 +510,7 @@ export function PropertyPanelFlat({
             isOpen={false}
             onToggleOpen={() => toggleOpen(g.id)}
             summary={g.summary}
+            animateEntrance={g.id === justToggledId}
           />
         ))}
         {openGroup && (
@@ -497,8 +520,11 @@ export function PropertyPanelFlat({
               isOpen
               onToggleOpen={() => toggleOpen(openGroup.id)}
               accessory={openGroup.accessory}
+              animateEntrance={openGroup.id === justToggledId}
             />
-            <div className="min-h-0 flex-1 overflow-y-auto border-b border-panel-hairline px-4 py-3">
+            <div
+              className={`${openGroup.id === justToggledId ? "hf-flat-group-enter " : ""}min-h-0 flex-1 overflow-y-auto border-b border-panel-hairline px-4 py-3`}
+            >
               {openGroup.content}
             </div>
           </div>
@@ -510,6 +536,7 @@ export function PropertyPanelFlat({
             isOpen={false}
             onToggleOpen={() => toggleOpen(g.id)}
             summary={g.summary}
+            animateEntrance={g.id === justToggledId}
           />
         ))}
       </div>
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/propertyPanelFlatPrimitives.test.tsx b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/propertyPanelFlatPrimitives.test.tsx
index b92998a04..1d76262bf 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/propertyPanelFlatPrimitives.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/propertyPanelFlatPrimitives.test.tsx
@@ -138,6 +138,36 @@ describe("FlatGroupHeader", () => {
     act(() => root.unmount());
   });
 
+  it("applies the entrance animation class to both states, only when animateEntrance is set", () => {
+    const { host: openHost, root: openRoot } = renderInto(
+      <FlatGroupHeader title="Text" isOpen onToggleOpen={vi.fn()} animateEntrance />,
+    );
+    expect(openHost.firstElementChild?.className).toContain("hf-flat-group-enter");
+    act(() => openRoot.unmount());
+
+    const { host: collapsedHost, root: collapsedRoot } = renderInto(
+      <FlatGroupHeader title="Style" isOpen={false} onToggleOpen={vi.fn()} animateEntrance />,
+    );
+    const row = collapsedHost.querySelector('[data-flat-group-collapsed="true"]');
+    expect(row?.className).toContain("hf-flat-group-enter");
+    act(() => collapsedRoot.unmount());
+  });
+
+  it("omits the entrance animation class in both states when animateEntrance is not set", () => {
+    const { host: openHost, root: openRoot } = renderInto(
+      <FlatGroupHeader title="Text" isOpen onToggleOpen={vi.fn()} />,
+    );
+    expect(openHost.firstElementChild?.className).not.toContain("hf-flat-group-enter");
+    act(() => openRoot.unmount());
+
+    const { host: collapsedHost, root: collapsedRoot } = renderInto(
+      <FlatGroupHeader title="Style" isOpen={false} onToggleOpen={vi.fn()} />,
+    );
+    const row = collapsedHost.querySelector('[data-flat-group-collapsed="true"]');
+    expect(row?.className).not.toContain("hf-flat-group-enter");
+    act(() => collapsedRoot.unmount());
+  });
+
   it("renders no inline position styling in either state (collapsed headers never move)", () => {
     const { host: collapsedHost, root: collapsedRoot } = renderInto(
       <FlatGroupHeader title="Layout" isOpen={false} onToggleOpen={vi.fn()} />,
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/propertyPanelFlatPrimitives.tsx b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/propertyPanelFlatPrimitives.tsx
index 6ca3ea8bf..5da851d2b 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/components/editor/propertyPanelFlatPrimitives.tsx
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/editor/propertyPanelFlatPrimitives.tsx
@@ -149,12 +149,22 @@ export function FlatGroupHeader({
   onToggleOpen,
   accessory,
   summary,
+  animateEntrance,
 }: {
   title: string;
   isOpen: boolean;
   onToggleOpen: () => void;
   accessory?: ReactNode;
   summary?: string;
+  /** Play the fast entrance animation on this render — set only for the one
+   *  group actually transitioning (see PropertyPanelFlat's justToggledId).
+   *  Not derived from `isOpen`/remounting alone: React's key-based diffing
+   *  can still shift an unrelated collapsed sibling's position in the
+   *  before/after-open arrays (e.g. when the newly opened group isn't
+   *  adjacent to the previously open one), and Chromium restarts a CSS
+   *  entrance animation on such a position change even though nothing about
+   *  that sibling actually changed — gating explicitly avoids that replay. */
+  animateEntrance?: boolean;
 }) {
   if (!isOpen) {
     return (
@@ -162,7 +172,7 @@ export function FlatGroupHeader({
         type="button"
         data-flat-group-collapsed="true"
         onClick={onToggleOpen}
-        className="flex min-h-10 w-full flex-shrink-0 items-center justify-between gap-2 border-b border-panel-hairline bg-panel-bg px-4 text-left"
+        className={`${animateEntrance ? "hf-flat-group-enter " : ""}flex min-h-10 w-full flex-shrink-0 items-center justify-between gap-2 border-b border-panel-hairline bg-panel-bg px-4 text-left`}
       >
         <span className="flex min-w-0 items-center gap-2">
           <span className="text-[12px] font-medium text-panel-text-2">{title}</span>
@@ -186,7 +196,9 @@ export function FlatGroupHeader({
   }
 
   return (
-    <div className="flex min-h-10 flex-shrink-0 items-center justify-between bg-panel-bg px-4">
+    <div
+      className={`${animateEntrance ? "hf-flat-group-enter " : ""}flex min-h-10 flex-shrink-0 items-center justify-between bg-panel-bg px-4`}
+    >
       <span className="text-[12px] font-semibold text-panel-text-0">{title}</span>
       <span className="flex items-center gap-2.5 text-panel-text-5">
         {accessory}
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/styles/studio.css b/packages/studio/src/styles/studio.css
index 99ebd0cd2..50e3a02fe 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/styles/studio.css
+++ b/packages/studio/src/styles/studio.css
@@ -447,3 +447,25 @@ body {
     animation: none;
   }
 }
+
+/* Flat inspector group header/body entrance (FlatGroupHeader) */
+@keyframes hf-flat-group-in {
+  from {
+    opacity: 0;
+    transform: translateY(-4px);
+  }
+  to {
+    opacity: 1;
+    transform: translateY(0);
+  }
+}
+
+.hf-flat-group-enter {
+  animation: hf-flat-group-in 120ms ease-out;
+}
+
+@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
+  .hf-flat-group-enter {
+    animation: none;
+  }
+}