# Editor tour

> The docked editor layout, its menus and panels, command search and keyboard shortcuts.

Source: https://feather-engine.com/docs/getting-started/editor-tour/

The Feather 2 editor is a single window of docked tabs around a 3D viewport. Every tab can be moved,
stacked or torn out into its own window, and the layout is remembered between sessions. Workspaces
switch between layouts made for one job, such as terrain or logic. Every
change a panel makes runs through the same validated command layer that the CLI and AI agents use,
so it is undoable and behaves identically however it was made.

![The Feather 2 editor: the viewport with the Outliner, Details, Content Browser and Output Log docked around it](../../../../assets/docs/getting-started/editor-tour.png)

## Layout

| Area | Purpose |
| --- | --- |
| Menu bar | **File**, **Edit**, **Window**, **Tools** and **Help**, then the workspace tabs. The project name and save state are on the right |
| Toolbar | **Add**, **Physics**, **Lights**, **Import**, duplicate, **Frame**, **Select** / **Landscape** modes, **Undo** / **Redo**, **Play**, **Simulate**, **Build** and **Settings** |
| **Viewport** | The 3D scene, with view, shading, gizmo and snapping controls along its top edge |
| **Outliner** | The scene tree: search, Groups and the player start |
| **Details** | The selected object's transform, appearance, physics, behaviour, script and components |
| **Content Browser** | Built-in objects, imported assets, prefabs and other project content |
| **Output Log** | Runtime messages, script errors and model loading diagnostics |

To restore the current workspace's default arrangement, choose **Window → Reset layout**.

## Workspaces

The tabs after the **Help** menu switch between workspaces. Each one opens the panels its job needs
around the viewport, Outliner, Content Browser and Output Log, and remembers how you rearranged it.

| Workspace | Opens |
| --- | --- |
| **Level** | The default layout: viewport, Outliner, Details and Content Browser, for placing and arranging objects |
| **Terrain** | **Landscape**, **World & terrain** and Details |
| **Art & audio** | **Materials & textures**, **Effects**, **Mixer**, **Model library**, **Prefab library**, **Animation graphs** and Details |
| **Logic** | **Game logic**, **Script graph**, Details and **Game variables** |
| **Gameplay** | **Combat**, **AI behaviour trees**, **Input**, **Item manager**, Details, **Navigation** and **Physics** |
| **Story** | **Story**, **Localization**, Details and **Game variables** |
| **Ship** | **Build**, **Project settings**, **Profiler** and Details |

Right-click a workspace tab and choose **Reset \<name\> layout** to restore its default arrangement.
Workspaces cannot be changed during Play.

## Toolbar

| Control | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Add** | Adds a Group, Tree, Rock, Cottage, Crystal, Cube, Sphere or Plane |
| **Physics** | Places a ready-made physics setup such as water, cloth, a jump pad or a joint |
| **Lights** | Adds a light preset, an irradiance volume or a reflection probe |
| **Import** | Imports a GLB model |
| **Frame** | **Selected object** (F), **All authored objects** (Shift+F) or **Reset view** |
| **Select** / **Landscape** | Switches between selecting objects and the landscape brush |
| **Play** / **Stop** | Runs the game. The **Play in** dropdown beside it chooses **the viewport** (the pin plays from the editor camera) or **a new window** — a standalone game you play alongside the editor |
| **Simulate** | Runs physics only, with the editor camera. **Keep** writes the settled positions back as one undo step; **Reset** discards them |
| **Build** | Builds the game for the platform selected in the **Build** window, this computer by default; see [Build a game](/docs/shipping/export/) |

When Play starts it captures the mouse for mouse look. **Capture the mouse** under
**Window → Game logic → Game settings** chooses when: **When Play starts** (the default), **Click the
game view** or **Never (free cursor)**. **Shift+F1** frees the cursor at any time and a click in the
game view takes it back.

## Viewport

Along the top of the viewport you can choose a view (**Perspective**, **Top**, **Front**, **Right**),
a shading mode (**Lit**, **Wireframe**, **Lit + wireframe**) and what to **Show**: foliage, guides,
the player start, water/field/joint volumes and collision shapes. The gizmo buttons switch between
move, rotate and scale, toggle world or local axes, and set grid, rotation and scale snapping.

| Input | Action |
| --- | --- |
| Right drag | Orbit |
| Middle drag | Pan |
| Scroll | Zoom |
| Right mouse + WASD | Fly the camera; hold Shift to move faster |
| Right-click | Context menu, including **Add here** at the clicked ground point and **Set player start here** |

## Outliner

The Outliner lists every object in the open level as an expandable tree. Type in **Search scene** to
filter it; matching objects keep their parent Groups visible. The folder button adds a Group. The
first row is the player start: select it to move it with **W** or turn it with **E**. See
[Objects and groups](/docs/concepts/objects-and-groups/).

## Details

Details edits the selected object. Sections include **Transform** (with the **Parent** selector),
**Appearance**, **Physics**, **Behaviours** and **Script**. Type in **Search details** at the top, or
press **Cmd/Ctrl+F** with the pointer over the panel, to show only the matching properties. **+ Add Component** lists the components
the object does not have yet, such as lights, sounds, water, joints, doors, destructibles and
vehicles. During Play, a **Live** section shows the player's and the selected object's current state.

## Content Browser

The Content Browser lists project content by source: **All**, **Built-in**, **Models**, **Materials**,
**Textures**, **Sounds**, **Prefabs**, **Effects**, **Animation graphs**, **Levels**, **Fonts**,
**Physics setups** and **Model library**.

- Click to select; Cmd/Ctrl+click and Shift+click extend the selection.
- Double-click to place or open an item.
- Drag a model or built-in object into the viewport to place it on the ground.
- Right-click for **Place**, **Find in level**, **Rename**, **Delete** and **Refresh thumbnail**.

See [Assets](/docs/concepts/assets/).

## Tool panels

Open tool panels from the **Window** menu. Each opens as a dock tab.

| Panel | Covers |
| --- | --- |
| **World & terrain** | Environment, weather, ambience, trees, items, post-processing, player and terrain layers |
| **Landscape** | Sculpting, painting and procedural terrain |
| **Model library** | Converted model packs to search and place |
| **Materials & textures** | Material assets and material graphs |
| **Prefab library** | Capturing and placing reusable assemblies |
| **Game logic** | World scripts and data tables |
| **Combat**, **Levels**, **Input**, **Navigation**, **AI behaviour trees** | Game systems of the same names |
| **Animation graphs**, **Mixer**, **Effects**, **Localization**, **Item manager** | Animation, audio, particles, translations and items |
| **Story** | Dialogues, quests and cinematics |
| **Script graph** | Any script shown as a node graph |
| **Profiler** | Frame-time and memory statistics; works during Play |
| **Build · Windows, macOS, Linux** | Builds the game for players; see [Build a game](/docs/shipping/export/) |
| **Assistant** | An in-editor AI assistant that works through the command catalog |
| **Project settings** | Searchable project and editor settings |

The **Tools** menu opens the **Script editor** and **Blueprints** for the selected object, and
**Automation (MCP)** for connecting external AI tools.

## Command search

Press **Cmd/Ctrl+K** to open the command palette. It searches editor actions, panels, Settings pages,
objects to add and every command in the [catalog](/docs/agents/commands/). Catalog commands can be
run from the palette with JSON arguments.

## Keyboard shortcuts

| Shortcut | Action |
| --- | --- |
| **W** / **E** / **R** | Move / rotate / scale gizmo |
| **F** | Frame the selection |
| **Shift+F** | Frame the whole scene |
| **Cmd/Ctrl+D** | Duplicate |
| **Cmd/Ctrl+C**, **Cmd/Ctrl+V** | Copy and paste objects or Groups |
| **Delete** / **Backspace** | Remove the selection |
| **End** | Drop the selection to the ground |
| **Cmd/Ctrl+Z** | Undo |
| **Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Z** or **Cmd/Ctrl+Y** | Redo |
| **Cmd/Ctrl+S** | Save |
| **Cmd/Ctrl+K** | Command palette |
| **Cmd/Ctrl+F** | Search the Details panel (with the pointer over it) |
| **Escape** | Stop Play, or leave the landscape brush |

**Help → Controls & shortcuts** shows these in the editor. Text fields keep their normal copy and paste
behaviour.

### Copy and paste

Paste places an independent copy one metre to the right of the original. A copied Group includes
its whole subtree. The clipboard holds up to 128 objects and stays within the open project; to move
an assembly between projects, export it as a [prefab](/docs/concepts/prefabs/). Each paste is one
undo step.

## Automate it

The camera controls are available to agents too. Framing requests are queued; poll
`viewport.view.get` until the request reports `applied` before capturing an image:

```bash
feather-cli --connect .feather-session.json command viewport.focus --json '{"id":1,"padding":1.2}'
# Use the request_id returned above.
feather-cli --connect .feather-session.json command viewport.view.get --json '{"request_id":1}'
```

See [MCP setup](/docs/agents/mcp/) for connecting to a running editor.