effectcraft/docs/preferences.md

Settings, keyboard shortcuts, auto-save and crash recovery

Settings (Preferences)

EffectCraft ▸ Settings (macOS) or Edit ▸ Preferences (Windows/Linux), Cmd+Alt+;. The dialog has After Effects 2026's pages (General, Startup & Repair, Project, Composition, Previews, Appearance, Grids & Guides, Labels, Type, Import, Export, Audio, Disk, Memory & CPU, Video, 3D, Scripting & Expressions) with OK, Cancel, Previous and Next. Older page names still open the right page (prefs.open {"page": "Auto-Save"} opens Project, Media & Disk Cache opens Disk, Memory & Performance opens Memory & CPU).

The model is effectcraft_engine::prefs::Prefs: serde, versioned (version), addressed by dotted keys (general.undoLevels, autoSave.intervalMinutes, labels.3.name). It is stored as prefs.json through the session's ConfigStore (the desktop app uses the platform config directory: ~/Library/Application Support/EffectCraft on macOS, %APPDATA%\EffectCraft on Windows, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/effectcraft on Linux; the web app can back the same trait with localStorage). Loading migrates older layouts, keeps unknown keys (from newer versions) and falls back to defaults for values that don't parse.

Commands (CLI, MCP, control channel):

Command	Parameters
prefs.get	{key?} (omit for everything)
prefs.set	{key, value} or {values: {key: value}}
prefs.reset	{page?} (omit for everything)
prefs.open	{page?} opens the Settings dialog
prefs.pages	the page schema: every row, its key, type, range and whether it is wired

Settings that change behaviour

• general.undoLevels: Levels of Undo
• general.pathPointSize: Path Point and Handle Size
• general.recentItems: Recent Projects Shown
• general.showToolTips: Show Tool Tips
• general.createLayersAtCompStart: Create Layers at Composition Start Time
• general.defaultSpatialLinear: Default Spatial Interpolation to Linear
• startup.showHomeOnLaunch: Show Home Screen When Launching
• startup.offerCrashRecovery: Offer to Open the Latest Auto-Save After a Crash
• project.useTemplate: New Project Loads Template
• project.templatePath: Template Project
• autoSave.enabled: Automatically Save Projects
• autoSave.intervalMinutes: Save Every
• autoSave.maxVersions: Maximum Project Versions
• autoSave.location: Auto-Save Location
• autoSave.folder: Custom Location
• autoSave.saveOnRenderStart: Save When Starting Render Queue
• composition.showRenderingProgress: Show Rendering Progress in Info Panel and Flowchart
• previews.adaptiveResolutionLimit: Adaptive Resolution Limit
• previews.cacheFramesWhenIdle: Cache Frames When Idle
• previews.fastPreviews: Fast Previews (Draft 3D, Faster Effects)
• appearance.theme: Theme
• appearance.brightness: Brightness
• appearance.useLabelColorForHandles: Use Label Color for Layer Handles and Paths
• grids.gridColor: Color
• grids.gridSpacing: Gridline Every
• grids.gridSubdivisions: Subdivisions
• grids.guideColor: Color
• grids.actionSafe: Action-safe
• grids.titleSafe: Title-safe
• import.stillFootage: Still Footage
• import.stillSeconds: Still Duration
• import.sequenceFps: Sequence Footage
• audio.outputDevice: Default Output (device list from the desktop host)
• audio.outputLeft: Left (Audio Output Mapping)
• audio.outputRight: Right (Audio Output Mapping)
• memory.layerCacheMb: Layer Cache
• memory.mediaCacheMb: Footage Frame Cache
• memory.previewCacheMb: Preview (RAM) Cache
• threeD.defaultRenderer: Default 3D Renderer
• labels.N.name / labels.N.color: the 16 label names and colours, used by the Label menu, the timeline, project panel, render queue and viewer handles

Not wired yet (TODO)

These rows are in the dialog for After Effects parity and are stored, but nothing reads them yet. prefs.pages reports them with "live": false. A test keeps this list in step with the schema.

• general.switchesAffectNestedComps: Switches Affect Nested Comps
• general.preserveConstantVertexCount: Preserve Constant Vertex and Feather Point Count when Editing Masks
• general.syncTimeRelatedItems: Synchronize Time of All Related Items
• general.expressionPickWhipCompact: Expression Pick Whip Writes Compact English
• general.createSplitLayersAbove: Create Split Layers Above Original Layer
• general.useSystemColorPicker: Use System Color Picker
• startup.showHomeOnOpenProject: Show Home Screen When Opening a Project
• composition.motionPath: Motion Path
• composition.motionPathSeconds: Seconds
• composition.motionPathKeyframes: Keyframes
• composition.hardwareAcceleratePanels: Hardware Accelerate Composition, Layer and Footage Panels
• previews.showInternalWireframes: Show Internal Wireframes
• previews.zoomQuality: Viewer Zoom Quality
• previews.displayProfile: Display Color Space
• appearance.useLabelColorForTabs: Use Label Color for Related Tabs
• appearance.cycleMaskColors: Cycle Mask Colors
• appearance.useGradients: Use Gradients
• grids.gridStyle: Style
• grids.proportionalHorizontal: Horizontal
• grids.proportionalVertical: Vertical
• grids.guideStyle: Style
• type.textEngine: Text Engine
• type.fontPreview: Show Font Preview
• type.recentFonts: Number of Recent Fonts to Display
• type.fontNamesInEnglish: Show Font Names in English
• import.reportMissingFrames: Report Missing Frames
• import.unlabeledAlpha: Interpret Unlabeled Alpha As
• import.dragImportAs: Default Drag Import As
• export.defaultOutputFolder: Default Output Folder
• export.segmentSequences: Segment Sequences
• export.segmentSequenceFiles: Files per Segment
• export.segmentMovies: Segment Movie Files
• export.segmentMovieMb: Segment Size
• export.appendBitsToName: Append Bit Depth to File Name
• audio.previewSampleRate: Preview Sample Rate
• disk.diskCacheEnabled: Enable Disk Cache
• disk.diskCacheMaxGb: Maximum Disk Cache Size
• disk.diskCacheFolder: Disk Cache Folder
• disk.mediaCacheFolder: Database and Cache Folder
• disk.conformedMediaFolder: Conformed Audio Folder
• memory.ramReservedGb: RAM Reserved for Other Applications
• memory.reduceCacheWhenLow: Reduce Cache Size When System Is Low on Memory
• video.enableOutput: Enable Video Preview Output
• video.device: Video Device
• video.outputDuringPlayback: Video Output During Playback
• video.mirrorOnMonitor: Mirror on Computer Monitor
• video.disableWhenBackground: Disable Video Output When in Background
• threeD.showReferenceAxes: Show 3D Reference Axes
• threeD.extendedViewer: Extended Viewer
• threeD.realtimeShadows: Realtime Shadows in Draft
• scripting.allowScriptsWriteFiles: Allow Scripts to Write Files and Access Network
• scripting.warnExecutingFiles: Warn User When Executing Files
• scripting.enableJsDebugger: Enable JavaScript Debugger
• scripting.editorFontSize: Font Size
• scripting.syntaxHighlighting: Syntax Highlighting
• scripting.lineNumbers: Line Numbers
• scripting.autoComplete: Auto-complete
• scripting.bracketMatching: Bracket Matching
• scripting.wordWrap: Word Wrap
• scripting.errorBanner: Show Expression Error Banner

Keyboard shortcuts

Edit ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts (Cmd+Alt+') opens the shortcut editor: an on-screen keyboard showing which keys are assigned for the held modifiers (purple: application-wide, green: panel-specific, both: split), modifier toggles, a searchable list of every command (all engine commands, menu entries with bound parameters and the frontend's tool / panel commands), and a preset menu.

• Presets. "EffectCraft Default" is After Effects' default layout and is read-only; editing it creates a "Custom" copy. Custom presets store only their differences from the default and can be duplicated, renamed, deleted, exported and imported (JSON). The active preset is what the menus show and what the shortcut dispatcher runs.
• Assigning. Select a command, then press keys in the shortcut field (or type them), or click a key on the keyboard with the modifiers toggled. Conflicts with other commands in an overlapping scope are listed before you assign.
• Scope. Menu and engine commands are application-wide; timeline commands work in the Timeline and viewer commands in the Composition panel.

Commands: shortcuts.list {query?, keys?, assigned?}, shortcuts.set {command, params?, keys}, shortcuts.reset {command?}, shortcuts.preset {op: select|new|duplicate|delete|rename, name?, from?, newName?}, shortcuts.export {preset?, path?}, shortcuts.import {path? | preset?}, shortcuts.conflicts.

Auto-save and crash recovery

• Every n minutes (Settings ▸ Project ▸ Auto-Save) a project with unsaved changes is written to an EffectCraft Auto-Save folder next to it (or the custom folder) as <name> auto-save N.ecproj. Slots rotate through 1…maximum versions, overwriting the oldest. Untitled projects go to the custom folder, or to Auto-Save in the config directory.
• Every project and auto-save write is atomic: a temporary file is written and flushed, then renamed over the target, so a crash mid-write leaves the previous file intact.
• While the app runs, session.lock in the config directory records the open project and its latest auto-save. A clean quit removes it. If it is still there at the next launch, the app offers to open the latest auto-save (Settings ▸ Startup & Repair can turn this off).
• File ▸ Open Recent lists recent projects (stored in the settings), File ▸ Revert reloads the saved project, File ▸ Increment and Save saves Intro.ecproj as Intro 2.ecproj.

Commands: file.autoSave (now), file.recoveryInfo, file.openRecent {index? | path?}, file.clearRecent, file.revert, file.incrementAndSave.