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Valentin KleinandClaude Opus 5.5 84382487bb Disk cache: entries keep the files they read, keys from memory (#3184 ) (#3191 )

* Disk cache: record the source files each frame reads

Part of #3184 (step 1): renders now report which footage files they read,
each with its identity (size and modification time) as read. Nothing uses
the list yet: images, cache keys and cache behaviour are unchanged.

- render: `reads` module with `FileStamp`, `ReadFile`, `ReadFiles` (sorted,
  deduplicated, bounded; marked incomplete when it can't vouch for every
  file) and the thread-safe `ReadLog`. `Renderer::reads` collects a frame's
  files; `FootageSource::recording` lets a source note what it reads.
  `file_stamp` uses the same identity.
- Layer cache entries keep the files their buffer was made of and report
  them on every hit; derived entries (styles, blend space, flattened) keep
  their base's. Buffers from the disk cache or the browser store don't know
  their files yet and mark the list incomplete.
- Media pool: every file read notes its identity, taken from the file it
  opens. Decoded frames, opened movies, GIFs, models and EXR channels keep
  it with the cache entry, so a frame served from memory reports its file
  without touching the disk.
- Viewer frame worker collects each frame's list and carries it to where
  the disk entry is written (step 2 stores it).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Automation: confined footage passes on the files it reads

Part of #3184: ConfinedFootage forwards FootageSource::recording to the
source it wraps, so renders of an automation session list their files
instead of coming back incomplete. The read tests also render through the
viewer's CancellableFootage wrapper.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Disk cache: frame entries keep their source files, comp key from memory

Part of #3184 (step 2). Fixes #3175: opening a comp no longer stamps every
footage file of the project before its first frame can show.

- The comp's content key (`disk_cache::comp_content_key`) is taken from the
  project in memory alone: no footage or proxy file is stamped, no
  `VirtualFileId` is asked. `comp_content_key_with` is gone; `frame_key`
  hashes a new entry version, so entries of the earlier format are never
  looked up again (LRU evicts them).
- Frame entries (formats 2 and 3) store the files the frame read
  (`EntryFiles`: size and modification time as read; size and content hash
  through `VirtualFileId` for files from memory; missing files), then the
  pixels. Formats 0 and 1 read as misses and are deleted.
- Check on hit: `get_frame`/`get_frame_f16` look only at the listed files
  (one metadata call each) on the frame worker. A changed, back or unreadable
  file, or a damaged entry, is a miss: the entry is deleted and the frame
  rendered and stored again.
- A frame whose file list is incomplete is shown but not stored. The RAM
  preview keeps each frame's files, so `persist_missing` writes only frames
  with a complete list.
- Remote frame worker: `FrameServer` records each frame's reads
  (`take_files`); the web worker stores them with the entry and the page
  checks them through the file table before using it. The browser's media
  epoch existed only for the old key and is removed. Export does not use
  frame entries.
- The cache indicator still only asks whether an entry exists.

Tests: entry format round trip and damage, the check per file, and in the
viewer: a changed file re-renders exactly its frames (and a reopen reads the
rest from disk); a frame checks only its own files in a project with a large
unused sequence and the key looks at no file; missing, unreadable files and
damaged entries never serve a stale frame.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Disk cache: layer entries keep their source files, no footage salt

Part of #3184 (step 3 of 4).

Layer buffers on disk (and in the browser's layer store) now carry the
files they were made of, like frame entries since step 2, and are checked
against exactly those files when used. The project-wide footage salt is
gone: nothing stamps every footage file any more.

- Layer entry format 4: the buffer's EntryFiles, then the pixels. A hit
  checks only the listed files (metadata, or the VirtualFileId hook for
  files from memory; Missing must still be missing); a change, a damaged
  entry or the old format 0 is a miss and the entry is deleted, so the
  re-rendered buffer replaces it. A hit reports its file list, so frames
  made of buffers from disk are complete and get stored again.
- Buffers whose files can't all be named are not written.
- Layer disk keys: layer_disk_key = hash of the layer entry version, the
  renderer version and the layer cache key (which names the footage items
  with their paths and settings, from memory).
- PrefetchStore checks on use; an entry made of changed files is dropped
  and forgotten, so the new buffer is queued over it. FrameServer passes
  its virtual-file hook to its layer cache.
- Removed: footage_salt(_with), file_stamp, footage_stamp,
  set_disk_salt, set_store_salt, Session::refresh_disk_salt,
  poll_disk_salt, footage_fingerprint, disk_salt, disk_salt_background,
  disk_salt_job, DiskSaltJob, the UI's per-frame poll, the salt in
  FrameServer and in the availability worker (with its cache_enabled
  plumbing). The disk cache is attached as soon as it is configured.
- Docs: architecture.md, web.md.

Tests: layer entries check their files (size, time, missing/back,
folder, damaged, old format, incomplete); virtual files; prefetch store;
media tests with a real pool across restarts (only the changed file is
read, projects with the same item ids never share an entry, missing,
unreadable and damaged never serve stale buffers); engine tests that the
cache is attached at once and edits do no file work (#1926, #3106).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Disk cache: no-salt worker test, sequence paths in the frame-blend key

Part of #3184 (step 3 of 4).

- A frame-blended footage frame's layer-cache key now hashes the
  sequence's file list: with no project-wide salt, two projects whose
  items share an id and a first frame must not share its disk entry.
- Test: a frame worker syncing, patching and rendering a project with an
  unused 5000-frame sequence asks its file hook only about the file its
  buffer reads (the salt asked about every file at every sync).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Disk cache: the comp key covers what its expressions can read

With an expression anywhere in the project, every comp's disk key hashed
every item of the project, so any edit (another comp, an unused footage
item) threw away every comp's frames on disk. The key now covers what the
comp can draw plus what the expressions among it can reach
(Project::pixel_reach):

- without expressions: the items the comp draws, without silent layers,
  plus the footage its precomp layers swap in (Media Replacement);
- with expressions: every layer of the comps they reach, their markers,
  the comps and footage they name with string literals (comp("Name"),
  footage("Name")) together with which items have those names now, and
  the footage named like a reached source (its data is read by name);
- the whole project when an expression computes a name, uses the object
  model's constructors or internals, dynamic code, computed keys or
  writes, or text the scanner can't read for sure (regex literals,
  template strings, escapes): expression_reach errs towards reaching more.

Markers count only where an expression can read them (#1083). Memory
only, no file is looked at.

Tests: scanner and reach unit tests in the project crate; engine tests
for the key (own-comp expressions keep the key through edits elsewhere,
comp("Other") follows Other and not a third comp, a second comp taking
the name counts, a computed name counts every item, markers read from
another comp); a ui-egui test that the disk frames outside an expression
layer are carried when the comp it names changes.

Part of #3184. Part of #1492.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Disk cache: Reload Footage drops the entries of its files, docs

File > Reload Footage now deletes the frame and layer entries whose file
lists name the reloaded item's files (DiskCache::drop_files), so a file
replaced by one with the same size and modification time, which the
check on hit can't tell apart, is read again. The index knows keys, not
files: the writer thread reads the files section at the start of each
frame and layer entry (not the pixels) after the writes queued before
it, and deletes the entries that list one of the files. Until it is
done, an entry made of one of them is a miss and frames aren't linked to
new keys. The entries are gone for good, so they don't come back after a
restart. Automatic reloads don't drop anything: they follow a changed
stamp, which the check on hit catches. The browser needs nothing (its
file identities are content hashes).

Removed: disk_cache::seal, which steps 2 and 3 left without callers (the
tests use seal_format). Updated the module, seal_format and forget_media
docs, and docs/architecture.md / docs/web.md describe the final design:
what is cached, keys from memory, file lists checked on hit, nothing
scans the project, incomplete lists stay in memory, Reload Footage drops
entries, edits keep the frames they can't change.

Tests: render unit tests (same size and time passes the check but not
the drop; other files' entries stay; an entry queued before the drop is
dropped; a layer entry too; written again afterwards it is used; the
drop survives a restart; a pending drop is a miss), and an engine test
through file.reloadFootage.

Closes #3184. Part of #1492.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Disk cache: file stamps keep the whole modification time

A file's modification time was nanoseconds since 1970 as u64: a time before 1970
read as "no time" (two such files of one size looked alike) and times after 2554
were truncated. It is now i128 nanoseconds, negative before the epoch; None only
means the file system has no time. The content-key hash writes a presence tag and
the full value.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Automation: a refused footage read leaves the render's file list incomplete

Footage outside the read roots shows nothing and was noted as no file at all, so a
picture made without it had a complete, empty list and could be kept on disk for
a later session with other roots. A refused read during `recording` now marks the
list incomplete.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Render: a buffer kept by another worker comes with its own files

LayerCache::insert returns the files of the buffer it keeps, and Renderer::keep
notes them in the render's log and returns them, so a render that uses another
worker's buffer lists that buffer's files (a file changed between the two reads
then has two identities and the list is incomplete).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Render: sampleImage and text fonts note the files they read

EvalCtx carries the render's read log. A sampleImage render records its footage
reads, keeps them with its per-thread cached buffer and notes them in the
evaluating render's log on every use. Text notes the font files it is drawn with,
with the identity their bytes were read with; a family that isn't installed, a
fallback or missing glyph, or a font from memory leaves the list incomplete.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Disk cache: frame entries store the whole modification time

A frame entry's file list stores a file's modification time as i128 nanoseconds
since 1970 (negative before), as the file stamps now keep it; the frame entry
format version goes to frame-entry-files-2 so entries in the old layout are not
read.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Disk cache: layer entries store the whole modification time

Layer entries share the frame entries' file list layout, which now stores the
full i128 modification time: the layer entry format version goes to
layer-entry-files-2. The module doc names the font files text is drawn with
among an entry's source files, and what keeps a list incomplete.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Layer cache: buffers that read other layers are keyed by the switches passed down

A layer whose effect reads another layer (Gradient Wipe, Set Matte, Blend…) gets
that layer drawn by its own renderer. Through a precomp layer, Switches Affect
Nested Comps, the switches inherited from the precomp layers above and motion
blur on change those pixels, but the key held only the layers' own switches: a
buffer made with the setting on was reused (from memory or the disk cache) with
it off. Such layers now derive their key with what the renderer passes down.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Layer cache: masked buffers are keyed by the mask motion blur gate

A mask with Mask Motion Blur On blurs even when the layer's own switch is off,
as long as the render's gate is open (Render Settings motion blur, and with
Switches Affect Nested Comps the precomp layers above). The key held the
layer's own motion blur state only, so a buffer blurred with the gate open was
reused with it closed (and the other way round), also from the disk cache.
Masked layer, input and footprint keys now tell a closed gate apart.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Render: cached buffers list what their expressions and substituted characters read

- Buffers made under `Renderer::recorded` (layer content, a Time effect's input, an adjustment
  layer's footprint) evaluate their masks, shapes and effects with the context that notes into
  the buffer's own read log, so a file an expression reads (`sampleImage`, also at shutter times
  mask motion blur adds and the cache key doesn't see) is in the buffer's files.
- A styled layer served from the cache lists the files of the cached body and passes too, so
  the buffers made of it (flattened, blending space) don't get a complete list when one of them
  came with an incomplete one.
- A character put in by Character Offset or Character Value without a relayout notes the font
  it is drawn with; a fallback face (or none) leaves the list incomplete.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Render: text lists the font file of a run that draws no glyph; tests clean their temp dirs

An empty first paragraph draws no glyph, but in a box its face sets the
first baseline that places every later line. The read list took faces only
from glyphs, so it could be complete without that file. Note each style
run's resolved face as well.

The font-reads and confine tests use tempfile::tempdir(): a fresh
directory per run, removed on panic too.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Disk cache: Reload Footage closes the gaps around its drop (#3184)

- A reload while the disk cache is off is kept on the session
  (pending_disk_drops) and applied when the cache is switched on, before
  anything is read from it.
- Each render takes the cache's drop generation before it reads (frame
  worker; layer cache at the miss). An entry listing a file dropped after
  that is refused under the queue's lock, so a render that was under way
  during the reload can't store pixels from before it. Such a frame is
  shown with an incomplete file list, so persist_missing skips it too.
  The per-file record is bounded (past it, everything older is refused).
- An entry read while its drop was pending is a miss even when the
  writer ends the sweep between the read and the check (a stale hit
  found under load): the pending drops and the generation are taken
  before the entry is read.
- Test: a reopened project serves its frame from disk with no source file
  opened or decoded.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Disk cache: RAM frames keep the drop generation their render started at

Reload Footage empties the RAM preview, but an idle pass of
persist_missing may already hold a frame from before the reload. It
took the cache's drop generation when it ran, after the drop, so the old
pixels could be written back and, with the file's size and time
unchanged, served again after a restart.

Each RAM frame now keeps the disk cache its render started with and
that cache's drop generation then. persist_missing writes a frame only
to that cache, with that generation, and skips it once one of its files
was dropped since; a frame rendered without that cache is not written
from there.

Tests use tempfile directories (the layer drop test, the frame_files
folders under target/).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Doc comments for the functions this PR touches

* Disk cache: cap the free-space reserve at 10 GB, skip encodes the limit refuses

The reserve the cache leaves free on its disk was max(2 GB, 5% of the
disk) (#2551). On a 4 TB disk with 190 GB free that is 200 GB, so a
cache set to 20 GB had a limit of 0: every write was refused, the cache
never held anything, and only a log warning said so.

The reserve is now clamp(5% of the disk, 2 GB, 10 GB). It is there to
keep the cache from filling the disk, not to keep a share of a large
disk free: 10 GB leaves the system room to work on any disk, a small
disk still keeps 2 GB, and a 100 GB disk keeps 5 GB as before. After
Effects has only a maximum cache size and no reserve; a clamp keeps
the floor for small disks, where a fixed 10 GB would take most of the
space.

Writes the limit refuses cost no work: DiskCache::accepts_writes (one
atomic read) is checked before a frame is converted (put_disk_frame)
and before frames and layers are compressed (put_frame, put_frame_f16,
put_layer). The frame workers spent about 8 ms per frame and 14 ms per
layer on encodes that were then refused. persist_missing returns at
once at limit 0 instead of converting the RAM frames on every idle pass.

Settings > Disk shows the limit in effect in MB under Maximum Disk
Cache Size, with a note when free disk space lowers it
(settings.disk.cacheLimit).

* Disk cache: refuse writes below 64 MB of room, show this disk's reserve

Review follow-ups to the reserve fix:

- accepts_writes also refuses while free disk space leaves less than
  64 MB of room (a limit the setting asks for is always used): a few
  frames would fill it, and the rest would be compressed only to be
  refused.
- While writes are refused the idle passes ask for no repaint, so the
  UI keeps a frame coming every 5 s: the free space is read again and
  the RAM frames are written once there is room.
- Settings > Disk names the space kept free on this disk (the reserve
  the last reading applied; the rule from MIN/MAX_DISK_RESERVE when it
  is unknown), and the "no room" note follows accepts_writes.
- The settings.disk.cacheLimit automation label is machine-readable
  and the same in every language: limitMb, maxMb, reserveMb,
  spaceLimited, writes.
- cargo fmt.

* Disk cache: follow 3D model sources in the comp's reach

The reach walk followed comp, footage and solid sources but not
LayerSource::Model. An expression reading a model layer's source
(thisComp.layer("Model").source.name) left the model item out of the
comp's content key, so renaming the model kept the key and the old
frames on disk were served. Every source item is followed now
(LayerSource::item), which also counts the model when no expression
reads it (Advanced 3D draws it).

The same omission is fixed in the RAM preview's content walk
(frames.rs) and in the layer key's walk of referenced layers
(cache/dependencies.rs).

* Disk cache: a render's drop generation travels with its reads; no disk entries for Expression Selectors

Drop generation per render: the layer cache recovered a buffer's drop
generation from the latest miss of its key, so a second render of the
key that started after File > Reload Footage lent its generation to a
render still running from before, and that render's buffer (the file as
it was) was written after the sweep. Now Renderer::recorded starts each
buffer's read log at the store's drop generation before anything is
read (ReadLog::starting_at); ReadFiles carries the earliest generation
through merges, so derived buffers (styles, the blend-space copy, the
flattened layer) and frames that use a buffer from memory carry it too.
LayerCache::insert keeps a buffer made of a file dropped since its
reads began neither on disk nor in memory; a list that doesn't say
counts as made before every drop. DiskCache::dropped_since takes the
list's own generation too. missed_at keeps only the miss time.

Expression Selectors: the layer key evaluates a text Expression
Selector's amount for the first character only, so a per-character
dependency such as textIndex == 1 ? 0 : footage("ref.png").width was
not in the key, and after the footage item's width changed a reopened
session reused the old layer entry. A text layer with an Expression
Selector now marks its reads unkeyed (ReadFiles::is_unkeyed), which
merges like the generation; such buffers stay in memory and are never
written to disk. Frame entries are unaffected: the comp's frame key
hashes what the expressions name. The equality and hash of ReadFiles
ignore both new fields.

* Disk cache: never serve a RAM layer buffer made before a drop of its files

A render that passed the drop check could sit in put_layer's encode
while Reload Footage cleared the layer cache and dropped the file, then
publish its old pixels to memory after the purge; get, and a fresh
render's insert, then served them. The disk-hit promotion went through
the same insert_mem.

Every way the cache hands out a RAM buffer (get, the kept-first path of
insert, an existing entry in insert_mem) now checks the entry's files
against the store's drops from their own generation (ReadFiles::since):
an entry made before a drop of one of its files is forgotten and the
lookup misses, so a fresh render's buffer replaces it. insert_mem also
re-checks a buffer just before publishing it.

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

2026-11-08 02:30:59 +01:00

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Raw Blame History

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, or EffectCraftData beside the executable when a portable.txt sits there, as in the Windows portable zip; the web app keeps it in browser storage: the Origin Private File System, or IndexedDB where OPFS can't write, see web.md). 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.language: interface language (system / en / ja / zh-hans / zh-hant / uk / es / pt-br / ka / sv), Settings ▸ General ▸ Language; menu labels change immediately. system (Match System, the default) follows the operating system's interface language where EffectCraft has a translation and is English otherwise: a Simplified Chinese locale (zh, zh-CN, zh_CN.UTF-8, zh-Hans-CN, zh-SG) selects zh-hans, a Traditional one (zh-TW, zh-HK, zh-Hant, zh_MO) selects zh-hant, a Ukrainian one (uk, uk-UA, uk_UA.UTF-8) selects uk, a Spanish one (es, es-ES, es_MX.UTF-8) selects es, a Portuguese one (pt, pt-BR, pt_PT.UTF-8) selects pt-br, a Georgian one (ka, ka-GE, ka_GE.UTF-8) selects ka, a Swedish one (sv, sv-SE, sv_SE.UTF-8) selects sv; the browser build follows ?lang= in the address, then the browser's languages (navigator.languages). Choose Español or Português (Brasil) for Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese menus (panels stay in English for now); choose Українська for Ukrainian menus and cataloged panel, dialog, button and tooltip text; Ukrainian uses the bundled UI fonts. Choose Svenska for Swedish menus, panels and effect names. Native Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese UI uses installed system fonts; the web host must supply a Japanese font. The same setting picks the CJK fallback for the interface and the Han preference of the text engine, so the composition's own text is drawn with the same language's glyph forms (the text engine's preference is process-global); swapping the language reinstalls the fonts, so it applies without a restart. Two catalogs back the text: the menus are keyed by (command, English label) (crates/ui-egui/src/i18n.rs), and the rest of the interface - panels, dialogs, buttons, tooltips - is keyed by its English source string (crates/ui-egui/src/i18n/ui.rs, with rows for Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese and Ukrainian), where a panel writes tr("Rename"), or tr_args("Proxy Use: {}", &[&quality]) when the row carries a value. A row that is missing falls back to English, so a new string shows up untranslated rather than empty; the missing_translations_report test lists what each language lacks, and the tests in ui.rs fail on an unused row.
general.undoLevels: Levels of Undo
general.pathPointSize: Path Point and Handle Size
general.recentItems: Recent Projects Shown
general.showToolTips: Show Tool Tips
general.viewerWheelScrubbing: Scrub Composition Frames with Mouse Wheel (off by default). On: an unmodified mouse wheel over the Composition viewer steps frames, and the smoothed tail of that notch does not zoom or pan. Ctrl/Cmd+wheel and a trackpad still zoom and pan.
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
startup.windowGraphics: Window Graphics (auto / gl), what the desktop window draws with from the next launch. auto lets the platform pick (DirectX 12, Vulkan or Metal); gl uses OpenGL, with CPU compositing, for graphics drivers that crash with the others. A launch leaves a launch-pending marker in the settings folder until its window has been drawing for a few seconds (or the app quits normally before that); a launch that stops earlier (a graphics driver crashing as the window opens or as its surface is re-created) leaves the marker behind, and the next launch switches to gl and says so (not on macOS, which has no OpenGL backend). WGPU_BACKEND overrides both.
project.useTemplate: New Project Loads Template
project.templatePath: Template Project
project.compactProjectFiles: Save Compact Project Files (default off). Off: File ▸ Save writes .ecproj files as indented JSON, one value per line, easy to read and diff in version control. On: compact JSON on one line, smaller and faster to save and open. Either opens the same; auto-saves, XML copies and template packages are not affected.
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 (the lowest resolution Fast Previews ▸ Adaptive Resolution drops to while you drag; a playing preview keeps the viewer's resolution)
previews.cacheFramesWhenIdle: Cache Frames When Idle (Composition ▸ Preview): after a second without input or edits, the viewer renders the work area into the RAM preview in the background, from the current time on, until it is cached or the budget is full
previews.fastPreviews: Fast Previews (Draft 3D, Faster Effects)
appearance.appearanceMode: Appearance Mode (auto / dark / light). auto (Sync with System) follows the operating system's light or dark appearance while the app runs: on Linux the desktop app reads the XDG desktop portal (org.freedesktop.appearance color-scheme) once and then listens for its SettingChanged signal on a worker thread, repainting only when the value changes (nothing polls); gsettings runs at most once at start-up, by absolute path, when the portal gives no answer. Elsewhere it uses what the window system reports. With no answer it shows the dark theme. New installs stay dark; Sync with System is opt-in. The Tools bar's appearance button (a monitor, sun or moon) cycles Sync with System, Light and Dark (view.theme.toggle, Next Appearance Mode).
appearance.darkTheme: Dark Theme (dark / darker), shown in dark appearance
appearance.lightTheme: Light Theme (light), shown in light appearance. Settings ▸ Appearance shows the mode above a light and a dark theme card, each with a preview of the EffectCraft window in that theme.
appearance.favoriteThemes: a list of unique theme ids (dark, darker, light), empty by default. Hover a theme row to star it; saved favorites keep an accent-colored star. Right-click the appearance button for Appearance Settings and favorites grouped light first, then dark. Selecting a favorite fixes its appearance family and preserves the opposite family choice; left-click still cycles modes. Settings OK saves favorites and Cancel restores them. Unknown or duplicate ids are rejected by prefs.set and removed when loading old settings.
appearance.theme: the single theme from before appearance modes, kept for older settings files and automation. A saved file with only theme loads as a fixed Dark or Light mode showing it; setting it (prefs.set, ui.set {"theme": …}, view.theme.dark|darker|light) selects that theme and fixes the mode to its family. While the mode is Dark or Light it mirrors the theme in use.
appearance.brightness: Brightness
appearance.uiScale: UI Scale, the size of the whole interface (any whole percentage from 75 to 200, on top of the display's own scaling), dragged or typed; it applies as soon as it is dragged or entered
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 (in the browser at most 512 MB, see web.md)
memory.mediaCacheMb: Footage Frame Cache (in the browser at most 256 MB)
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
general.switchesAffectNestedComps: a precomp layer's Quality (Draft / Wireframe) and Motion Blur switches limit the layers of the nested comp (viewer, Render Queue, render)
general.preserveConstantVertexCount: adding or deleting mask / shape path vertices at one keyframe does the same on every other keyframe (added vertices split the matching segment)
general.syncTimeRelatedItems: moving the current time moves it in the comps nested in this one and in the comps that nest it (through the precomp layers' timing)
general.expressionPickWhipCompact: off, the pick whip writes match names (thisComp.layer("A")("transform")("opacity"))
general.createSplitLayersAbove: where Edit ▸ Split Layer puts the new layer (on by default, as in After Effects)
startup.showHomeOnOpenProject: the Home screen comes up after File ▸ Open / Open Recent
composition.motionPath, composition.motionPathSeconds, composition.motionPathKeyframes: how much of a position motion path the viewer draws (all, none, N seconds or N keyframes around the current time)
previews.showInternalWireframes: outlines of the layers inside a selected collapsed precomp
previews.zoomQuality: Faster = nearest-neighbour viewer scaling, More Accurate = averaged (bilinear, mipmapped) when the frame is shown below 100 %; magnified frames show their pixels as blocks in both modes, and the frame sits on the physical pixel grid, so 100 % is exact
previews.displayProfile: the monitor's colour space for View ▸ Use Display Color Management
appearance.useLabelColorForTabs: Composition / Timeline tabs show the comp's label colour, Effect Controls / Properties the layer's
appearance.cycleMaskColors: new masks cycle through the mask colours (off: all the first)
appearance.useGradients: soft gradient on panel tab strips
appearance.inWindowMenuBarMac: on macOS, draw the menu bar inside the window instead of the native menu bar
grids.gridStyle, grids.guideStyle: lines, dashed lines or dots (grid, proportional grid, guides); grids.proportionalHorizontal / grids.proportionalVertical: View ▸ Show Proportional Grid divisions
type.textEngine: South Asian and Middle Eastern shows the paragraph direction and the World-Ready composers in the Paragraph panel
type.fontPreview: a "Sample" preview in each font of the Character panel's font menu
type.recentFonts: how many recently used fonts head the font menu
type.fontNamesInEnglish: off, fonts with a native-language family name show it
import.reportMissingFrames: gaps in an image sequence's numbering are reported on import (they show as colour-bar placeholders, as in After Effects; see footage.md)
import.autoReloadFootage: Automatically Reload Footage, off, nonSequence (the default, as in After Effects) or all (image sequences too). Every two seconds while its window is in front (every ten seconds while another app has the front), and as soon as the window comes back to the front, the desktop app compares each footage file's size and modification time with what they were, on a worker thread that only wakes the interface when something changed, and reloads what another app saved: a Photoshop file edited in PhotoCraft or Photoshop shows its new pixels without File ▸ Reload Footage. It is not an undo step and doesn't modify the project; a layer item stays on its layer (found again by name), and a file that can't be read yet (still being written) is tried again once it changes again. footage.reloadChanged runs the same check once (CLI, agents)
import.unlabeledAlpha: alpha of TGA / TIFF / movie footage (Ask opens Interpret Footage; Guess takes premultiplied for movies, straight for stills)
import.dragImportAs: layered files dropped on the window import as footage or a comp
export.defaultOutputFolder: where relative Render Queue outputs go
export.segmentSequences, export.segmentSequenceFiles: sequences split into numbered folders of N files; export.segmentMovies, export.segmentMovieMb: movies split into numbered files of about N MB (cut at the frame count the output's data rate gives)
export.appendBitsToName: Comp 1.png → Comp 1_16bpc.png
audio.previewSampleRate: the rate previews are mixed at (and the device is opened at, when it supports it)
disk.diskCacheEnabled, disk.diskCacheMaxGb, disk.diskCacheFolder: the persistent disk cache of processed layers and frames (in the browser: frames in the Origin Private File System, at most half the origin's quota; the folder setting does not apply there). On the desktop the cache never fills its disk: it leaves 5% of the disk free, at least 2 GB and at most 10 GB, and is smaller than disk.diskCacheMaxGb when free space requires it. The Disk page shows the limit in effect in MB under Maximum Disk Cache Size, with a note naming the space kept free when free disk space lowers it (with less than 64 MB of room nothing is written, and frames and layers are not compressed for it). The Disk page also shows Browser Storage in the web app: usage and quota, persistent storage, Clear buttons (storage.info / storage.persist / storage.clear, see web.md)
disk.mediaCacheFolder: audio waveform summaries kept between sessions (Peaks/)
disk.conformedMediaFolder: decoded (conformed) footage audio, written once per file and sample rate and read back instead of decoding again
memory.ramReservedGb: the cache budgets together leave this much physical memory free
memory.reduceCacheWhenLow: cache budgets halve while the system is low on memory (checked every 30 s by the desktop app, on a background thread)
video.enableOutput, video.device, video.outputDuringPlayback, video.mirrorOnMonitor, video.disableWhenBackground: Video Preview, a second window (or full screen on the display it is on) showing the composition frame, Mercury Transmit-style
threeD.showReferenceAxes: world X/Y/Z axes in the viewer corner of comps with 3D layers
threeD.extendedViewer: 3D layers reaching beyond the comp frame are outlined on the pasteboard
threeD.realtimeShadows: draft (Fast Previews) renders keep 3D shadows
scripting.allowScriptsWriteFiles: the scripting file / network gate (and File.execute())
scripting.warnExecutingFiles: File.execute() asks before opening a file
scripting.editorFontSize, scripting.syntaxHighlighting, scripting.lineNumbers, scripting.autoComplete (Tab accepts), scripting.bracketMatching, scripting.wordWrap: the Timeline's expression editor
scripting.errorBanner: a banner along the bottom of the Composition panel names the first failing expression (click: reveal it)
roto.model (Settings ▸ Roto Brush): the segmentation model Roto Brush 2.0 / 3.0 use, classical (built in) or mobilesam (once installed). The page lists every registered model with its authors, licence, size, source and status, with Download, Install from File… and Remove (roto.models / roto.model.*); weights live in the models folder next to the settings, each with a .NOTICE.txt naming its authors and licence
face.model (Settings ▸ Face Tracking): the model face tracking uses, classical (built in) or mediapipe-face (once installed); the same page of models (face.models / face.model.*)

Display-only settings

These rows are in the dialog for After Effects parity and are stored, but have no EffectCraft behaviour to change. prefs.pages reports them with "live": false; a test keeps this list in step with the schema.

general.useSystemColorPicker: EffectCraft has one colour picker on every platform and the web; there is no pure-Rust way to open the system colour panels.
composition.hardwareAcceleratePanels: the Composition, Layer and Footage panels are always drawn by the GPU (egui on wgpu).
scripting.enableJsDebugger: the JavaScript engine has no step debugger; script errors report their file and line in the Script Console.

Effect Controls uses compact, fixed 20 pt parameter rows, as After Effects does: each group level is indented beneath its effect, sibling names and values align, and a gap separates effects. The timeline keeps its fixed 19 pt rows. Both follow the whole-interface UI Scale.

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, the scripts File ▸ Scripts lists 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. A shortcut belongs to the application, to a panel (Project, Timeline, Composition, Render Queue…) or to a context (editing text, a paint tool or a camera tool active, a mask selected). One chord can be bound once per scope, and the narrowest active scope runs it: an active context, then the panel with the keyboard, then the application. The Timeline and the Composition panel share their shortcuts. A context's shortcuts work only while it is active; a panel's shortcut that nothing nearer claims still works from the other panels.
Conflicts. Two commands of one scope on one chord are a conflict (shortcuts.conflicts lists them; the default preset has none). The same chord in two scopes is an override: both keep working, and shortcuts.set reports it with overrides: true.

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 EffectCraft 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.

Headless MCP clients can opt in with effectcraft-cli mcp --autosave. Unlike the desktop's interval, this writes changed dirty projects before sending each tool reply, with separate version slots per server under EffectCraft Auto-Save/MCP/ (or the custom folder's MCP/). It reads settings without sharing the desktop's writable settings store or session.lock. See headless recovery for how to reopen a checkpoint after a client restart.

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

Logs

The desktop app writes its log records to standard error and to Logs/effectcraft.log in the config directory. Each launch moves the previous log to effectcraft.1.log (and that one to effectcraft.2.log), so the log of a run that crashed survives the next start; a log stops growing at 16 MiB. A launch from the Dock, the Start menu or a launcher has no terminal, so attach these files to a bug report. Help ▸ Reveal Logging File shows this run's log (or Help ▸ Enable Logging's EffectCraft Log.txt while that is on, which keeps every EffectCraft record across launches).

By default the log has info records from EffectCraft and warnings and errors from everything else. RUST_LOG replaces that with env_logger-style directives: debug, warn,effectcraft_render=trace, wgpu_core=info. The control-channel token is never logged.

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