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Scripts in Scripts/Startup and Scripts/Shutdown in the settings folder were never run. The desktop and web apps now run the Startup scripts at launch, before a project opens, and the desktop app runs the Shutdown scripts as it quits, after the project is closed. Each folder runs in alphabetical order with case ignored, and files larger than 16 MiB are not run. A Startup script that fails is reported in a toast and in the log, a Shutdown script that fails is reported in the log, and the next one still runs. A Startup script that waits in a modal dialog goes on when the dialog closes, while the next scripts run. A Shutdown script's dialogs close as if canceled. With the settings folder on disk, each script runs as its file, so #include, $.fileName and $.evalFile resolve against the script's own folder. The new commands file.runStartupScripts and file.runShutdownScripts return the scripts that ran, those still waiting in a dialog, and those that failed. Like script.run, both are refused in confined automation sessions, in batches and in script steps, which now read one list of script commands (RUNS_SCRIPTS). The list also holds window.scriptPanel and window.restoreScriptPanels, which run ScriptUI panel scripts and were not refused on main either. The apps still call window.restoreScriptPanels at launch. plugins.md, scripting-parity.md, gaps.md, target-app-parity.md and agents.md describe the folders. Each script still runs in its own global scope, so a Startup script's variables are not available to later scripts.
5.8 KiB
5.8 KiB
Expressions and scripting parity
Last reviewed: 2026-10-12 · Last updated: 2026-10-12 · Change: minor (
#include/#targetremoved from the estimate (landed in #759)) · Target: Adobe After Effects 2026
Expressions and ExtendScript are how After Effects work is automated and how much of it is
built: rigs, templates, studio pipelines. They are also what carries over from After Effects
today, while .aep projects can't. Architecture: architecture.md §5 and §5a;
extension points: plugins.md; overall numbers:
target-app-parity.md.
Breadth ≈ 93%, ready ≈ 65% (estimated). The object models are written from Adobe's public Expression Language Reference and Scripting Guide (behaviour only, AGENTS.md §2) and tested with our own scripts; no real-world script library has been run against both apps.
| Feature | After Effects 2026 | EffectCraft | Status | Evidence / gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expression language | JavaScript engine (default) and Legacy ExtendScript | JavaScript (boa) with legacy array maths (value + [10, 0]) |
good | crates/expr tests; no separate Legacy ExtendScript engine mode |
| Expression object model | thisComp, thisLayer, wiggle, loopOut, valueAtTime, sampleImage, footage(), text style API… |
Same members, from the reference, including propertyGroup(countUp) and a group's propertyIndex for name-independent rigs (#1619) |
good | crates/expr/src/tests.rs, tests/property_group.rs; behaviour of edge cases unmeasured (G1) |
| Expression editing | Inline field, error bar, pick whip, Expression Language menu, external editors | Inline field that grows, error bar, pick whips (property and value), language menu | partial | External editor support (#364) |
| Expression performance | Cached, multi-frame | Per-thread boa contexts | unknown | No benchmark |
| Scripting object model | app, Project, items, layers, properties, keys, eases, render queue, TextDocument, Shape, markers, File/Folder, Socket, app.settings |
Same classes, edits run through undoable engine commands; match names table; layers, groups and properties are callable (layer("Effects")(1) is .property(...)) |
good | crates/script tests (≈ 10 test files) |
$.evalFile, BridgeTalk |
Evaluate another script file; identify the host application and message other Adobe applications | $.evalFile evaluates a file relative to the calling file (nested at most 32 deep, under the scripts' file gate) and returns its last value; BridgeTalk names the host honestly (appName effectcraft, its version); messaging other applications throws "not supported" |
partial | tests_evalfile.rs (#760); no inter-application messaging |
| ScriptUI | Dialogs, palettes, dockable panels, resource strings, onDraw / ScriptUIGraphics, mouse events |
Same, dockable panels reopen at launch | good | ui_scriptui, tests_ui* |
app.scheduleTask / cancelTask |
One-shot and repeating tasks (polling, panel refresh) until cancelTask |
Same: repeating tasks run every delay ms (at least 50 ms, at most 64 pending per script) until cancelTask, until they throw (reported once, then cancelled), or until their owner goes: a script's last window closing, or the project closing for scripts without windows; frontends tick them every frame, agents with script.runTasks |
good | tests_tasks.rs (#773); one-shot tasks of a script file still run right after it, not after their delay |
| Scripts menu, ScriptUI Panels folder | yes | yes | same | plugins.md |
| Startup / Shutdown folders | yes | Scripts/Startup runs at launch and Scripts/Shutdown runs as the desktop app quits, after the project is closed, each in alphabetical order |
partial | tests_startup.rs; each script has its own global scope, so a Startup script's variables and functions are not available to later scripts (plugins.md) |
#include, #target directives |
yes | #include / //@include / #includepath inline files relative to the including script (once each, nested at most 32 deep, under the scripts' file gate; errors name the included file and line); #target, #targetengine, #strict are ignored |
good | tests_include.rs (#759); installed scripts and panels have no folder of their own, so they include from the project's folder or absolute paths |
.jsxbin |
yes | no | out of scope | No public specification |
| Keyboard shortcuts for scripts | yes | no | missing | plugins.md |
Command-line rendering aerender |
yes | effectcraft-cli render, script, exec |
same purpose | apps/effectcraft-cli |
| Essential Graphics scripting hooks | addToMotionGraphicsTemplate… |
yes (M13.7) | good | — |
| Agent control (MCP, control channel, every command) | none | yes | beyond | agents.md, control-protocol.md; list_effects omits parameter types and ranges (#441) |
| Real-world script corpus | — | none run | gap | Run popular free scripts (the 11 sample scripts After Effects ships are a good start, run as behaviour tests, never copied) |
Estimate
≈ 20–40 h: #include / #target (landed, #759) and Startup / Shutdown folders 4–8 h as first estimated (Startup / Shutdown landed; a global scope shared between scripts remains), script shortcuts 2–4 h,
a corpus of public scripts and expressions with the fixes it finds 10–20 h, an expression
performance benchmark 4–8 h.
Revision history
| Date | Change | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-16 | minor | Expression object model row names propertyGroup() and a group's propertyIndex (#1619) |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Estimate no longer counts #include / #target (#759, tests_include.rs); the table row was already current |
| 2026-10-10 | major | First expressions and scripting checklist |