agame/addons/asset_drawer

Asset Drawer

An asset drawer inspired by Unreal Engine's Content Drawer, for Godot 4. Press Ctrl+Space and the drawer slides up from the bottom of the editor. Browse, search, drag and drop, then close it.

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Table of contents

• Why
• Installation
• Quick start
• Shortcuts
• Features
• Right-click menu
• Copy / paste a resource
• Export an image of the drawer
• Customization
• Configuration files
• Troubleshooting
• Contributing

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Why

Godot's FileSystem dock is handy, but it takes up space permanently. Asset Drawer brings the idea of Unreal's Content Drawer to Godot: a file browser that appears on demand, covers the bottom of the editor, then disappears when you no longer need it. It stays connected to the rest of Godot: folder colors, favorites, and drag and drop into the scene or the Inspector.

Installation

1. Copy the asset_drawer folder into your project's res://addons/ folder:

   res://addons/asset_drawer/
   ├── plugin.cfg
   ├── plugin.gd
   └── drawer.gd
   

2. Open Project → Project Settings → Plugins and enable Asset Drawer.
3. Open the drawer with Ctrl+Space, with the toolbar button, or from Project → Tools → Asset Drawer.

Compatible with Godot 4.2 and later.

Quick start

I want to…	I do…
Open / close the drawer	Ctrl+Space
Keep the drawer open	Click the pin in the top bar
Resize the height	Drag the handle at the top of the drawer
Add an asset to the scene	Drag it from the drawer into the scene
Assign a resource in the Inspector	Drag it onto the matching field
Find a file	Ctrl+F, then type the name

By default, clicking outside the drawer closes it, unless it is pinned.

Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Space	Open / close the drawer
Esc	Close the drawer (unless pinned) or the context menu
Ctrl+F	Focus the search box
F2	Rename
Ctrl+D	Duplicate
Delete	Move to trash (with confirmation)
Backspace	Parent folder
Enter	Open the selected item
Double-click	Open (scene, script, resource, folder)
Ctrl + mouse wheel	Thumbnail zoom
Mouse back / forward buttons	Back / forward history
Alt+V	Paste the copied resource onto the hovered Inspector field

The open shortcut leaves script autocompletion alone when a TextEdit / CodeEdit has focus.

Features

Interface

• Floating drawer with margins, rounded corners, an accent outline and a shadow so it stands out from the editor
• Slide-up opening animation (slight bounce and glow on the outline), animated closing
• Resizable height, remembered between sessions
• Pinned mode: the drawer stays open
• Details panel with preview (type, size, date, UID), can be hidden
• Status bar (item count, selection, path)
• Animated notifications (green = success, red = error) to confirm actions
• Micro-animations on buttons, rounded selection and hover in the list

Navigation

• Folder tree with parent folders pinned to the top as you go deeper, single click to open / expand, "Collapse all" and "Locate current folder" buttons
• Clickable breadcrumb and back / forward history
• Side tabs: Folders, Favorites, Recents, Sets
• Favorites synced with Godot's FileSystem dock

Search and display

• Recursive search inside the current folder (debounced)
• Type filters: All, Scenes, Scripts, Models, Images, Audio, Shaders
• Grid or list view, with a separate zoom level remembered for each view
• HD thumbnails generated asynchronously by Godot, loaded only for visible items
• Cap on displayed items (MAX_ITEMS) to stay smooth in large folders

Folder colors

• Uses the custom colors from Godot's FileSystem dock (the file_customization/folder_colors setting)
• Subfolders inherit their parent's color, like in the FileSystem dock
• Editable straight from the drawer: right-click a folder, then pick from the color swatches

File management

• New folder, new scene, new script (unique default name, never overwrites)
• Rename: the matching .import / .uid files follow, along with favorites, sets and colors
• Duplicate files and folders, including recursively
• Delete to the OS trash, with confirmation
• Reimport
• Copy path, absolute path or UID
• Show in the FileSystem dock or in the OS file manager

Sets

Named collections of assets, like Unreal's Collections: group files from different folders into one set and find them in the Sets tab. Right-click a set to delete it (the files are not touched).

Drag and drop

Drag one or more assets into the scene, the scene tree or Inspector fields, just like from the FileSystem dock.

Right-click menu

On a file or folder: open, show in dock / file manager, copy path / absolute path / UID, copy resource, new folder / scene / script, rename, duplicate, favorites, add to a set, reimport, folder color, delete.

On empty space (current folder options):

• Open the folder in the file manager
• Show in the FileSystem dock
• Copy the folder path / absolute path
• Add / remove the folder from favorites
• Refresh
• Switch to grid or list view
• Export an image of the drawer (transparent PNG or green background)
• New folder / scene / script
• Folder color

Copy / paste a resource

1. Hover a resource in the drawer: a small green Copy button appears (or right-click → "Copy resource").
2. Hover a resource field in the Inspector (for example the Mesh of a MeshInstance3D): a Paste button appears.
3. Click it, or use Alt+V. The drawer does not need to be open to paste.

Export an image of the drawer

Handy for posters, renders or your own README. Right-click on empty space in the drawer:

• Export image (transparent PNG): the drawer is captured on black, then on white, and the opacity of each pixel is computed from the difference. Rounded corners and shadow come out clean, with no cutting out needed. It takes a few seconds to process.
• Export image (green background): the drawer on pure green (0, 255, 0), to key out with a chroma key.

The image is saved to your Pictures folder and the file manager opens on it. Floating widgets (Copy / Paste buttons, notifications, hint pill) are hidden during the capture.

Customization

Appearance settings are constants at the top of drawer.gd:

Constant	Purpose	Default
HEIGHT_RATIO	Default height (share of the editor window)	0.19
MIN_HEIGHT	Minimum height (px)	140
SIDE_GAP	Space on each side (px)	40
BOTTOM_GAP	Space below the drawer (px)	10
MAX_WIDTH	Maximum width (px)	2200
ANIM_TIME	Animation duration (s)	0.2
SHOW_HINT	"Asset Drawer Ctrl+Space" pill at the bottom of the editor	true
MAX_ITEMS	Maximum displayed items	3000
SEARCH_DELAY	Search debounce (s)	0.18
STICKY_MAX	Maximum pinned parent folders in the tree	3

Colors (COLOR_*, TEXT_*) and the folder palette (FOLDER_COLORS) are in the same file.

Configuration files

• The drawer state (current folder, height, view, zoom, pinning, favorites, recents, sets) is saved in res://.godot/asset_drawer.cfg. The .godot/ folder is ignored by Git by default.
• Folder colors are stored by Godot in project.godot, under file_customization/folder_colors.

Troubleshooting

Thumbnails don't show up: wait for the project import to finish, then right-click on empty space → Refresh.

Ctrl+Space does nothing: check that the plugin is enabled and that the shortcut isn't already taken by your system (some operating systems use it to switch keyboard language). The toolbar button and the Project → Tools menu work in any case.

A folder color doesn't show: colors come from the FileSystem dock. Set it there, or through the drawer's right-click menu, and it will be visible everywhere.

An error at startup: disable then re-enable the plugin, and check that the three files are present in res://addons/asset_drawer/.