Copy Scene Tree

Ever tried to describe your Godot scene structure in a GitHub issue, a bug report, or an AI chat — and ended up typing it out by hand? This plugin fixes that.

Copy Scene Tree is a Godot 4.x editor plugin that lets you export any selected node's hierarchy as clean, readable text directly to your clipboard. Use the keyboard shortcut for instant copying, or open the export dialog to fine-tune exactly what gets included.

It is especially useful when asking AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini for help with your Godot project. Instead of describing your scene in prose, you can paste the exact structure and get answers grounded in your actual setup.

---

Features

• Keyboard shortcut — copy instantly with Alt+Shift+C, no dialog needed
• Configurable export dialog — choose exactly what gets included before copying
• Export options: Node Names, Node Types, Attached Scripts, Groups, Node Paths, Owner, Scene File, Unique Name
• Output formats: ASCII Tree (default), Plain Text, Markdown
• Native toast notification — a built-in editor notification confirms every successful copy
• Settings are automatically remembered across restarts and project switches
• Reset Defaults button to restore the original configuration in one click
• Copies directly to the system clipboard
• Editor-only addon with no runtime footprint in exported games

---

Perfect For

• AI assistants — paste your scene into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and get precise, context-aware answers
• Bug reports — show exactly what your scene looks like without screenshots
• GitHub discussions — share hierarchy in issues or pull request descriptions
• Team collaboration — communicate scene structure clearly across your team
• Project documentation — drop accurate scene snapshots into wikis or design docs

---

Demo

See the plugin in action below: selecting a node, pressing the keyboard shortcut, and pasting the resulting hierarchy into a text editor.

---

Repository Layout

addons/
└── copy_scene_tree/
    ├── plugin.cfg
    ├── plugin.gd
    ├── export_options.gd
    ├── export_options_dialog.gd
    ├── scene_tree_formatter.gd
    ├── settings_manager.gd
    ├── icon.svg
    ├── icon.png
    ├── README.md
    └── LICENSE

Only the addons/ folder is included in Asset Library downloads. The repository root contains project metadata, documentation, and the demo GIF.

---

Installation

From the Godot Asset Library

Search for Copy Scene Tree in the Godot Asset Library and click Install.

Manual Installation

1. Copy the addons/copy_scene_tree/ folder into your project's addons/ directory.
2. Open your project in Godot 4.x.
3. Go to Project → Project Settings → Plugins.
4. Find Copy Scene Tree and set its status to Enabled.

---

Usage

There are two ways to copy your scene tree:

Quick copy (keyboard shortcut)

1. Select any node in the Scene dock.
2. Press Alt+Shift+C.
3. The hierarchy is copied to your clipboard using your last saved settings.
4. A native editor notification confirms the copy.

With export options (menu)

1. Select any node in the Scene dock.
2. Go to Project → Tools → Copy Scene Tree.
3. The export dialog opens. Choose which information to include and the output format.
4. Click Copy.

Your selections are saved automatically. Use Reset Defaults to restore the original configuration at any time.

Changing the shortcut

Go to Editor → Editor Settings → Shortcuts and search for copy_scene_tree. Double-click the entry to assign a different key combination.

Why not the right-click context menu? Godot 4.x does not expose a public API for injecting items into the Scene dock's right-click PopupMenu. Doing so requires scanning internal editor nodes, which is fragile across engine versions. The Project → Tools menu is the stable, officially supported location for editor plugin actions.

---

Output Examples

ASCII Tree (default)

Player (CharacterBody2D) [player.gd]
├── CollisionShape2D (CollisionShape2D)
├── AnimatedSprite2D (AnimatedSprite2D)
├── AnimationPlayer (AnimationPlayer)
└── Camera2D (Camera2D) [camera_controller.gd]

Deeper nesting is handled correctly at any level:

Root (Node2D) [main.gd]
├── HUD (CanvasLayer)
│   ├── HealthBar (ProgressBar)
│   └── ScoreLabel (Label)
└── World (Node2D)
    ├── Player (CharacterBody2D) [player.gd]
    └── Enemies (Node2D) [enemy_manager.gd]

Plain Text

Root (Node2D) [main.gd]
  HUD (CanvasLayer)
    HealthBar (ProgressBar)
    ScoreLabel (Label)
  World (Node2D)
    Player (CharacterBody2D) [player.gd]
    Enemies (Node2D) [enemy_manager.gd]

Markdown

```
Root (Node2D) [main.gd]
  - HUD (CanvasLayer)
    - HealthBar (ProgressBar)
    - ScoreLabel (Label)
  - World (Node2D)
    - Player (CharacterBody2D) [player.gd]
    - Enemies (Node2D) [enemy_manager.gd]
```

Script filenames are shown only when a script is attached. Scripts embedded directly in the scene rather than saved as .gd files show [Built-in Script].

---

Export Options Reference

Option	Default	Description
Node Names	✓	The name of each node as shown in the Scene dock
Node Types	✓	The built-in Godot class name, e.g. CharacterBody2D
Attached Scripts	✓	Filename of any attached script, e.g. [player.gd]
Groups	✗	All groups the node belongs to
Node Paths	✗	Path relative to the exported root
Owner	✗	The node's owner name
Scene File	✗	Source .tscn filename for instanced scene roots
Unique Name	✗	Prefixes the name with % when a unique name is assigned

---

Architecture

The addon is split into focused, single-responsibility scripts:

File	Responsibility
plugin.gd	EditorPlugin entry point, menu registration, shortcut handling, dialog lifecycle
export_options_dialog.gd	Dialog UI, reads/writes controls, emits copy_requested
export_options.gd	Plain data class carrying all selected options
scene_tree_formatter.gd	Pure formatter — format_tree(root, options) → String
settings_manager.gd	Loads and saves options via EditorSettings

Adding a New Output Format

1. Add an entry to the Format enum in export_options.gd.
2. Add a radio button for it in export_options_dialog.gd.
3. Add a _build_* function and a match branch in scene_tree_formatter.gd.

Adding a New Export Option

1. Add a bool property to export_options.gd.
2. Add a checkbox in export_options_dialog.gd.
3. Add a setting key and load/save lines in settings_manager.gd.
4. Handle the option in _format_node() in scene_tree_formatter.gd.

---

Compatibility

Godot version	Status
4.x (4.0 and newer)	Supported
3.x	Not supported

---

Author

Created by Creative-banda.

---

License

MIT — see LICENSE.