Jackdaw

A 3D editor built for and with Bevy. Very early in dev, expect bugs and changes!

We have also recently refactored our UX/UI to be very similar to the official Bevy Editor Figma design, to keep things consistent. Link here

From bevy_editor_prototypes repo:

Bevy Editor Vision

Bevy Editor Architecture

Bevy Editor Roadmap

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c8f1dc66-ef32-44c6-837b-35b7eeb01e41

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/779af6e1-bd34-49f4-a3b4-ccd474ea2f76

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1e2d7cfe-601c-4af7-8dd6-a9cddc4a3c6f

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/56834720-599e-4461-b712-fff7b85fb128

Features

• Brush-based geometry draw, edit, and CSG-combine concave brushes with vertex/edge/face editing modes
• Material system VERY wip - texture browser, material definitions with ORM auto-detection, per-face application
• Terrain heightmap sculpting and texture painting, very WIP :)
• Scene serialization save/load scenes in the .bsn format with full asset references. Older .jsn scenes are migrated on open.
• Transform tools translate, rotate, scale with grid snapping and axis constraints
• Undo/redo full command history - some bugs atm with this
• Extensible register custom components, add inspector panels, integrate with your game

Usage

Install the latest release on Linux (x86-64) or macOS (Apple Silicon):

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/jbuehler23/jackdaw/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

On Windows, in PowerShell:

irm https://github.com/jbuehler23/jackdaw/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex

Or download an archive from Releases, or install with Cargo:

cargo install jackdaw jd --locked

Every way you need rustup and a C/C++ toolchain; jd doctor checks them. The installation guide covers each OS, and Troubleshooting covers common problems.

Open Jackdaw and use New Game or Import Bevy Project; the import preview shows every proposed change before applying it. The same flows are available from the terminal:

jd new my-game && jd open my-game   # create
jd import /path/to/game             # preview integration for an existing game
jd import /path/to/game --apply
jd doctor --project /path/to/game   # why isn't this working?
jd upgrade /path/to/game --apply    # after a Jackdaw update

Import adds jackdaw_runtime to your manifest and wires its plugin in, and never edits your lockfile, toolchain, or target/.

Jackdaw is a standalone editor. Game applications depend only on jackdaw_runtime. To build a custom standalone editor, depend on jackdaw_editor:

use bevy::prelude::*;
use jackdaw_editor::prelude::*;

fn main() -> AppExit {
    App::new()
        .add_plugins((
            DefaultPlugins.set(editor_window_plugin()),
            PhysicsPlugins::default(),
            JackdawEditorPlugins::default(),
        ))
        .run()
}

Runtime extensions use the focused jackdaw_extension crate and install as signed .jdext bundles. In precompiled/shared-SDK builds, install, update, disable, and uninstall take effect without restarting; superseded native mappings are reclaimed when Jackdaw exits.

To load a scene you authored into your own game, depend on jackdaw_runtime and spawn a JackdawSceneRoot:

use bevy::prelude::*;
use jackdaw_runtime::prelude::*;

fn spawn_scene(mut commands: Commands, asset_server: Res<AssetServer>) {
    commands.spawn(JackdawSceneRoot(asset_server.load("scene.bsn")));
}

See the examples for more advanced usage.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Navigation

Key	Action
RMB + Drag	Look around
WASD	Move
Q / E	Move up / down
Shift	Double speed
Scroll	Dolly forward / back
F	Focus selected

Editing

Key	Action
Esc / R / T	Translate / Rotate / Scale mode
B / C	Draw brush (add / cut)
1-4	Brush edit: Vertex / Edge / Face / Clip
Ctrl+D	Duplicate
Delete	Delete selected
Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z	Undo / Redo
Ctrl+S	Save scene

For the full shortcuts reference, see the book.

Documentation

• Book - user guide, developer guide, and reference
• Examples - runnable examples
• API Docs - rustdoc

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and PR guidelines.

License

Dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0, at your option.