The Godot Editor Tour
Every class and method is documented inside the editor: press F1, or Ctrl+Click a class name.
3.1 Layout
Scene dock Tree of nodes in the current scene; add (Ctrl+A), rename, reparent, attach scripts FileSystem dock
Browse res://; drag scenes/resources into the viewport or Inspector
Edit properties of the selected node or resource, including exported script variables
Connect signals and manage groups 2D/3D editing; Script workspace; Game workspace (4.4+, embedded running game); AssetLib Bottom panel
Output log, Debugger (errors, profiler, monitors), Audio buses, Animation editor
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Menu: Scene Project Debug Editor Help [2D] [3D] [Script] [Game] [AssetLib] ▶ ⏸ ■ │
├──────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────┤
│ Scene dock │ │ Inspector │
│ (node tree) │ Main viewport / editor │ (properties of │
├──────────────┤ │ selected node) │
│ FileSystem │ ├──────────────────┤
│ (res://) │ │ Node dock │
│ ├────────────────────────────────────┤ (Signals, Groups)│
│ │ Bottom panel: Output, Debugger, Audio, Animation, Shader Editor │
└──────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────┘3.2 Essential shortcuts (Windows/Linux; use Cmd on macOS)
Run current scene Stop running game Instance a scene as child Quick open scene / file Ctrl+Shift+O / Alt+Shift+O Go to definition
3.3 Built-in help
Every class and method is documented inside the editor: press F1, or Ctrl+Click a class name. Your own scripts get documentation pages too when you write ## doc comments (Chapter 40).
3.4 Project Settings and Editor Settings
Project → Project Settings: window size, main scene, input map, autoloads (Globals), layer names, physics, rendering. Saved in project.godot.
Editor → Editor Settings: editor theme, fonts, text editor behavior, external editor. Saved per user.
Enable *Advanced Settings* in Project Settings to see every option.