Godot UI — Quick Reference

Last verified: 2026-02-12 | Engine: Godot 4.6

What Changed Since ~4.3 (LLM Cutoff)

4.6 Changes

• Dual-focus system: Mouse/touch focus is now SEPARATE from keyboard/gamepad focus
  • Visual feedback differs by input method
  • Custom focus implementations may need updating
• TabContainer: Tab properties editable directly in Inspector
• TileMapLayer scene tile rotation: Scene tiles can be rotated like atlas tiles

4.5 Changes

• FoldableContainer: New accordion-style UI node for collapsible sections
• Recursive Control behavior: Disable mouse/focus for entire node hierarchies with a single property
• Screen reader support: Control nodes work with AccessKit
• Live translation preview: Test different locales in-editor
• RichTextLabel.push_meta: Added optional tooltip parameter (from 4.4)

4.4 Changes

• GraphEdit.connect_node: Added optional keep_alive parameter

Current API Patterns

Theme and Style (4.6)

# Editor uses new "Modern" theme by default
# For game UI, use custom themes as before:
var theme := Theme.new()
theme.set_color(&"font_color", &"Label", Color.WHITE)
theme.set_font_size(&"font_size", &"Label", 24)

Focus Management (4.6 — CHANGED)

# Keyboard/gamepad focus (grab_focus still works)
func _ready() -> void:
    %StartButton.grab_focus()

# IMPORTANT: In 4.6, mouse hover is separate from keyboard focus
# Both can be active simultaneously on different controls
# Test your UI with BOTH mouse and keyboard/gamepad

# Focus neighbors (unchanged)
%Button1.focus_neighbor_bottom = %Button2.get_path()
%Button1.focus_neighbor_right = %Button3.get_path()

FoldableContainer (4.5 — NEW)

# Accordion-style collapsible container
# Add as parent of content you want to make collapsible
# Children show/hide when header is clicked
# Configure via editor properties or code

Recursive Disable (4.5 — NEW)

# Disable all mouse/focus interactions for a hierarchy
# Useful for disabling entire menu sections
%SettingsPanel.mouse_filter = Control.MOUSE_FILTER_IGNORE
# In 4.5+, this can propagate recursively to children

Localization-Ready UI (best practice)

# Use tr() for all visible strings
label.text = tr("MENU_START_GAME")

# Use auto-wrap for labels (text length varies by language)
label.autowrap_mode = TextServer.AUTOWRAP_WORD_SMART

# Test with live translation preview in editor (4.5+)

Common Mistakes

• Assuming grab_focus() affects mouse focus (keyboard/gamepad only in 4.6)
• Not testing UI with both mouse and gamepad after upgrading to 4.6
• Hardcoding strings instead of using tr() for localization
• Not using FoldableContainer for collapsible UI (new in 4.5, cleaner than custom)