vangel76andClaude Opus 5.5
e29f34029c
Problem: ExtendScript's preprocessor directives weren't understood, so a script (or ScriptUI panel, or library such as DuAEF) failed to parse at its first `#include`; `#target` / `#targetengine` / `#strict` lines broke parsing too. Fix: before a script runs, `include::expand` inlines `#include "f"` and `//@include "f"` in place of the line, resolved against the including file's folder, then the folders of the latest `#includepath "a;b"`. Each file is inlined once (which also breaks cycles), nesting is limited to 32, files are capped at 16 MiB (64 MiB in all), and reads follow the scripts' file gate (the script's own folder, the project's folder, or anywhere with Allow Scripts to Write Files). `#target`, `#targetengine`, `#strict`, `#script` and `#engine` are dropped. Errors in the expanded code are mapped back to the included file and its line. Scripts without directives run unchanged. File resolution, the gate and the limits live in `scriptfile.rs` for `$.evalFile` (#760) to share. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>
3.9 KiB
Expressions and scripting parity
Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-10-10 · Change: major (first expressions and scripting checklist against After Effects 2026 26.5) · Target: Adobe After Effects 2026
Expressions and ExtendScript are how After Effects work is automated and how much of it is
built: rigs, templates, studio pipelines. They are also what carries over from After Effects
today, while .aep projects can't. Architecture: architecture.md §5 and §5a;
extension points: plugins.md; overall numbers:
target-app-parity.md.
Breadth ≈ 93%, ready ≈ 65% (estimated). The object models are written from Adobe's public Expression Language Reference and Scripting Guide (behaviour only, AGENTS.md §2) and tested with our own scripts; no real-world script library has been run against both apps.
| Feature | After Effects 2026 | EffectCraft | Status | Evidence / gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expression language | JavaScript engine (default) and Legacy ExtendScript | JavaScript (boa) with legacy array maths (value + [10, 0]) |
good | crates/expr tests; no separate Legacy ExtendScript engine mode |
| Expression object model | thisComp, thisLayer, wiggle, loopOut, valueAtTime, sampleImage, footage(), text style API… |
Same members, from the reference | good | crates/expr/src/tests.rs; behaviour of edge cases unmeasured (G1) |
| Expression editing | Inline field, error bar, pick whip, Expression Language menu, external editors | Inline field that grows, error bar, pick whips (property and value), language menu | partial | External editor support (#364) |
| Expression performance | Cached, multi-frame | Per-thread boa contexts | unknown | No benchmark |
| Scripting object model | app, Project, items, layers, properties, keys, eases, render queue, TextDocument, Shape, markers, File/Folder, Socket, app.settings |
Same classes, edits run through undoable engine commands; match names table | good | crates/script tests (≈ 10 test files) |
| ScriptUI | Dialogs, palettes, dockable panels, resource strings, onDraw / ScriptUIGraphics |
Same, dockable panels reopen at launch | good | ui_scriptui, tests_ui* |
| Scripts menu, ScriptUI Panels folder | yes | yes | same | plugins.md |
| Startup / Shutdown folders | yes | not run | missing | plugins.md |
#include, #target directives |
yes | #include / //@include / #includepath inline files relative to the including script (once each, nested at most 32 deep, under the scripts' file gate; errors name the included file and line); #target, #targetengine, #strict are ignored |
good | tests_include.rs (#759); installed scripts and panels have no folder of their own, so they include from the project's folder or absolute paths |
.jsxbin |
yes | no | out of scope | No public specification |
| Keyboard shortcuts for scripts | yes | no | missing | plugins.md |
Command-line rendering aerender |
yes | effectcraft-cli render, script, exec |
same purpose | apps/effectcraft-cli |
| Essential Graphics scripting hooks | addToMotionGraphicsTemplate… |
yes (M13.7) | good | — |
| Agent control (MCP, control channel, every command) | none | yes | beyond | agents.md, control-protocol.md; list_effects omits parameter types and ranges (#441) |
| Real-world script corpus | — | none run | gap | Run popular free scripts (the 11 sample scripts After Effects ships are a good start, run as behaviour tests, never copied) |
Estimate
≈ 20–40 h: #include / #target and Startup / Shutdown folders 4–8 h, script shortcuts 2–4 h,
a corpus of public scripts and expressions with the fixes it finds 10–20 h, an expression
performance benchmark 4–8 h.
Revision history
| Date | Change | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-10 | major | First expressions and scripting checklist |