The Layers panel occupies the lower-right corner of the workspace and shows the complete structure of the active document — artboards, layers, and group folders — arranged in a list running from bottom to top. The topmost item in the list renders in front of all others; the bottommost renders behind everything. This panel is one of two ways to work with the document structure, the other being the node graph overlay in the Document panel. Both views reflect the same underlying data: any change made in the Layers panel is immediately visible in the node graph, and vice versa.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/GraphiteEditor/Graphite/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Control Bar
A control bar runs along the top of the Layers panel. It contains the following controls:- Blend mode dropdown — sets the blending mode for the selected layer(s), determining how they composite with the layers beneath them. Common modes include Normal, Multiply, Screen, Overlay, and more.
- Opacity slider — sets the overall opacity (0–100%) of the selected layer(s). A value of 100% means fully opaque; 0% means fully transparent.
- Add folder button — creates a new empty group folder directly above the selected layer, or at the top of the layer stack if nothing is selected.
- Delete selected layers button — removes all currently selected layers and folders from the document.
Blend Modes and Opacity
Blend modes control how a layer’s pixels or vector content composites onto the layers rendered beneath it. Setting a blend mode other than Normal causes the layer’s color values to interact mathematically with the colors of the layers below, producing effects such as darkening (Multiply), lightening (Screen), or contrast enhancement (Overlay). Opacity applies on top of any blend mode and scales the overall contribution of the layer uniformly. A layer at 50% opacity blends at half strength regardless of its blend mode.Layer List
Each row in the layer list represents one layer, artboard, or group folder. From left to right, a row contains:- Visibility (eye) icon — click to toggle whether the layer is included in the rendered output. A hidden layer is grayed out in the list.
- Lock icon — click to toggle whether tools in the viewport can select the layer. A locked layer cannot be picked or transformed interactively, though it is still visible and can be selected in the Layers panel itself.
- Thumbnail — a small preview of the layer’s content, updated as you edit.
- Layer name — the human-readable identifier for the layer. Double-click the name to rename it.
Selection
Click a layer row to select it and make it the active layer. The selected layer is highlighted. You can select multiple layers using modifier keys:- Shift + click — selects a contiguous range from the previously selected layer to the clicked layer.
- Ctrl + click — adds or removes an individual layer from the current selection without affecting other selected layers.
Reordering
Layers can be reordered by dragging a row up or down in the list. As you drag, a drop indicator shows where the layer will land when you release. The visual stacking order in the viewport updates immediately to reflect the new order. To nest a layer inside a group folder, drag it onto the folder row and release when the folder is highlighted. The layer becomes a child of that group and is indented in the list beneath the folder. You can also reorder layers using the Layer → Arrange submenu actions: Raise to Front, Raise, Lower, and Lower to Back.Groups and Folders
Groups (also called folders) allow you to organize layers into a hierarchy and treat a collection of layers as a single unit. To group the selected layers, use Layer → Group from the menu bar. The selected layers are moved into a newly created folder in their original position in the stack. To dissolve a group, select the folder and use Layer → Ungroup. The folder is removed and its child layers are moved up one level in the hierarchy at the same position. Groups also serve a compositing function: layers within a group composite among themselves first, and the result of that group is then composited into the parent stack. This makes groups useful for applying a single blend mode or opacity to an entire set of layers at once by setting those values on the group folder itself.In the node graph, a group folder appears as a Layer node whose left-side input connector feeds from a nested layer stack. The Layers panel abstracts this wiring into the familiar folder metaphor.
Visibility and Lock
Visibility (the eye icon) controls whether a layer contributes to the rendered output. Hiding a layer is non-destructive — the layer and all its content are preserved; it is simply excluded from rendering until made visible again. You can also toggle visibility of selected layers via Layer → Hide/Show in the menu bar, or with its keyboard shortcut. Lock (the lock icon) prevents a layer from being selected by tools interacting with the viewport. This is useful when you want to protect finished elements from accidental edits while continuing to work on other parts of the document. Locked layers can still be selected by clicking them in the Layers panel, and their visibility can still be toggled. Toggle the lock state via Layer → Lock/Unlock in the menu bar.Hiding a layer in the Layers panel is equivalent to toggling the Make Hidden / Make Visible button in the node graph’s control bar when that layer’s node is selected. The layer’s visibility state is stored as a property of its node.