Tools are the primary way you interact with content in the Document panel. They are accessed from the tool shelf — the narrow vertical bar on the left side of the viewport — and are divided into three groups based on the kind of work they perform: General tools for selection and navigation, Vector tools for drawing scalable shapes and paths, and Raster tools for pixel-based painting.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.
General Tools
General tools have gray icons and handle canvas navigation and layer manipulation tasks that apply regardless of content type.| Tool | Shortcut | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Select | V | Select, move, rotate, scale, and transform layers using a bounding-box cage |
| Navigate | Z | Pan, zoom, and tilt the viewport without modifying any content |
| Artboard | (none) | Draw and manage artboards that define the export canvas boundaries |
Vector Tools
Vector tools have blue icons and are used for creating and editing scalable vector content. Drawing with these tools produces resolution-independent paths and shapes.| Tool | Shortcut | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Pen | P | Draw Bézier paths by clicking to place anchor points; drag to add smooth curve handles |
| Path | A | Edit existing vector paths by selecting and moving anchor points and control handles |
| Shape (Rectangle) | M | Draw rectangles; hold Shift to constrain to a square |
| Shape (Ellipse) | E | Draw ellipses; hold Shift to constrain to a circle |
| Shape (Polygon/Star/etc.) | Y | Draw polygons, stars, arcs, spirals, grids, arrows, and lines |
| Shape (Line) | L | Draw straight lines with configurable angle snapping |
| Spline | (none) | Draw smooth curves that automatically pass through every clicked point |
| Freehand | N | Draw free-form polylines by click-dragging across the canvas |
| Fill | F | Flood-fill a closed shape with the current primary working color |
| Gradient | H | Drag across a shape to apply a linear or radial gradient |
| Eyedropper | I | Sample any color from the canvas to set it as the primary or secondary working color |
| Text | T | Click to place a text layer; type to add text content |
Raster Tools
Raster tools have orange icons and work with pixel-based content. Only the Brush tool currently has functional behavior; the remaining orange tool icons in the shelf are placeholders reserved for future pixel editing tools.| Tool | Shortcut | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Brush | B | Paint pixel strokes onto a raster layer with configurable diameter, hardness, flow, and more |
Most raster tool icons in the tool shelf are placeholders for tools that are planned but not yet implemented. Only the Brush tool provides any active functionality, and even it is a prototype subject to known bugs and performance issues. See the Raster Drawing page for details.
Explore the Tool Groups
Select & Transform
Navigate the viewport and select, move, rotate, and scale layers with the General tools.
Vector Drawing
Draw and edit scalable vector paths, shapes, text, fills, and gradients with the blue Vector tools.
Raster Drawing
Paint pixel strokes with the Brush tool and learn about upcoming raster capabilities.
Document Panel
Learn how the tool shelf, control bar, and viewport fit together in the Document panel.