Shaders

Create VisualShader node graphs and set shader uniform values on materials.

Director provides one operation for shaders: visual_shader_create. To set shader uniform values on a ShaderMaterial node, use node_set_properties with the shader_parameters dictionary.

Operations

visual_shader_create

Create a new VisualShader resource (node-graph based shader).

{
  "op": "visual_shader_create",
  "project_path": "/home/user/my-game",
  "save_path": "assets/shaders/lava_effect.tres",
  "shader_mode": "spatial"
}

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
connections	object[]	optional default: []	Connections between nodes. Each connection links an output port on one node to an input port on another.
nodes	object[]	required	Nodes to add to the shader graph. The output node (ID 0) exists automatically — do not include it. Node IDs must be unique and >= 2.
project_path	string	required	Absolute path to the Godot project directory.
resource_path	string	required	Save path for the VisualShader resource (relative to project, e.g. "shaders/water.tres").
shader_mode	string	required	Shader processing mode. Valid values: "spatial" (3D), "canvas_item" (2D), "particles", "sky", "fog".

Response:

{
  "op": "visual_shader_create",
  "save_path": "assets/shaders/lava_effect.tres",
  "result": "ok"
}

After creation, assign the VisualShader to a ShaderMaterial node via node_set_properties.

Setting shader uniform values

To set uniform values on a ShaderMaterial node, use node_set_properties with the shader_parameters dictionary:

{
  "op": "node_set_properties",
  "project_path": "/home/user/my-game",
  "scene": "scenes/level_01.tscn",
  "node": "World/LavaMesh",
  "properties": {
    "shader_parameters": {
      "glow_intensity": 1.2,
      "flow_speed": 1.5,
      "water_color": [0.0, 0.3, 0.7, 0.9]
    }
  }
}

The shader_parameters property on a ShaderMaterial node holds all uniform values as a dictionary. Setting it via node_set_properties saves the values to the scene file.

Tips

Use spatial_action for live tuning. For quick iteration while the game is running, use spatial_action to set shader_parameters on a ShaderMaterial node — no restart required. Use Director when you want to save the values to the scene file.

Read current params with scene_read. Use scene_read with properties: true to read the current shader_parameters dictionary from a node before modifying it.

Texture uniforms use resource paths. Assign textures as "res://assets/textures/noise.png" in the shader_parameters dictionary — Godot resolves the resource path.