Previewing & debugging

You don’t have to save a pet and toggle it Live to see how it behaves. The editor has a built-in Debug mode that runs your graph right there, so you can watch it animate and follow the flow node by node.

The Debug Stage docked at the bottom of the editor, with the active node highlighted.

Running the preview

Click Debug in the command bar (next to Save). This compiles your current graph and runs it in place: a Debug Stage panel docks along the bottom of the editor. No separate window opens.

The stage shows the real animated pet, driven by the same runtime your live pets use, so what you see is what you’ll get.

Watching the flow

As the graph runs:

• The currently active node is highlighted on the canvas, moving from node to node as the state machine transitions. This is the fastest way to understand, or debug, what your pet is actually doing.
• The stage header shows a live readout chip with the active node’s category color, icon, and name.

Controls in the stage header:

• Restart. Replay from Start.
• Close. Stop the preview and hide the stage.

When Debug won’t start

Debug (like Save) validates the graph first. If there are errors (no Start node, an action with no sprite, a broken connection), Debug won’t run. Instead:

• the Problems drawer opens listing what’s wrong,
• the offending nodes get a red/amber outline, and
• a toast says something like “Can’t run, fix the graph errors first.”

Fix the flagged issues, then hit Debug again.

A good testing rhythm

1. Wire up a small piece of behavior (Start → an action → End).
2. Debug and watch which node lights up and how the pet animates/moves.
3. Tweak a duration or swap a sprite; Restart to see the change.
4. When it feels right, Close the stage, Save, and toggle the pet Live from the Library to see it on your real desktop.

Preview early and often, it’s much faster than saving and switching to the live pet for every change.