docs: add editor contributor documentation#3137
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xen2 merged 9 commits intostride3d:masterfrom Apr 16, 2026
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PR Details
Add in-repo technical documentation covering Stride's editor framework for engine contributors and maintainers.
Three new files and one extended file under
docs/editor/:README.md— extended hub:## Projectssection, decision tree expanded to 7 branches (covering undo/redo, dirty tracking, Quantum feeding, selection history, custom editors, and existing editor navigation), spoke-file map updated with 3 new entriesprojects.md— complete project map forsources/presentation/andsources/editor/: 9 assemblies with WPF coupling status, the WPF boundary rule, and where to place new ViewModel/View codecustom-editor.md— full guide for writing a new custom asset editor: base class selection table (AssetEditorViewModel/GameEditorViewModel/AssetCompositeHierarchyEditorViewModel), generic registration attributes, 5-stage lifecycle,IEditorViewtemplate withTaskCompletionSource, services table, and MVVM patterns (MemberGraphNodeBinding<T>, manual transactions,AnonymousTaskCommand)editors.md— catalogue of all 8 existing editors: SpriteSheet, Scene, Prefab, UIPage, UILibrary, GraphicsCompositor, Script, VisualScript — each with a purpose paragraph, key-types table, and notable implementation details; plus a shared game-editor infrastructure section coveringGameEditorViewModel,IEditorGameController, and the game-thread → UI-thread dispatch patternCross-references to
docs/asset-system/(#3121) anddocs/quantum/(#3136) are included where the systems meet (e.g.MemberGraphNodeBinding<T>links toasset-graph.md; the base-class decision tree links to the asset-system editor tier guide).Note: Anthropic's Claude contributed to writing the doc.
Motivation
The editor framework —
AssetEditorViewModel,GameEditorViewModel,AssetCompositeHierarchyEditorViewModel, the registration attributes, and the lifecycle contract — is one of the harder parts of the codebase to navigate without a guide. Contributors adding a new asset type (following #3121) need to know which base class to pick, how registration works, and what theInitialize/PreviewClose/Destroycontract requires. Contributors modifying an existing editor (Scene, Prefab, UI) need to know where the code lives and how the shared infrastructure relates to the concrete subclasses.Keeping it in-repo (following the precedent set in #3121 and #3136) means it stays versioned alongside the code, is immediately discoverable when browsing the source, and is available to AI agents without any extra context setup.
Types of changes
Checklist