YAML Reference

This section documents the complete Compdown YAML schema — every property, type, and option available.

Document structure

A Compdown document has three optional top-level keys:

folders:       # Project folder structure
files:         # Imported footage and assets
compositions:  # Compositions with layers

At least one must be present.

Creation order

When Compdown processes a document, it creates items in this order:

1. Folders — Project panel folders
2. Files — Imported footage (placed in folders)
3. Compositions — Comps (placed in folders)
4. Layers — Inside each composition

This order matters because:

• Files need folders to exist first
• Compositions need folders to exist first
• Layers can reference files (via file:) or other comps (via comp:)

YAML parsing notes

Compdown handles some YAML edge cases automatically:

Null type layers

type: null  # Works as-is (normally YAML parses this as null value)

All-digit colors

color: 000000  # Works as-is (normally YAML parses this as number)

You don't need extra quotes around these values.

Schema sections

• Folders — Project folder structure
• Files — Importing footage and assets
• Compositions — Comp settings and structure
• Layers — All layer types and properties
• Transform — Position, scale, rotation, keyframes
• Effects — Applying and animating effects
• Shapes — Parametric shape layers
• Essential Graphics — MOGRT properties
• Markers — Composition markers