Core Concepts

A quick glossary of the terms used throughout Hengo and these docs.

Collection

A named group of scripts that load and compile together, the unit you open from the Dashboard. On disk it’s a collection.res manifest plus one folder per script.

Script

One Hengo script = an identity.res (its name, the base class it extends, its dependencies) + a save.res (the states, their actions and the wires between them). It compiles to a single .gd file.

Route

The canvas you’re currently editing. A script opens on its own route, showing every state, and each function and macro owns a route of its own. Clicking one in Properties goes into it, and the route bar at the bottom says where you are and takes you back out.

Flow vs data connections

Two kinds of wires on the node graph:

Flow wires (vertical) set the order actions run in.
Data wires (horizontal) pass values between typed slots, and you draw one by dragging an output onto an input.

They’re stored separately and follow type-compatibility rules (e.g. int ↔ float). Both are drawn on the canvas, which is the only graph view.

State vs function

A function is a callable sub-graph, compiled to a GDScript method, it runs when called.
A state is a mode of a state machine with Start / Every Frame / Physics / End cells and transitions, it runs while active. See The State Machine.

Macro / Action

A macro is a reusable piece of state machine, plugged into a state as a use.
An action is a pre-built step from the library, added to a state as a linear operation (Playmaker-style). Actions are built on script macros. Browse them in the Actions reference, or write your own in GDScript with Custom Actions.

Source vs build

Source = your editable .res graph data under res://hengo/collections/.
Build = the generated .gd under res://hengo/scripts/ that you attach to nodes.

See Source & Build.