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Automating the O3DE Editor with the Python Editor Bindings gem

Some tasks in the O3DE Editor are tedious or could easily be automated, and to support that, O3DE has support for scripting the editor through Python bindings to the underlying editor implementation. These bindings are enabled with the PythonEditorBindings gem, and interacted with through a Python 3 library embedded within the editor. You can access a Python REPL through an in-editor console, or launch the editor with an argument that loads and runs a Python script on boot.

Enable editor automation

Editor automation is enabled by selecting the PythonEditorBindings gem for your project, and then rebuilding the editor. No specific configuration (debug, profile, release) is required to enable the Python bindings. Because the bindings are enabled through a gem that you select for your project, you’ll need to make sure that this gem is enabled for all projects that you intend to use automation with.

Use editor automation

The easiest way to get started with editor automation is to use the REPL that’s available from within the O3DE Editor and try out some commands. Open this REPL by selecting Tools > Other > Python Console. The Python console opens in a new editor view, which gives you access to a console that displays output from Python, the REPL input, and a full reference of available commands. To get access to the reference, select the ? icon in the lower-right corner of the console.

You can also access a set of available scripts, including some samples for common tasks in the editor, by selecting Tools > Other > Python Scripts. These scripts are stored in a directory depending on their scope. Scripts only for your project are stored in the Editor\Scripts directory, and scripts meant to be used along with a gem are stored at Gems\<name>\Editor\Scripts.

Editor automation is driven primarily through the event bus (EBus) system. Before working with the editor bindings, you should become familiar with the basics of EBus from Working with the Event Bus (EBus) system . To learn about some of the specific buses used by the editor automation system, take a look at the Python Editor Bindings gem examples .