Browse your .toe files and open them in the TouchDesigner build they were saved with. Keep track of running sessions, find components, and save or restart a project from the same window.
Project gallery, running sessions and component palette. Demo data; the TouchDesigner window is a mockup. Explore the app in your browser.
Start with your recent projects
The Recent tab reads TouchDesigner's recent list and adds anything you open through the launcher.
Install — grab the installer for your platform below
Set it up — the wizard covers .toe file association, the companion TOX and tray behavior. Reopen it from Help anytime
Pick a project — see the TD build recorded in the file
Missing that build? TDXLU offers the matching Derivative download and runs the installer for you
Launch — or just double-click .toe files in your file manager once the association is set
The tabs
RecentMerged TD + launcher recents; version panel, tags, per-project README, media browser
CurrentTouchDesigner sessions running right now — including ones opened outside the launcher
TemplatesStarter .toe files, reorderable, with a default TD version for the whole tab
PaletteDerivative palette + custom folders, with a pinned favorites Toolbox on top; drag straight into TD
PatreonBrowse .tox components from creators you back or merely follow, and load one into a running session
Companion TOX
Drive the running session from the launcher
Add the bundled .tox to your project to save from the launcher, capture thumbnails and preview clips, and load components into the running network.
Include it in your TouchDesigner startup file for new projects. For existing projects, drag it in once. The Companion bar has instructions for both.
This node in your project's root network is the whole install. Bundled with the installer — one click in the setup wizard puts it in your palette.
QUICK LAUNCH
Find a project without switching windows
Press the global hotkey — TD fullscreen included — and a small search box appears over
whatever you're doing. Type a few letters, hit Enter: projects launch with
the right build, running sessions focus, components place into the live session — or drag
the row straight into a TouchDesigner network.
>verb-first commands per session — Focus, Save, Thumbnail, Preview video, Relaunch, Kill. Destructive ones arm on the first Enter and fire on the second, never on one keypress.
?tool commands — actions the components inside a running project publish for themselves. Type the arguments inline: ? rec 2 and it's already recording.
=components only — your whole .tox library in one list.
/browse a palette folder, Toolbox category or your Patreon cache.
#filter by project tag — running sessions keep their tags, so a live show still surfaces.
AuroraSetrunning · 2025.30060 · pid 18244 — Enter focuses
session
AudioReactiveProjects/AudioReactive · rnd audio
project
AudioReactive_StarterTemplates
template
Audio · Set BPMbpm 128resyncSet the project tempo · 2 sessions
tool
Kill AuroraSetTerminate the TD process
command
Recreated for this page — the real overlay is one click away in the browser demo.
Features
All of it free — no account, no licence key.
Launching
Find the project, get the build it needs, go.
Merged recentsTD's own recent list and the launcher's history in one place — nothing to import.
Build detectionReads the exact TD build a .toe was saved with, straight from the file.
Version installIf the required build isn't installed, offers the matching Derivative download and runs the installer.
Gallery & list viewsIcon/hero grid by default — tiles with a preview clip play it on hover. Classic list one toggle away.
TemplatesStarter .toe files, reorderable, with a default TD version for the whole tab.
.toe associationDouble-click a project in your file manager and it routes through the launcher — with a countdown any key cancels.
Missing-build fallbackA double-clicked project whose exact build you don't have doesn't dead-end: choose once — latest, closest, a build you pin, or always ask — and it's remembered.
Summon anywhereThe main global hotkey raises the launcher window from anywhere; a second opens this small search box over whatever you're doing — type a few letters, hit Enter. A third raises the main window on the Palette tab; bind whichever combos you want, each on or off on its own.
Everything in one listProjects launch with the right build, running sessions focus, palette / Toolbox / Patreon components place into the live session, templates start new projects.
Commands> shows verb-first commands per session — Focus, Save, Thumbnail, Preview video, Relaunch, Kill, plus a new project from your default template. Destructive ones always ask for a second Enter.
Tool commandsComponents in a running project publish their own actions — ? lists them. Arguments render as chips and can be typed inline (? rec 2) or filled through a short prompt. Same command in several sessions? One row with a count, run against the session you were just in.
Query historyExecuted queries are remembered and cycle with Alt+↑ / Alt+↓, shell style — the thing you run before every show is two keystrokes away.
Field filters/folder browses a palette folder, Toolbox category or your Patreon cache, grouped under headers; #tag filters by project tag — mixed freely with search words.
Drag outAny .tox row drags straight into a TouchDesigner network — the palette waits for the drop, then gets out of the way.
One-tap pairingTap 📱, scan a QR, done — LAN access flips on and the remote opens on your phone (same Wi-Fi). Add it to the home screen; the pairing survives restarts.
Sessions as tabsEvery session — live or ended — is a tab: facts, heartbeat status, live perf readout, and Focus / Relaunch / Kill / Dismiss. Ended sessions relaunch with one tap.
Hold-to-confirmKill and Relaunch arm on press-and-hold with a filling bar and a haptic buzz — release early to cancel. Nothing destructive fires from a stray tap.
Straight into a session SoonA session running FNS_Remote gets an Open remote button on its tab: one tap and you are on that session's own page, served by TouchDesigner itself. Exposed parameters, the touch pad and save live there — so they keep working with the launcher closed.
Multi-touch surface SoonEvery finger as CHOP channels — x, y, force and active per slot, plus touch count and a connected-phone table — comes from FNS_Remote, which serves the phone from inside TouchDesigner. Several phones at once, and it runs with the launcher closed.
Client link SoonHand a client or operator the reduced page: only the controls you exposed — no session actions, no launching, no browsing. Enforced by the server, not hidden in the page. It is FNS_Remote's own link, and the fleet page hands it out per session.
Yours to runStart, stop, change the port (rebinds live), or regenerate the pairing code to cut off every shared link — all from Settings.
Projects & metadata
Everything the launcher knows lives next to the .toe — no database.
Project versionsName.2.toe increments, Backup/ saves and crash autosaves fold into one card. A versions drawer launches any copy, restores one as the head (the old head is preserved, never overwritten), or prunes to the recycle bin.
TagsHierarchical with / (e.g. show/live); filter and edit from the toolbar.
Per-project READMEShown and edited in-app — notes travel with the project.
Project mediaAuto-scans a media folder beside the .toe; fullscreen browse, videos stream on hover.
Sidecar metadataOne {stem}.tdxlu.json per project — title, description, tags, hero image. Plain JSON, yours to edit.
Running sessions
Inspect and control running TouchDesigner processes.
Session discoveryFinds every running TD process — including projects opened outside the launcher. Shows version, PID, uptime.
Session controlFocus the TD window, reveal the .toe, relaunch with a different version, or kill the process.
Status at a glanceA dot on every session: running, not responding (its companion stopped pulsing, so TD is frozen or busy), or ended. Ended sessions wait below an Ended divider and relaunch in one click.
Heartbeat watchdogTray watchdog on TCP pulses from the companion; multi-project, SMTP alerts on stall or relaunch.
Displays & GPUMulti-GPU machines: bind a project's TD process to one card at launch, and place its windows on the right displays through the companion. Both saved with the project.
Tray & loginClose-to-tray, quit-after-launch, start at login (minimized to the tray) — all Settings toggles.
Companion actions
What the companion TOX unlocks on a selected running session — plus whatever your installed FNSTools packages add to it.
Save, thumbnail, preview videoSave the .toe in place; capture a thumbnail or a preview clip (up to 30s) — the gallery picks them up automatically.
Autosave, via FNS_AutosaveTouchDesigner has none — the free FNSTools package FNS_Autosave adds one. Arm a timer inside the session, pick whether a save follows your increment/backup preferences or overwrites the open .toe, and skip saves when nothing changed or while you're in Perform Mode. Install it and it appears in the session view; it also runs with the launcher closed.
Collect, via FNS_Collect SoonScan for external media refs, copy them into the project, relink relative — dry-run checklist first, per-file opt-out, expression refs frozen to constant paths (or not, your call). An FNSTools package: install FNS_Collect and it appears in the session view. Works standalone inside TD, no launcher needed.
Media browser, via FNS_MediaBrowser SoonEvery movie, image, audio and geometry file the running project references — live preview, file facts (resolution, duration, fps, audio), Replace on any reference, Locate missing to batch-relink a moved folder, an Unused scan for dead weight, and timeline sync to a clip. An FNSTools package (FNS_MediaBrowser) with its own panel inside TD.
Load componentsSend a .tox into the network editor — from a local file, any URL, a GitHub release, or a package index.
Python envPackage installs go into the project's .venv, with uv when it's on the machine and the env's own pip otherwise; Set up Python env creates one via TDPyEnvManager in one click.
In-place utility updatesWhen a session runs an older companion, one click updates it live — parameter values survive the reload.
Embody / Envoy awareProjects built with the optional Embody/Envoy toolkit get an Envoy panel — bridge status, .mcp.json, port — and a last-resort transport for companion actions. Never required.
Palette & Toolbox
Your components, one drag from any network.
Palette browserDocuments/Derivative/Palette plus any custom folders — drag a .tox straight into a TD network.
ToolboxA pinned favorites shelf in categories you define. Lives in the launcher config, so it's the same set no matter which folders are scanned.
Tools from anywherePin local paths, direct URLs, or owner/repo GitHub releases — ⟳ re-fetches, so a GitHub tool tracks its latest release. Package specs too.
Load into sessionA target bar names the running session with the companion — send any .tox into its network editor without dragging.
Drop to pinDrop a .tox from Explorer or the palette tree onto the Toolbox — onto a category row to pin it there.
FNSTools
The FNSTools toolkit, browsable and installable without leaving the launcher — and where the launcher’s optional capabilities come from. Its Plus packages come with a Patreon membership. About the toolkit →
Launcher capabilitiesSome packages announce their commands to the running session, and the launcher renders them right in the Sessions view and its context menu — FNS_Autosave (free) brings autosave today; FNS_Collect, FNS_MediaBrowser and FNS_Remote — collect, the media browser and phone control — are coming soon. Each is a complete TouchDesigner tool in its own right: it works with the launcher closed, and lights up the session view when both are installed.
The storeThe current release by category, with descriptions, versions and docs links. What a session already has is pre-checked, with installed and 1.1.0 → 1.2.0 badges.
Install without TouchDesignerTick tools and stock them locally — verified downloads, no session needed. Or install straight into a running project over the companion bus, bootstrap included if the project has no toolkit yet.
The selection is the tool setInstalling makes the project match what you ticked, so unticking removes. The confirm step lists the adds and the removals before anything happens.
Global configuratorEvery tool's settings, edited from the launcher — with real menus, ranges and validation when a session is live, or straight into the config file when nothing is running.
Palette shelfEvery package also appears as a standalone component beside the Toolbox — drag one into a network, or place it into a session.
Palette tabs inside TouchDesigner
The launcher's Palette, Patreon and Commands tabs, live inside TD's Palette Browser.
Web panel in the Palette BrowserWith the companion (v0.21.0+) loaded, TouchDesigner's Palette Browser gains TDXLU and Patreon tabs next to the stock palette — served by the launcher on localhost, token-gated, the Patreon cookie never leaves the launcher.
TDXLU tab: Toolbox and FNS shelfYour pinned tools and the FNSTools packages, browsable and drag-ready in one place — same as the desktop Palette tab, but narrower for the dialog.
Commands sub-tabEvery command your tools announced to FNS_CommandRegistry — the same list the quick-launch ? prefix shows, with inline argument prompts, run straight in that session.
Click to placeEvery component row has a ↳ button that places it straight into the session's network editor — no drag needed (the panel is a texture). Same load_tox path the desktop Palette tab uses.
Pin selected COMPSelect a COMP in the network editor and click Pin selected COMP: it's saved as a .tox into your TouchDesigner palette's TDXLU Toolbox folder and pinned as a Toolbox tool. Never overwrites the same file twice.
Session barSave, Thumbnail and Preview video buttons, plus an Autosave chip once FNS_Autosave is installed — and an optional health line (fps · cook ms · drops · GPU) when the launcher's Performance monitor is on.
Session sub-tabThe session’s tools in a list with live summaries: Git (branch, changes, commit), Backup (what would copy, back up now), Phone Remote (QR code, one-click on, expose COMPs) and Windows (focus, minimize, restore, manage layout). Each opens full-height with a back crumb.
Command favouritesPin commands from the quick-launch, Settings, or the Commands tab; favourites sort first everywhere and travel with settings export/import.
Git & backup
Side panels for keeping projects safe — versioned or copied.
Git panelChanges and history, diffs, stage/commit, branch, pull/push — with your installed Git's credentials, or an optional GitHub token in Settings. Creating a repo seeds a TouchDesigner .gitignore, so Backup/, increments and crash autosaves stay out of the first commit.
Backup panelProject folder ↔ USB or synced folder; include/exclude globs and a max file size; backup, restore, sync — no deletes, ever.
Direct cloudConnect Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box: a one-time rclone download, sign in via your browser, then it's a backup destination.
Getting oriented
Setup, shortcuts and in-app help.
First-run tourA spotlight walkthrough that drives the app as it talks — switching tabs, narrating what lives where. Replay it from Help ▾ anytime.
First-encounter tipsThe first time you open a tab or panel, a small non-blocking bubble explains it. Once each, ever.
Setup wizardTheme, view mode, .toe association, companion install, tray behavior — right after the tour, rerunnable from Help.
Self-updatingA quiet check once a day, never while a TouchDesigner session is running, plus Help ▾ → About & updates; a found update waits in the header’s Update chip and offers Install & Relaunch. Skip a version to dismiss it for good, or turn the daily check off — Settings lists what you skipped.
Settings, pagedEight categories in a sidebar and a search box that finds a setting by the name of its control — every "open Settings" button lands on the section it means.
Rebindable keysLaunching the startup file, the view toggles, folder reveal and the README keys are yours to change — each with Reset, plus Reset all to defaults.
Download
Grab the installer for your platform. It's free — no account, no licence key.
The app checks for updates once a day, never while a TouchDesigner session is running. You can skip individual releases or turn the check off in Settings.
