Mobile Caret for Godot 4

Touch-friendly text carets and selection handles for Godot 4, in the style of Android. Drop it into your project and every LineEdit and TextEdit gets draggable handles, with no per-scene setup.

Motivation

Godot's built-in caret is a thin line that is hard to see and almost impossible to place precisely with a finger. This plugin adds large, easy-to-grab handles so editing text on a phone feels natural.

Screenshots

A caret handle under the caret in a LineEdit. Drag it to move the caret:

Two handles around a selection in a LineEdit:

A selection spanning several lines of a wrapped TextEdit:

The optional floating Cut / Copy / Paste / Select all toolbar:

Features

• Draggable caret handle: a handle appears under the caret; drag it to move the caret.
• Selection handles: when text is selected, two handles mark the start and end. Drag either one to adjust the selection, and they can cross over each other.
• Long-press to select a word.
• Smooth dragging: the handle follows your finger while the caret snaps to the nearest character. Dragging past the edge of a control scrolls it.
• Floating toolbar (optional): an Android-style Cut / Copy / Paste / Select all bar above the selection. It lives in its own folder, nothing else depends on it, and it can be switched on and off from code.
• Auto-fading caret handle: the single caret handle fades out after a few seconds of inactivity and returns when you tap or move the caret. Selection handles stay visible.
• Native caret hiding: optionally hide Godot's own thin caret while a handle is shown, or only while dragging.
• Works with what you already have: supports LineEdit, TextEdit, CodeEdit and the LineEdit inside a SpinBox (including wrapped text, scrolling, gutters, alignment, clear buttons, secret fields and different font sizes) without changing your scenes. The text control keeps focus, so the on-screen keyboard stays up while you drag.
• Right-to-left and mixed-direction text: Hebrew, Arabic and mixed text get correctly placed handles, in left-to-right and right-to-left layouts.
• Windows and SubViewports: controls in a separate Window, an embedded window or a SubViewport get their handles and toolbar inside their own viewport.
• Multiple carets: a TextEdit with several carets gets handles for every caret, each draggable on its own.
• Customizable: use your own handle texture, size and color.

Installation

1. Download the repository (or use the Asset Library) and copy addons/MobileCaret into your project's addons/ folder.
2. Open Project Settings > Plugins and enable MobileCaret. This registers two autoloads: MobileCaret (the handles) and MobileCaretToolbar (the optional toolbar).

That's it. Run your project and focus any LineEdit or TextEdit.

If you prefer not to use the plugin, add addons/MobileCaret/CaretsController/carets_controller.tscn (and, if you want the toolbar, addons/MobileCaret/Toolbar/caret_toolbar.tscn) as autoloads yourself.

An example scene is included at addons/MobileCaret/Examples/example_scene.tscn.

Usage

• Move the caret: drag the handle under the caret.
• Select text: long-press a word (or double-tap). Two handles appear; drag them to adjust the selection.
• Replace or collapse a selection: just type, or tap elsewhere, as usual.

Settings

Select the MobileCaret autoload (or carets_controller node) and adjust its exported properties, or set them from code, for example MobileCaret.handle_color = Color.ORANGE.

Look

Property	Description
texture_caret	Optional custom handle texture. Leave empty for the default teardrop.
handle_size_mm	Physical size of a handle in millimeters (default 7 × 8). The handle keeps this size on screen whatever the resolution, aspect ratio, stretch mode or screen DPI, and the hit margin, drag threshold and edge-scroll zones scale with it. Set to (0, 0) to use handle_size instead.
handle_size	Size of a handle in logical pixels. Used when handle_size_mm is (0, 0).
handle_color	Color of the default teardrop.
caret_texture_offset	Extra offset applied to the handles.
hit_margin	Extra pixels around a handle that still count as touching it.

Gestures

Property	Description
long_press_seconds	How long to press to select a word. 0 disables long-press.

Fade

Property	Description
caret_fade_delay	Seconds of inactivity before the caret handle fades out. 0 or less disables fading.
caret_fade_duration	How long the fade takes, in seconds.

Native caret

Property	Description
hide_native_caret	Hide Godot's thin caret whenever a handle is shown.
hide_native_caret_while_dragging	Hide it only while a handle is being dragged (on by default).

If a control already has its own caret_color override, it is restored exactly when the native caret is shown again.

Floating toolbar

The toolbar (addons/MobileCaret/Toolbar) is a separate autoload, MobileCaretToolbar. Nothing in the handles' code depends on it: remove its autoload, or switch it off in code, and everything else works the same. If the MobileCaret controller is present the toolbar also listens to its handle_tapped signal; without it the toolbar still works from focus and selection alone. It works for LineEdit, TextEdit, CodeEdit, the LineEdit inside a SpinBox and selectable RichTextLabels, in the main window and in any other Window or SubViewport. A RichTextLabel gets the toolbar only: Godot cannot set its selection from code, so there are no selection handles for it.

• It appears above a selection once the selection has settled and no mouse button is held, so it stays out of the way while you drag a handle. If there is no room above, it goes below the selection. It keeps its physical size, only shrinking when a small viewport is too narrow for it.
• It only offers what applies: Cut and Paste need an editable control, Paste needs something on the clipboard, and Select all is hidden when everything is already selected. A password field (secret) never offers Copy, Cut or Share.
• Tapping a caret handle (without dragging) shows Paste / Select all at the caret.
• Tapping inside an existing selection keeps the selection and shows or hides the toolbar, like Android.
• After Copy the selection stays and the toolbar hides until the selection changes (or you tap it). Typing or moving the caret hides it too.
• The ··· button opens an overflow menu with Undo, Redo and (optionally) Share; ‹ goes back.

Control it from code:

MobileCaretToolbar.enabled = false      # switch it off, and back on with true
MobileCaretToolbar.show_for_caret()     # show Paste / Select all at the caret now
MobileCaretToolbar.hide_toolbar()       # hide it until the selection changes
MobileCaretToolbar.action_pressed.connect(func(action): print(action))  # "cut", "copy", "paste", "select_all", "undo", "redo", "share"

# The Share button only shows when you turn it on; the toolbar cannot share by itself.
MobileCaretToolbar.show_share = true
MobileCaretToolbar.share_requested.connect(func(text): print("share: ", text))

Property	Description
enabled	Master switch.
show_cut, show_copy, show_paste, show_select_all	Turn individual buttons off.
text_cut, text_copy, text_paste, text_select_all	Button labels (for localization).
show_overflow, show_undo, show_redo, show_share	The overflow menu and its entries (Share is off by default).
text_undo, text_redo, text_share, text_more, text_back	Labels for the overflow menu.
tap_selection_toggles_toolbar	Tapping inside a selection keeps it and toggles the toolbar (default on). Turn off to let such taps collapse the selection as usual.
height_mm	Height of the bar in millimeters (default 9). Like the handles it keeps this physical size on any screen.
gap_mm	Gap between the bar and the selection.
background_color, text_color, pressed_color	Colors.
show_delay	Seconds the selection must stay unchanged before the toolbar shows (default 0.2).

Compatibility

• Built and tested with Godot 4.7.
• Handles respond to mouse input, so touch must be emulated as mouse input. This is Godot and Contributions

Bug reports, ideas and pull requests are welcome.

License

Released under the MIT License. See LICENSE.