Pins
Level Pins are spatial annotations for Editor review work. They can capture a title, body, tags, type, Open or Resolved status, assignee, comments, position, an optional saved viewport view, and one optional Snapshot without becoming part of the map.
Storage and map safety
Section titled “Storage and map safety”| Scope | Storage | Source-control behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Shared | <Project>/ProjectPins/ |
Uses the active Unreal source-control provider when available |
| Private | <Project>/Saved/Locus/PrivatePins/ |
Never queries or changes the provider |
Each Pin is an external .locuspin file. A Pin is not an Actor, Component, UAsset, package, map metadata, runtime object, or cooked-data owner. Creating, moving, editing, or deleting a Pin does not by itself dirty the map package.
Browse Pins
Section titled “Browse Pins”- Current Map shows Pins associated with the currently resolved saved map.
- All Maps groups project Pins by map without loading those maps.
Combine the All/Shared/Private scope filter with search, tags, and compact Type, Status, and Assignee filters. Pin Types are Default, Important, Issue, Info, and Success, each with a distinct glyph and color. Status is independently Open or Resolved, with one contextual Resolve or Reopen action. Shared Pins can be assigned through the searchable People Picker; Me uses Your Display Name, while Private Pins remain Unassigned. Sort by Created, Name, Updated, or Map and reverse direction when needed.
Pins remain separate from the map they reference. Duplicating a map does not duplicate or retarget Pins. If a map moves, Locus may resolve an Asset Registry redirect, but it does not silently rewrite every Pin file.
Place a Pin
Section titled “Place a Pin”- Open and save the target level. Persistent Pins are unavailable for an unsaved or transient world.
- Choose Add Pin, Placement Mode, or press Ctrl+Alt+P. You can also use Locus > Create Pin Here in the Level Editor viewport context menu.
- Click a surface in the viewport.
- Press Esc to leave Placement Mode.
The creation area combines a Shared/Private scope, optional Pin Preset, and the Viewport menu. Presets are personal to the user and project and contain only a Pin Type and tags. They apply only to future Pins created through Add Pin, Placement Mode, Ctrl+Click, or Create Pin Here.
Select the Pin in the viewport or workspace to edit its metadata and comments. Comments show the configured display-name author and local time. They are a flat chronological record: existing comments cannot be edited or deleted, and there are no threads, reactions, mentions, or notifications.
Position and saved views
Section titled “Position and saved views”- Drag the anchor to change its position in three axes.
- Drag the marker head vertically to adjust its height.
- Press End to snap the selected anchor downward to a surface.
- Press F to focus the selected Pin.
- Capture View stores the current Editor viewport view with the Pin; Restore View returns to it when one has been captured.
- Reposition places the selected Pin again.
Each Pin can also store one viewport Snapshot. Capture from an available perspective Level Editor viewport, open the larger Pin Snapshot preview from its thumbnail or image affordance, and use Update Snapshot or Clear Snapshot as allowed. Shared snapshots are separate source-control-aware image files; Private snapshots remain local beneath Saved. Deleting a Pin removes its snapshot.

Edits save automatically. Press Ctrl+S to flush or retry a save.
Viewport presentation
Section titled “Viewport presentation”Open Viewport to control Show Level Pins, Show Filtered Pins Only, Title Visibility, and Occlusion. Show Filtered Pins Only is off by default and mirrors the current map, scope, search, tags, Type, Status, and Assignee result; sorting does not change membership and selected or Review Pins do not bypass the filter.
Title display supports Always, Selected, Hovered, Nearby, and Adaptive behavior. Occlusion choices are Always Visible, Scene Depth, Line of Sight, Selected Through Geometry, and Reduced Opacity. Line of Sight is the default collision-trace mode. Scene Depth allows visible scene geometry to occlude the complete marker and title while selected and active Review Pins remain foregrounded.
Personal Pins settings control nearby-title distance, maximum marker height, marker and connector presentation, and placement animation. These preferences affect only Editor presentation; they do not alter maps or the authoritative Pin content. See Settings.
The most useful visual controls are Glow Strength for additional luminous energy, Connector Thickness for the persistent core, and Line and Ring Color Mode for semantic or custom accents.
Search, duplicate, and delete
Section titled “Search, duplicate, and delete”Search and filters narrow Pins by their user-facing fields and map/scope context. Ctrl+D duplicates the selected Pin. Delete requests permanent deletion and requires confirmation. Unreal undo cannot restore a deleted external Pin file.
Review N starts Level Review over the current filtered result, beginning with the current selection when it belongs to that set. Previous Pin and Next Pin traverse cyclically; Exit Review keeps the current selection. Current Map Review ends if the root map changes. All Maps Review confirms cross-map navigation with Open Level, Skip Pin, or Cancel. Review state is session-only.
Recovery and conflicts
Section titled “Recovery and conflicts”Recovery snapshots are stored beneath <Project>/Saved/ProjectPins/Recovery/ for Shared Pins and <Project>/Saved/Locus/Recovery/PrivatePins/ for Private Pins. Recovery actions include restoring, restoring as a new Pin, and discarding the snapshot.
If a .locuspin changes externally while local edits are pending, Locus blocks silent replacement and offers safe conflict actions such as reloading disk or saving local work as a new Pin. See Troubleshooting.
Source control
Section titled “Source control”A new Shared Pin remains local and Untracked until you explicitly choose Mark for Add; eligible multi-selected Shared Pins can be added together. After submission, changing a controlled Shared Pin requests checkout automatically and mutates only after checkout succeeds. Shared snapshot images have their own Mark for Add or Check Out state.
Private Pins remain user-local and have zero provider interaction. They do not require Mark for Add or Check Out. Local and untracked Pins remain editable in Local Mode when no provider is configured, and the workspace omits source-control-specific UI. Locus does not submit files, sync, manage changelists, or change typemaps. See Source Control.
Responsive layout
Section titled “Responsive layout”Toolbar actions move progressively into the ellipsis menu as space narrows; the scope filter becomes a compact menu, metadata stacks vertically, Snapshot thumbnails reduce before becoming an icon, and Sort yields the footer to active Review controls. At extreme narrow widths, the list and details become a master/detail view with Back to Pins navigation. Comment cards and the composer wrap to keep actions reachable.
Current limitations
Section titled “Current limitations”- A saved top-level world is required for persistent placement.
- Map duplication does not clone or retarget Pins.
- Snapshot capture requires an available perspective Level Editor viewport and is unavailable during PIE.
- Comments cannot be edited or deleted.
- Provider and complex-world workflows outside the currently validated release matrix should be verified by the project before relying on them.