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Auto-layout (command)

Auto-layout is grouping into a container plus a guessed layout: it wraps the selection into a flex container and infers the container's direction, spacing, and alignment from how the members are already arranged. Like every wrap, it runs once per selection partition. The command is Shift+A (keybindings).

This document specifies the command — the wrap and the inference. The layout model it produces (flex, grid, anchors, sizing) is the layout study; this spec defers to it and does not restate it.

Wrap and infer (loose selection)​

On a loose selection, for each partition:

  • Wrap into a container with the container-wrap discipline of grouping (world position preserved, order preserved, one container per partition) — auto-layout is that same wrap, not a second mechanism.
  • Infer the layout from the members' parent-relative rectangles: the flex direction (row vs column), the main-axis gap, and the main- and cross-axis alignment are guessed from their spacing and positions. The container sizes to its content and is inset at the members' union origin, so the result occupies the same space the selection did.
  • Members become flow children. Each adopted member switches to relative (in-flow) positioning and is reordered along the guessed main axis; its rendered position does not move at the moment of creation.
  • Selection retargets to the new container(s).

Apply in place (existing container)​

Applied to an existing container rather than a loose selection, auto-layout turns that container's layout on — inferring direction, gaps, and alignment from its current children — without wrapping. This is a property change on one node: there is no partition and no fan-out. It is the same inference over an already-existing frame.

Root, scene, and refusal​

The wrap obeys the scene's child constraint exactly as grouping does: a partition targeting a single-child scene is refused rather than violating the constraint (selection-partition, PART-5).

Contracts​

  • ALY-1 Wrap-and-lay per partition: on a loose selection, auto-layout wraps each partition into one new flex container (the container-wrap of GRP plus a layout), adopting only that partition's members; one container per partition.
  • ALY-2 Layout inference: the new container's flex direction, main-axis gap, and alignment are inferred from the members' parent-relative arrangement; the container sizes to content and is inset at their union origin, so the layout occupies the selection's former space.
  • ALY-3 Members become flow children: adopted members switch to relative positioning and are ordered along the inferred main axis, with world position preserved at creation.
  • ALY-4 Apply in place: applied to an existing container, auto-layout enables that container's layout from its current children with no wrap and no partition fan-out — a single-node property change.
  • ALY-5 Selection retarget: after the wrap-and-lay, the selection is the new container(s).

Deferred, named: the flex/grid/anchor layout model and its sizing semantics (feat-layout); the inference heuristic's exact thresholds (owned by the layout study, not this command spec).