Editor, source revisions and recovery
A computer has one source document, not files. Select the body (or its NETWORK port), use the normal open action or Open computer editor / recovery drafts, initially Ctrl+Shift+E, rebindable in Controls. With no selected computer, the same action opens recovery drafts. Native buttons provide essential actions even while the text box has focus. Client shortcut/focus usability remains unverified.
Draft, saved, active
Each player has a private editing draft and base saved revision. The computer has committed saved source and, while running, a possibly different active snapshot. The status pane displays these revisions separately.
| Action | Source | Execution and data |
|---|---|---|
| Type/paste or Template | Edit your draft; Template needs an empty draft | No factory effect |
| Validate | Check draft syntax, supported language and bounds | Does not save, execute, reset or replace a run |
| Save | Commit exact draft with revision check; invalid source can be saved | Existing active source continues |
| Run / Apply | Validate the displayed saved revision; save dirty text first | Only successful validation retires old work and queues new start; state survives |
| Stop | Keep saved/active recovery source and logs | Cancel timers/subscriptions/queued work; clear only still-owned output; keep state/KV/display |
| Reset State, then Confirm Reset State | No source change | Requires stopped/faulted status; clear only this computer's explicit state |
| Close / Escape | Retain draft | No implicit Save, Run or Stop |
Cancel, reopening, editing or changing runs expires a pending Reset confirmation. A new run's startup failure faults that new run; it does not restore the old run. Successful earlier effects are not rolled back. An invalid candidate, by contrast, does not retire the current run.
Use API Help for a template and concise call inventory. Copy complete source from runnable programs; do not paste host wrappers. Refresh Peripherals inspects red and green independently, showing name/type/power or an explicit pending/error result, never an incomplete successful inventory.
Conflicting editors
A stale Save refuses to overwrite another player's newer saved source and keeps your draft.
- Review Current opens the current saved source read-only.
- Read it, then choose Rebase — keep draft to adopt that revision as your draft's base without changing your text. This is a deliberate overwrite decision, not an automatic merge. Save is still necessary.
- Or choose Reload — discard draft to replace your draft with reviewed source.
- Both choices recheck the source/revision. If somebody saved after your review, review again. Neither Run nor Apply activates an unseen newer revision.
Closing, disconnecting, dying or changing force/surface retains documents. Access to a computer still requires current force/surface, reach and native permissions. Old UI events cannot operate a replacement computer.
Recovery drafts and mined computers
Eight document slots per player each retain up to 16,384 draft bytes and a bounded base-source snapshot. Dirty documents are never silently evicted. A ninth computer opens recovery instead: explicitly forget a reviewed slot first. Over-limit typing restores the previous accepted draft, not a truncated version. Save the game to persist drafts; an unsaved game cannot promise crash recovery.
Reopening the same identity restores its draft. Removal/replacement does not retarget an old draft. Select it in recovery and use Copy selected draft to import text into the current computer's draft. This neither saves nor runs it. The independent recovery viewer can show text after destruction; it cannot run a computer or clear application data. Forget reviewed, then Confirm Forget is required for deletion; cancel preserves it.
A mined computer item contains committed source/state, not your private draft. Replacement is stopped with a new ID. Recover Active Source reviews the formerly active snapshot if it differed from saved source; Copy snapshot to Draft imports it without saving or running. See lifecycle.
Diagnostics
computer.log(text) writes plain text into a ring of 64 entries / 16,384 bytes;
older output is discarded. Validation identifies the candidate/base revision.
Runtime diagnostics identify the active revision, handler, run ID and original
line/column when available. Program/source/help text does not interpret Factorio
rich-text tags. This output pane is not a terminal or REPL.
For a fault: read the first error, Stop if necessary, repair source/wiring/power, Validate, Save and Run. Reset State is a deliberate last step for application data, not a general-purpose fix for wiring or a way to clear a database.