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Keyboard Shortcuts

Buildopia has a concise set of keyboard shortcuts for its most frequently used actions. They all work from anywhere in the app, with one exception: they're disabled while the cursor is inside a text input field (like the search bar or a number field), to avoid interfering with typing.

Tool Shortcuts

These are single-key shortcuts — no modifier needed. Swapping tools this way is almost always faster than reaching for the sidebar, especially on desktop where you may want to switch between Build and Erase rapidly.

Rotate & Mirror

These all work without leaving Draw mode, so you can rotate and mirror while actively placing blocks without interrupting your workflow.

Undo & Redo

These work identically to the Undo/Redo buttons in the top bar, and work from anywhere in the app — you don't need the cursor to be over the viewport.

View Shortcuts

Escape

Escape works on: the main menu dropdown, the Community Builds panel, the colour/tint picker, the Tours overlay, and any other overlay or modal in the app. It's the universal "get out of this" key and is usually faster than hunting for a close button.

During an active in-app Tour, Escape skips the rest of the tour and closes it immediately.

Shortcuts That Don't Exist (Yet)

A few things people commonly look for that currently don't have keyboard shortcuts: there's no shortcut to open the Community panel, no shortcut to toggle the sidebar, and no shortcut to activate specific camera presets (Top, Front, Side). If any of these would help your workflow, you can request them via the Contact page or Discord.

Using Shortcuts on Mobile

All the shortcuts above are keyboard-only — they require a physical keyboard connected to or paired with your device. On touchscreen-only devices, the equivalent actions are always available as on-screen controls: toolbar buttons for tools and undo/redo, sidebar buttons for rotate and mirror, and the mode toggle buttons for Draw/Orbit switching. If you have a Bluetooth keyboard paired to a tablet, the shortcuts work the same as on desktop.

Customising Controls & Keybindings

Every keyboard shortcut listed on this page can be reassigned to a different key, and mouse button assignments for camera and draw actions can be changed too — all from the Keybindings tab of the Settings dialog, found in the main menu.

Opening the dialog

Open the main menu (the hamburger button in the top-right corner) and click Settings. It opens on the Keybindings tab by default; the dialog opens over the current viewport without leaving your build.

Rebinding keyboard shortcuts

The Keyboard Shortcuts section of the Keybindings tab lists every rebindable action alongside its current key. To change one, click its key button — it will show … to indicate it's listening — then press the new key you want to assign. A few things to know:

• Only single, unmodified keys are accepted — no Ctrl, Alt, or Cmd combinations.
• If the key you press is already assigned to another action, that action is automatically unbound so there are no conflicts. Its slot will show a dash (—) until you assign it something new.
• Press Escape while the button is listening to cancel and keep the current binding.

Reassigning mouse buttons

The Mouse Buttons section lets you choose which mouse button activates each camera and draw mode:

• Pan Camera — drag to slide the camera sideways (default: right-click).
• Move Camera — drag to orbit the camera around your build (default: None — left drag in Camera mode already orbits).
• Draw Mode — hold to place, paint, or erase blocks (default: None — use the Draw mode toggle instead).

Each action has a dropdown — set it to Left, Middle, Right, or None. Mouse bindings only apply on desktop; on touch devices the on-screen mode buttons are used instead.

Saving and resetting

Changes take effect immediately and are saved automatically to your browser when you click Done or click outside the dialog. They persist across sessions on the same device and browser. To revert everything to the original defaults, click Reset to defaults in the dialog footer — this clears all custom bindings at once.

The Settings dialog also has Display, Camera, and Accessibility tabs alongside Keybindings, for options beyond shortcuts and mouse bindings.

Quick Reference Card

On Mac, substitute Cmd for Ctrl in the Undo/Redo shortcuts. All other shortcuts are the same across platforms. All keys shown above are their defaults and can be reassigned in Settings → Keybindings.

Tips for Faster Building

A few patterns that make the most of the shortcuts together:

• Keep one hand on the keyboard. With your non-dominant hand resting near B, P, E, and R, you can swap tools and rotate without lifting your eyes from the viewport. Your dominant hand handles the mouse for placing and camera work.
• Use D to toggle placing on and off. Rather than clicking a mode button every time you want to switch between orbiting and drawing, just press D — it toggles Draw mode without changing your camera angle or losing your current position.
• Use Ctrl+Z freely. Since undo is unlimited within a session, there's no cost to experimenting. Try a placement, evaluate it, and undo if it doesn't look right — the history is deep enough that you can always walk back a bad sequence of moves.
• Combine X/Z with placing. Tap X to enable Mirror X, place your blocks, then tap X again to disable it before placing asymmetric detail. Because these are toggle keys, flipping symmetry on and off mid-session costs only a single keypress each way.