#Settings

All five settings exist on both the web app and the VS Code extension, backed by different stores.

Setting	Default	Effect
Default render mode	`visual`	Initial geometry layer on every load. `visual`, `collision`, or `both`.
Up axis	`+Z`	World up axis used by the camera and ground grid. `+X` / `+Y` / `+Z`.
Default xacro args	`{}`	JSON object merged into every xacro file's `xacro:arg` values before expansion. Useful for permanently flipping a project-wide flag.
Extra package roots	`[]`	Additional directories scanned for `package.xml`, in addition to the folder you opened. Each entry may be absolute or relative to the folder root.
Semantic files	`[]`	SRDF or YAML files providing joint groups and named states. If empty, URDF Studio scans each discovered package's `config/` directory for `.srdf` and `initial_positions.yaml`.

#Where they live

Host	Storage	Scope
Web	`localStorage` key `urdf-studio:settings:v1`	Per-browser-profile.
VS Code	`urdfStudio.*` keys in `settings.json`	Per-workspace (or user, if you prefer).

The web app exposes them through the ⚙ button in the topbar. Save applies on the next load — current robot is not re-rendered automatically.

Settings are global (applied to every robot in the current browser-profile / workspace). Pose and bookmarks are per-document.

Treat every xacro file as if arm_id=fp3 is set:

// VS Code settings.json
"urdfStudio.defaultXacroArgs": { "arm_id": "fp3" }

// Web — Settings → Default xacro args
{
  "arm_id": "fp3"
}

Always start in collision view (useful when authoring collision meshes):

"urdfStudio.defaultRenderMode": "collision"

Add a workspace outside the current folder:

"urdfStudio.packageRoots": [
  "/opt/ros/humble/share",
  "~/ros2_ws/src"
]