January 5, 2026 Update:
Today we have started the permanent rollout. Please see below for details and FAQ.We greatly appreciate all of the community feedback and patience. We do plan to continue to improve this new UI system as we convert more legacy UI elements over. Major updates will be shared on DevForum.
Hi Creators,
This week, we have done another full rollout with a minor settings reset since the compact layout is the new default. If you prefer the less compact layout, you can change this in the right click menu options. There’s more details below on the different ways you can customize your interface.
We have decided to remain a Beta feature during the critical holiday period to not risk disrupting creators. We will leave beta in early January where it will become the standard interface of Studio.
We are in the final stretch of the full release of the new Studio UI!
Below will cover the details of a new, more intuitive interface that can be easily customized for your diverse needs. We’ve also updated our documentation to reflect the new interface elements including a guide that maps legacy workflows to the new ones.
Some quick highlights:
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Expanded Menus - Menus allow for more efficient access to actions and operations because they are always available
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Consolidated Play & Test Controls - All test modes and controls are now persistently located in one place
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Viewport Menu - Visual debugging and analysis tools are here
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Ribbon Tabs - Lots of customization options (details below!) to let you fully control what combination of tools and plugins you want to see.
Your Workflow, Your Way.
We recognize that a scripter will need different tools than a UGC artist or a game designer. As we built the new Studio UI, we wanted to provide you the flexibility to customize it to what you need and use every day, while still providing an intuitive and clear default interface for new creators.
Built With Our Community
First and foremost, we want to thank the hundreds of creators that have given us constructive feedback during our 15-month public Beta. An extra huge thanks to the early adopters that have also helped field questions and feedback here on DevForum.
For example, one of the earliest and consistent feedback we received was about overall space usage — in particular the vertical space compared to the old UI. We did generally tighten up the spacing but we also wanted to give options that allow you to compact the toolbars even more:
The new UI offers multiple options that configure how much space is occupied by the toolbars. You can access these settings by right clicking in the empty tab area.
You can also collapse the toolbars completely (either double click a tab or select “Collapse toolbar” in the right click menu). You can also optionally set the tabs to align left instead of center via the Manage Tabs interface.
How We Got Here
We understand the frustration that comes with changing a tool many of you have used for over a decade. So why change it? We saw an opportunity to make Studio much more flexible and performant, to give you the freedom to choose the tools that are most important to you.
Many new creators are completely overwhelmed in the sea of tools and non-standard UI implementations. Experienced creators were stuck with the static toolbars we provided. It has also been increasingly difficult to introduce new, cutting edge features with good UI. Many creators have been able to adapt to the interface over time but most have a long list of annoying quirks, inconsistencies, and performance issues that can be attributed to the legacy UI.
When you look back to 2012, when cross platform Studio was publicly introduced, the creation workflow was pretty simple because our engine and platform were also pretty simple. Since that time, our technology has gotten many more times powerful and your workflows have become equally complex.
Roblox Studio in 2012! In some ways, the new UI shares some of the same concepts as the 2012 interface, but the new UI is far more capable and customizable.
We got some things right in 2012 and we’re keeping many of the primary pieces of Studio the same. This update is ensuring that Studio is capable of supporting everyone’s workflows now and in the future.
Quick Guide to Customizing Studio Toolbars and Tabs
The new UI was designed to give you more control of the tools that are most relevant to you. Here’s how you can customize Studio to fit your preferences:.
Right click into any empty area of the ribbon interface and you will get these appearance options:
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Collapse toolbar will hide the toolbar area unless you mouse into the tabs UI. You can also double click any tab to change this behavior on the fly.
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Compact toolbar will toggle between two density modes that change the tool size and spacing on the toolbar
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Show labels will toggle the tool labels on and off, making the UI even more compact when toggled off
Right click on any toolbar tab and you will get these additional options:
- Hide tabs that you don’t use frequently.
- Duplicate tab is a great, quick way to start customizing your own toolbars!
On a custom tab, you can right click on an existing tool or in an empty space on the end of the tool list:
“Add tools” will bring up a searchable list of tools that can be added to your tab. This list includes tools provided by plugins, and you are welcome to mix them together in any combination that suits your needs. There is no limit to the number of tools and you can duplicate tools as much as you would like.
More complex interfaces can also be built directly in the JSON files.
Here’s an example showing how to add Undo and Redo tools to every tab. (That link also includes instructions on how to download and install these tabs)
We fully support the community creating and sharing toolbars. Here’s an excellent example of what’s possible and it could also be a great starting point if you are really used to the former UI.
With the Manage Tabs window. You can hide, reorder, and delete tabs. You can also choose to left align your tabs — this is handy if you have an ultra-wide desktop!
What’s next?
This is a huge milestone on a longer journey.
In the near term, we will follow up with more refinements and improvements. We will also continue to migrate other interfaces over to these new systems with the goal that all Studio UI is built with the same reusable components. Not only will this make Studio look and feel more consistent, but it will also open the doors for even more customization in Studio.
Longer term, we have really exciting goals that build upon this foundation to offer maximum flexibility and efficiency to unlock totally new workflows for all creators.
FAQs
I can’t find [X feature]. Where is it?
- If a feature was on the ribbon tab in the old UI, it may now be on another tab or menu. If you want a feature back on the ribbon, you can always add one back to the ribbon by creating a custom tab. If you’d like to add it to a default Studio tab, you can duplicate that tab to make it customizable, and hide the original default tab.
I use [X feature] all the time and now it’s too hard to get to.
- We tried our best to keep the most commonly used tools within easy access but we realize everyone works differently. We have greatly expanded our use of menus which brings a lot more tools within 1-2 clicks regardless of the tab you have focused. We encourage you to get familiar with customizing toolbars (did you know plugins can be on any toolbar now?). If it’s something you use very frequently and it accepts shortcut keys, we strongly recommend binding a shortcut for frequently used tools.
Can I turn it off?
- No, you can no longer opt-out. We ran this UI as an optional Beta feature for well over a year and the UI has been fully functional for the past several months. We understand this is a big change for creators that have been using Studio for many years. It will require a short adjustment period but we are confident you will find even more efficient workflows with this new system.
Why can’t you just keep the old UI?
- The old UI is not just a difference in colors and UI layout, it’s an entirely different collection of systems than the new UI. Not only would this be difficult to support, it would also be difficult for adding new features to Studio. The new UI is much more flexible and stable which means we will be able to add fixes and features faster than ever before.
What’s next?
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We will make this the default non-optional UI in January.
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On the short list is a series of icon and color updates. Longer term we have a big list of additions we’d like to make but we also want to be mindful of shifting things too much while everyone is still getting used to this major change.
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