Auto Router
User guide

Organize your node layout, route its connections, and keep your own sections easy to follow.

Blender 4.2+   |   Shader Editor and Geometry Nodes Editor

Install and open the panel

1. Download the Auto Router add-on ZIP from your purchase. Keep it as a ZIP for installation.
2. In Blender, open Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions. Open the menu in the top-right corner, choose Install from Disk, and select the ZIP. Enable Auto Router if it is not enabled automatically.
3. Open the Shader Editor or Geometry Nodes Editor and display the tree you want to organize.
4. With the pointer over that editor, press N to open the sidebar, then choose the AutoRouter tab.

Your first cleanup

1. Save your .blend file before reorganizing an important setup.
2. Choose Full Sort for a new layout, or Reroute Only to retain functional-node and frame positions.
3. For Full Sort, leave Distribute Group Inputs enabled if you want local input copies considered. Start with the default Advanced settings.
4. Run the tool and let it finish. Review the whole tree, then inspect individual frames and important connections. Read any warning Blender reports.
5. Use Blender Undo to revert a completed run. During an interactive run, Esc cancels the operation.

Scope matters: sorting acts on the entire currently edited tree, not only selected nodes. To organize a nested node group, enter it first. The tool does not automatically recurse through every group.

Choose a sorting mode

Full Sort example. Tutorial cursor and click pulse added in post.

Reroute Only example: functional-node positions remain unchanged. Tutorial pointer added in post.

Build and maintain manual groups

Manual groups are frames you explicitly create with Auto Router. Use them to mark sections whose membership you want to control. Existing hand-built frame membership also takes priority over automatic grouping.

Select members first, then create the frame. The recording begins with the selection already prepared.

Distribute Group Inputs

A single Group Input can create long wires when its outputs feed distant parts of a graph. Enable Distribute Group Inputs before running Full Sort to let Auto Router create a limited number of local copies for substantial consumer regions.

Copies reference the same group interface; they do not introduce independent user parameters. Relevant sockets are exposed near the regions that use them. Reroute Only does not create these input copies.

This demonstration changes one Group Input into three local copies during Full Sort.

Why an input may remain shared: distribution is conservative. Small consumer regions, isolated outliers, or the copy limits can leave long connections in place. For an extreme tree, manually prepare additional local Group Input copies and appropriate frame membership, then run Full Sort again.

Advanced settings reference

Change a few controls at a time and compare the result. Larger spacing and larger routing budgets can make a graph easier to trace, but may increase its footprint or processing time.

Troubleshooting and large graphs

Connection checks: before accepting a result, Auto Router checks logical socket connections through reroutes, muted links, and multi-input ordering. If application or validation fails, the captured tree state is restored. Review important setups and save an appropriate backup; these structural checks do not replace testing a simulation or render.

The 432-node example: the full final layout shown on the product page combines Full Sort with manually prepared local Group Input copies. Its first automatic pass used four Group Inputs; the refined setup used sixteen. It demonstrates a large real workflow, not a promise of one-click input splitting or a runtime benchmark.

Created by Giorgi Samukashvili.

When asking for help, include your Blender version, the mode used, relevant settings, the exact warning, and a screenshot of the affected region.