Motion Studio's Mini extension docks a configurable button panel inside After Effects that hosts tools, easings, color swatches, scripts, and native AE commands. Minis are built visually in the Motion Studio app, no code.
Setting up a custom toolbar natively
After Effects has no built-in feature for assembling a custom button panel. The closest native systems are keyboard shortcuts and workspaces.
Keyboard shortcuts are AE's most customizable feature. Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts opens the shortcut editor, where almost any menu command maps to a key combination. The search field surfaces related commands: type "ease" or "anchor" and see what's already mapped. Shortcuts can be exported as a .json file for sharing across machines.
Workspaces (Window > Workspace) are another way you can customize AE by saving panel arrangements. For example, an Animation workspace can hold the Timeline and Effect Controls positioned a specific way; a Compositing workspace can hold Tracker, Roto Brush, and Mask panels. Workspaces re-shuffle the panels that already exist in AE, but they don't allow for new panels.
Neither system produces a panel of one-click buttons. Building a true toolbar means installing another plugin like KBar or creating hand-written ExtendScript wrappers.
What's the best way to build a custom toolbar in After Effects?
Open Motion Studio's Mini Library, click Create Mini, and click Add Tool + to open the picker. Click any tools, easings, palettes, swatches, scripts, or AE commands to add them, then set the Mini as Active. It appears in the Mini extension panel in After Effects.
After adding the tools, set the Mini as Active, and it immediately appears in the Mini extension panel in After Effects.
Any changes in the Mini's configuration reflect in the AE panel immediately. There's no save step or reload. Moreover, you can have up to 4 Mini panels active and open at once. You can have even more created in the application, that can be swapped out with the click of a button.
You can change the active Mini(s) either in the Mini Library, or in the Mini Extension itself, in the extension's settings dropdown under "Active Mini".
What can be added to a Motion Mini?
Minis accept six different content types, plus a spacing layout element.
Motion Studio tools. The full suite is available: Anchor, Animo, Arrange, Blend, Break, Burst, Clone, Cloth, Copy Color, Copy Comp, Copy Easing, Easy Ease, Copy Text Style, Crop to Layer, Delay, Dynamics, Echo, Execute Command, Excite, Falloff, Flip, Focus, Refocus, Grab, Grids, Jump, Key Clean, Kinetic, Null, Orbit, Parent, Paste Color, Paste Easing, Paste Text Style, Pin+, Rename, Reverse, Separate, Snapshot, Stagger, Sort, Spin, Stare, Swap Color, Text-Break, Trace, Trash, Trim, Trim to Keys, Vector, Vignette, and Warp.
Color swatches. Individual swatches from any Color palette. Clicking a swatch applies the color to the active selection.
Easings. Single easings from the Easing Library become buttons that apply to selected keyframes.
Re-Keys. Saved keyframe patterns from the Re-Key library become one-click apply buttons.
Custom scripts. Scripts written or pasted into Motion Studio's Scripts library can be right-clicked and sent to a Mini. This also is a great way to test your script. Any changes to the script are immediately updated in the Mini to be executed. You can code and test extremely quickly.
AE commands. Native After Effects menu commands, like file operations, render queue actions, and panel toggles, land as buttons without writing ExtendScript.
Spacers. Empty layout elements that introduce whitespace between groups of buttons, useful for separating categories within a single Mini.
How do I set default parameters for a tool button?
Each tool added to a Mini holds its own parameter block in the Mini Builder. The block exposes whatever parameters the tool shows in the Motion Studio app: Anchor's position presets, Stagger's interval and direction, Excite's overshoot and friction, etc.
Configuring parameters turns the button into a pre-set action. The same tool can appear multiple times with different parameter blocks: Anchor Center, Anchor Top-Left, and Anchor Bottom-Right can sit as three separate buttons, each setting the layer's anchor in a different spot in one click.
Modifier Keys
Modifier Keys allow you to run a tool with different parameters, by holding modifier keys while clicking. The available keys are [Shift, Control, Option, and Command] on MacOS, and [Shift, Control, Alt] on Windows. For example, regular-clicking a grid mini could add Rule of Thirds to your comp. Shift-Click could add Dynamic Symmetry. Control-Click could remove the grids.
How do I run multiple custom toolbars at once in After Effects?
Install up to four Mini extension panels and dock them simultaneously, each running a different Active Mini. They appear in Window > Extensions as Motion Mini [1] through Motion Mini [4]. Switch a panel's Active Mini in the Motion Studio Mini Library and the change reflects in AE immediately.
How do I share a custom toolbar with my team?
Click Export Mini to save the Mini as a single file, send it to a colleague, and they click Import Mini to load it into their library. Useful for team standardization (one studio Mini with approved palettes and easings), workstation parity (the same setup on desktop and laptop), and freelancer onboarding (a Mini that matches the studio's workflow).
Common Questions about Custom Toolbars in After Effects
What's the difference between a workspace and a custom toolbar?
A workspace saves the arrangement of AE's existing panels: which are open, where they're docked, and how they're sized. A custom toolbar is a new panel holding specific tools, presets, and commands as buttons. Motion Mini docks like any other AE panel and can be saved into a workspace layout.
How do I add a custom script to a toolbar?
Write or paste the script into Motion Studio's Scripts library (the editor includes a Snippets window with AE scripting functions), right-click it, and choose Add to Mini. The script becomes a button with a custom name, icon, and color. One script can live in multiple Minis, and the Unlink option detaches a copy so edits inside the Mini don't propagate back to the original.
How do I make a button apply a specific easing?
Right-click any easing in the Easing Library and choose Add to Mini. Multiple easings, like an in-easing, an out-easing, and an overshoot, can sit side by side as separate buttons in the same Mini.
How do I add a native AE menu command?
Select it directly in the Mini Builder picker or use the Execute Command tool. The list mirrors AE's menu system: New Project, Import File, Save, Collect Files, Remove Unused Footage, and so on. Stacking render commands turns end-of-project workflow into a sequence of clicks down a panel: Save, Trim to Keys, Composition Settings, Add to Render Queue, Reveal in Finder.
How do I customize button icons and colors?
The Mini Builder sidebar exposes a color picker and a name field for every button. Color-code by category, rename buttons to label parameter variants, or use Global Color to give all tool icons the same color. You can also choose custom Icons to help you remember which button does what.
How do I reorder buttons?
Drag buttons inside the Mini Builder. The order in the builder is the order in the AE panel. Spacers drag between groups to introduce whitespace.
Can I use keyboard shortcuts and a custom toolbar at the same time?
Yes. Shortcuts and a Mini panel operate independently. Shortcuts handle high-frequency commands that warrant a key combination; a Mini handles tools, presets, and commands that benefit from a visible button.
Does Motion Mini work in Premiere Pro?
The Mini extension is currently After Effects only. Other Motion Studio tools, like the Easing extension and the Switchboard editor, extend into Premiere Pro.
Motion Mini is a Motion Studio exclusive, available now. Try Motion Studio free for 7 days, no credit card required.