Variable

The current value of a variable.

A value in the Variables group. Its type is value.variable.

Declared ports

Note

This node’s ports change with its config and its wiring, so what you see on the card may differ from the table below.

Port	Label	Flow	Type
value	Value	data out	Any

Configuration

Field	Key	Default	Notes
Variable	name	—	chosen from VARIABLE

Notes

Variable reads what a variable holds at the moment it is asked. Like every value node it has no execution ports and is never pulsed.

• It is pulled, the instant before the node consuming it runs.
• Its output takes the type the variable was declared with.

Working of the Node

• Variable points at a declared variable by id, not by name.
• The value is read when a consumer asks for it.
• The read is memoised per consuming node, so every port of one node sees one value while a second consumer reads fresh.

Comparing a Variable

If can compare a value node with no wiring: you pick it from a dropdown and no edge appears. That shortcut passes no configuration, so it cannot say which variable you meant. This node is therefore left out of the dropdown, because offering it would offer a comparison that silently never matched.

To compare a variable, drop the node on the canvas and wire it into an If’s source port.

Example: branch on a counter

• Drop a Variable node and pick the counter in Variable.
• Wire its output into an If’s source port.
• Set the If to “greater than”, comparing against 3.

Points to Remember

• A variable must be declared before anything reads it. Reading an undeclared or deleted one is a warning, not an error: the node logs that it read nothing and the graph carries on.
• Renaming a variable does not break this node, because it points at an id.
• A local variable belongs to one run of one macro. A global outlives both.
• Reading a local from a macro that never set it gives nothing, which usually means the read and the write ended up in different macros.