Parenting and ancestors

Every shape in tldraw has a parent. A shape's parent is either the page it lives on or another shape that contains it. This parent-child relationship creates a hierarchy that affects how shapes move, transform, and render. Groups and frames use this hierarchy to contain other shapes; the editor tracks this hierarchy to manage transforms, selection, and rendering order.

The parentId property

Every shape record has a parentId property that points to its parent. For shapes directly on the canvas, this is a page ID. For shapes inside groups or frames, it's the containing shape's ID:

// A shape on the page
const shape = editor.getShape(myShapeId)
console.log(shape.parentId) // "page:somePage"

// A shape inside a group
const groupedShape = editor.getShape(childShapeId)
console.log(groupedShape.parentId) // "shape:someGroup"

You can check what type of parent a shape has using isPageId and isShapeId from @tldraw/tlschema:

import { isPageId, isShapeId } from 'tldraw'

if (isPageId(shape.parentId)) {
	// Shape is directly on a page
}

if (isShapeId(shape.parentId)) {
	// Shape is inside another shape (group, frame, etc.)
}

Getting a shape's parent

Use Editor#getShapeParent to get the parent shape. It returns undefined if the shape is directly on a page:

const parent = editor.getShapeParent(myShape)

if (parent) {
	console.log('Parent shape:', parent.type)
} else {
	console.log('Shape is on the page')
}

Getting ancestors

The ancestor chain is the path from a shape up to the page. Use Editor#getShapeAncestors to get all ancestors in order from the root to the immediate parent:

// For a deeply nested shape:
// page > frameA > groupB > myShape
const ancestors = editor.getShapeAncestors(myShapeId)
// Returns: [frameA, groupB]

The array is ordered from root ancestor to immediate parent. The page itself is never included—ancestors only contain shapes.

Finding a specific ancestor

Use Editor#findShapeAncestor to find the first ancestor matching a condition:

// Find the containing frame
const frame = editor.findShapeAncestor(myShape, (ancestor) => ancestor.type === 'frame')

// Find the first locked ancestor
const lockedAncestor = editor.findShapeAncestor(myShape, (ancestor) => ancestor.isLocked)

Checking for a specific ancestor

Use Editor#hasAncestor to check if a shape is inside a specific container:

if (editor.hasAncestor(myShape, frameId)) {
	// myShape is somewhere inside this frame
}

Finding the common ancestor

When working with multiple shapes, use Editor#findCommonAncestor to find their nearest shared parent:

const shapeIds = [shapeA, shapeB, shapeC]
const commonAncestorId = editor.findCommonAncestor(shapeIds)

if (commonAncestorId) {
	// All shapes share this ancestor
} else {
	// Shapes are on the page with no common parent shape
}

You can also filter by a predicate:

// Find the common frame ancestor
const commonFrame = editor.findCommonAncestor(shapeIds, (shape) => shape.type === 'frame')

Getting children

Use Editor#getSortedChildIdsForParent to get a shape's children in z-index order:

const childIds = editor.getSortedChildIdsForParent(groupId)
// Returns child IDs sorted from back to front

This works for pages too:

const topLevelShapes = editor.getSortedChildIdsForParent(editor.getCurrentPageId())

Visiting descendants

For recursive traversal, use Editor#visitDescendants:

editor.visitDescendants(frameId, (childId) => {
	const child = editor.getShape(childId)
	console.log('Found:', child.type)
	// Return false to skip this shape's children
})

To collect all descendants including the shape itself, use Editor#getShapeAndDescendantIds:

const allIds = editor.getShapeAndDescendantIds([frameId])
// Returns a Set containing frameId and all nested shape IDs

Reparenting shapes

Use Editor#reparentShapes to move shapes into a new parent. This preserves the shapes' page positions—only their local coordinates change to match the new parent's coordinate space:

// Move shapes into a frame
editor.reparentShapes([shapeA, shapeB], frameId)

// Move shapes to the page root
editor.reparentShapes([shapeA, shapeB], editor.getCurrentPageId())

The method handles coordinate transformation automatically. If the parent is rotated, children's positions and rotations are adjusted so they appear in the same place on the page.

You can optionally specify an insert index to control z-ordering:

// Insert at a specific position in the parent's child stack
editor.reparentShapes([newChild], parentId, insertIndex)

Transforms and coordinates

Parent-child relationships affect coordinate systems. A child shape's x and y are relative to its parent, not the page.

To convert between coordinate systems:

// Convert a page point to a shape's local space ([Editor#getPointInShapeSpace](?))
const localPoint = editor.getPointInShapeSpace(parentShape, pagePoint)

// Get a shape's position in page coordinates ([Editor#getShapePageTransform](?))
const pageTransform = editor.getShapePageTransform(childShape)
const pagePoint = pageTransform.point()

When you move a parent, all children move with it. Their local coordinates stay the same, but their page coordinates change.

For more about coordinate systems and transforms, see Coordinates.

Checking page membership

Use Editor#isShapeInPage to check if a shape is on a specific page (even if nested):

if (editor.isShapeInPage(myShape, pageId)) {
	// Shape is on this page (directly or nested)
}

To get the page a shape belongs to, use Editor#getAncestorPageId:

const pageId = editor.getAncestorPageId(myShape)

Locked ancestors

A shape is effectively locked if any of its ancestors are locked. Use Editor#isShapeOrAncestorLocked to check:

if (editor.isShapeOrAncestorLocked(myShape)) {
	// Shape can't be interacted with
}

This is what the editor uses internally to determine if shapes should respond to interactions.

Hidden shapes

The editor can track shape visibility through Editor#isShapeHidden. This only works if you provide a getShapeVisibility callback when creating the editor:

const editor = new Editor({
	getShapeVisibility: (shape, editor) => {
		// Return 'hidden', 'visible', or 'inherit'
		return shape.meta.hidden ? 'hidden' : 'inherit'
	},
	// ... other options
})

// Now you can check visibility
if (editor.isShapeHidden(myShape)) {
	// Shape won't render (either it or an ancestor is hidden)
}

A shape is hidden if its visibility is 'hidden' or if any ancestor is hidden (unless the shape explicitly overrides with 'visible'). Without a getShapeVisibility callback, isShapeHidden() always returns false.

The focused group

The editor tracks a "focused group" that determines which level of the hierarchy you're working in. When you're focused inside a group, new shapes are created as children of that group. See Groups for details on focused groups.

Related examples

• Layer panel - Build a hierarchical layer panel that shows parent-child relationships.
• Drag and drop - Handle reparenting when dropping shapes onto containers.