Needle Inspector for three.js & R3F

[nova swift]

Hello everyone, we launched a chrome extension today to inspect any three.js based web project (this includes react-three-fiber projects). We would love to get your feedback and hope it's helpful to everyone!

If you got any ideas/feedback please let me know (just ping me here)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSFqZSqzGGw

Thank you!

[velvet nova]

this is a cool and helpful plugin. I was testing it for some of my work. It seems the plugin at the current stage is causing a memory leak and some performance issues, so I need to disable the plugin through chrome when I'm not using it.

[nova swift]

Hi. Would you be able to share a link privately and/how to reproduce? Will look into it tomorrow.

And which version did you try with? Yesterday a new version was already published

[velvet nova]

thanks for the response. I played with it a bit more today. The newer version seems to resolve it (I can't reproduce it anymore). When I encountered the issue (twice), I was using the plugin with A-Frame on Helium (a Chromium browser) on a local dev project

[nova swift]

Ok good to hear, if you notice something like it again please feel free to ping or dm. I also checked a bit today using latest chrome but didnt notice anything like you mentioned (e.g. memory leaks).

Anyways didn't know it can be run on helium too! Cool!

[nova swift]

Upcoming ux improvement: hiding unnecessary properties

[nova swift]

Experimenting with pop-out windows / inspection views

https://x.com/i/status/2006047370375524359

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Experimenting more with popout views and inspection modes.

Thoughts?

@NeedleTools #threejs

X · Dec 30, 2025, 4:58 PM

[nova swift]

https://x.com/i/status/2005690147254452362

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

More properties more problems:

I'm exposing a lot more Texture properties now and am thinking about how to integrate it without bloating the UI even more. It's a bit much when always visible, right?

Website by @Samsyyyy

X · Dec 29, 2025, 5:19 PM

[nova swift]

Interactive tooltips:
https://x.com/marcel_wiessler/status/2006769926275739934

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Happy new year!

I'm testing a first version of "rich" & interactive tooltips for Needle Inspector!

@NeedleTools #threejs #r3f #webdev

X · Jan 1, 2026, 4:50 PM

[nova swift]

https://x.com/i/status/2008235613237948598

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Needle Inspector properties do update live by default!

Meaning you can observe and debug animated values in the UI (or properties modified by any of your code)

@NeedleTools #threejs

X · Jan 5, 2026, 5:54 PM

[nova swift]

A new update with better Event isolation among other improvements is submitted to the store
https://x.com/i/status/2009307218215067942

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Lots of UI improvements coming to Needle Inspector for #threejs with the next update!

For example: The editing experience has been improved and now isolates inspector events from the website. This means...

X · Jan 8, 2026, 4:52 PM

[nova swift]

The update is now available

[nova swift]

https://x.com/i/status/2010756420476731508

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Needle Inspector does now restore previous selected objects and hierarchy folding states!

This makes it much easier when working with complex hierarchies and nesting - no more long scrolling and searching, just keep going ⚡️

@NeedleTools #threejs

X · Jan 12, 2026, 4:51 PM

[nova swift]

Working on Blender-style panels:
https://x.com/marcel_wiessler/status/2011499772322926901

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Working on a Blender-style panel feature for Needle Inspector.

Here's a first version for properties with panels for object props, materials or components.

It's great to focus on e.g. material setup or component editing in Needle Engine.

#threejs

X · Jan 14, 2026, 6:04 PM

[nova swift]

Needle Inspector for three.js & R3F

[nova swift]

https://x.com/marcel_wiessler/status/2015496812845502491

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Quicksearch is coming to Needle Inspector:

Quickly search the hierarchy, find objects, materials or meshes. Find components in Needle Engine projects! Last picked items are stored per website.

@NeedleTools #threejs #webdev

X · Jan 25, 2026, 6:47 PM

[nova swift]

https://x.com/marcel_wiessler/status/2016895541133685101

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

I love it how things come together:

- HDRi picker now for env + background images
- Thumbnails render as tooltips!!!
- Last picks are stored for quick access!
- Undo anything

@NeedleTools #threejs

X · Jan 29, 2026, 3:25 PM

[nova swift]

https://x.com/marcel_wiessler/status/2018287795580682345
https://x.com/marcel_wiessler/status/2018289142803710159

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Small additions for the next Inspector update:

- Show which three.js version was used
- Added a QR code button for opening the page on mobile

@NeedleTools #threejs

▶ Play video

X · Feb 2, 2026, 11:38 AM

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

@NeedleTools Additionally scale will get a proportional editing constraint option → so you can drag on e.g. just scale.x but scale XYZ proportionally

▶ Play video

X · Feb 2, 2026, 11:43 AM

[nova swift]

https://x.com/marcel_wiessler/status/2019111048905912656
https://x.com/marcel_wiessler/status/2019111052563394949

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

A new version of Needle Inspector is now available.

Among other things it also includes some UI improvements. The hierarchy and inspector panel now don't take up all the available height but just as much as necessary.

@NeedleTools #threejs

▶ Play video

X · Feb 4, 2026, 6:09 PM

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Additionally minimized the UI does now also keep previous filters and selection intact - previously this would unmount a whole bunch of stuff which caused UI state to be reset — well, not anymore! 😇

▶ Play video

X · Feb 4, 2026, 6:09 PM

[nova swift]

https://x.com/marcel_wiessler/status/2021641866064875687

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Excited for #WebMCP coming to Chrome! We're adding support to Needle Inspector 🌵 (see video below) to give AI more power when working with your 3D websites.

@NeedleTools #threejs @ChromiumDev #ai #mcp #webdev

▶ Play video

X · Feb 11, 2026, 5:45 PM

[nova swift]

https://x.com/marcel_wiessler/status/2022326520312713616

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Needle Inspector #WebMCP support is available now with version 1.2.0

@NeedleTools #threejs

X · Feb 13, 2026, 3:06 PM

[nova swift]

https://x.com/i/status/2023079937302045163

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Just fixed a memory leak where selection with rapidly changing objects (multiple times per frame) did cause problems.

The fix will be included in the next update 🌵

#threejs #webdev

X · Feb 15, 2026, 5:00 PM

[nova swift]

Did you know? https://x.com/i/status/2025128357663281410

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

@WrongNebula @NeedleTools You can connect codex and claude to it already. The inspector exposes mcp tools. See my timeline :)

https://t.co/OrRCOj8d7a

X · Feb 21, 2026, 8:40 AM

[nova swift]

Needle Inspector for Agents (Alpha)

https://inspector.needle.tools

Agents can use it with playwright to get further information from three.js scenes like inspect object properties. It's enough to give e.g. Claude a link to the website.

[nova swift]

Improved inspector number input (available now)

https://x.com/marcel_wiessler/status/2042504905949376851

🌵 Marcel Wiessler (@marcel_wiessler)

Improving Needle Inspector number input 🧮 for threejs

→ added math expression support "+2" or "/.5"
→ improved drag number for quick changes
→ everything undoable

Additionally improved inspector MCP tools! 🤖

🌵 @NeedleTools #threejs #webdev #ai

▶ Play video

X · Apr 10, 2026, 7:28 AM