fix: queue paused by default + manage templates moved to addon prefs

Three usability fixes from user feedback:

1. Render queue now defaults to PAUSED.
   Spawning a Blender subprocess is a heavyweight side-effect (CPU/GPU,
   writes files); the user should opt in by toggling Auto-Render: ON
   rather than have jobs fire automatically the moment they're queued.

2. Pause toggle wording rewritten to describe state + action.
   Was "Auto-Process" / "Paused" — ambiguous about whether the button
   shows the current state or the action it would take. Now reads
   "Auto-Render: ON (queue runs automatically)" or
   "Auto-Render: OFF (queue is paused)" so it's self-explanatory.

3. Manage Templates moved out of the templates dropdown menu into
   addon preferences (Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Stage). Popup
   dialogs invoked from menu items race with menu dismissal in
   Blender, so the previous invoke_props_dialog never reliably
   appeared — clicking the menu entry did nothing visible. The new
   approach: clicking Manage Templates… opens addon prefs and
   focuses Stage; user templates list is rendered inline there with
   delete buttons per row. Always accessible, no popup race.

Refactor: introduces queue_ops._current_blend_is_dirty() indirection
so the queue's "save first" check can be monkey-patched from tests
without touching bpy.data.is_dirty (which is read-only and impossible
to clear in a shared session).

Total suite: 170/171 (one pre-existing dirty-state reload flake).

Author: BlueLazyFish

stage/ops/queue.py

@@ -31,6 +31,13 @@ def _current_blend_filepath() -> str:
     return bpy.data.filepath
 
 
+def _current_blend_is_dirty() -> bool:
+    """Indirection over bpy.data.is_dirty so tests can monkeypatch the
+    'has unsaved changes' check (bpy.data.is_dirty is read-only and
+    practically impossible to clear in a shared test session)."""
+    return bpy.data.is_dirty
+
+
 def _blend_path_or_warn(self, context) -> str | None:
     """Return the absolute path of the saved .blend, or report a warning
     and return None if the file is unsaved or has dirty in-memory edits.
@@ -49,7 +56,7 @@ def _blend_path_or_warn(self, context) -> str | None:
             "subprocess loads from disk, so unsaved scenes can't be used.",
         )
         return None
-    if bpy.data.is_dirty:
+    if _current_blend_is_dirty():
         self.report(
             {'ERROR'},
             "Your .blend has unsaved changes. Save first (Ctrl+S) — the "

stage/ops/templates.py

@@ -193,39 +193,29 @@ def execute(self, context):
 
 class STAGE_OT_manage_templates(Operator):
     bl_idname = "stage.manage_templates"
-    bl_label = "Manage User Templates"
-    bl_description = "Browse and delete user-saved render-settings templates"
+    bl_label = "Manage User Templates…"
+    bl_description = (
+        "Open Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Stage — user templates are "
+        "editable inline there with delete buttons per row"
+    )
     bl_options = {'REGISTER'}
 
-    def invoke(self, context, event):
-        return context.window_manager.invoke_props_dialog(self, width=420)
-
-    def draw(self, context):
-        layout = self.layout
-        prefs = get_prefs(context)
-        if prefs is None:
-            layout.label(text="Addon preferences unavailable.", icon='ERROR')
-            return
-
-        if not len(prefs.user_templates):
-            layout.label(
-                text="No user templates yet. Use 'Save Current as Template…' to create one.",
-                icon='INFO',
-            )
-            return
-
-        layout.label(text=f"{len(prefs.user_templates)} user template(s):")
-        for i, ut in enumerate(prefs.user_templates):
-            row = layout.row(align=True)
-            row.label(
-                text=f"{ut.display_name}  [{ut.engine}  {ut.resolution_x}×{ut.resolution_y}]",
-                icon='PRESET',
-            )
-            op = row.operator("stage.delete_user_template", icon='X', text="")
-            op.index = i
-
     def execute(self, context):
-        # Popup-only operator. No execute work — closing the popup is enough.
+        # Popup dialogs invoked from menu items race with menu dismissal
+        # in Blender, so popups never reliably appear. Sidestep the
+        # whole issue: open the addon-prefs window and scroll to Stage.
+        # The user templates list lives in StagePreferences.draw().
+        try:
+            bpy.ops.screen.userpref_show('INVOKE_DEFAULT')
+            context.preferences.active_section = 'ADDONS'
+            context.window_manager.addon_search = "Stage"
+        except Exception as e:
+            self.report({'WARNING'}, f"Couldn't open preferences: {e}")
+            return {'CANCELLED'}
+        self.report(
+            {'INFO'},
+            "Edit user templates inline in Edit › Preferences › Add-ons › Stage",
+        )
         return {'FINISHED'}
 
 

stage/prefs.py

@@ -92,16 +92,20 @@ class StagePreferences(AddonPreferences):
     # forward across versions.
     user_templates: CollectionProperty(type=UserTemplate)
 
-    # Render queue — when paused, the monitor timer doesn't auto-spawn the
-    # next worker even if PENDING jobs exist. User has to hit "Start Worker"
-    # to kick a single job, or untick Pause to resume auto-processing.
+    # Render queue — when paused (the default), the monitor timer doesn't
+    # auto-spawn workers even if PENDING jobs exist. User has to hit
+    # "Start Worker" to kick a single job, or flip the toggle to enable
+    # automatic processing. Paused-by-default because spawning a Blender
+    # subprocess is a heavyweight side-effect (renders eat CPU/GPU and
+    # write files) that the user should opt into explicitly.
     queue_paused: BoolProperty(
         name="Pause Render Queue",
         description=(
-            "Don't auto-start workers when jobs are queued. Use Start Worker "
-            "to process one job manually, or untick to resume auto-processing"
+            "When ON: queue accepts jobs but doesn't auto-start workers. "
+            "Use Start Worker to process one job at a time. "
+            "When OFF: queue automatically starts the next pending job"
         ),
-        default=False,
+        default=True,
     )
 
     # Logging
@@ -130,13 +134,42 @@ def draw(self, context):
         col.prop(self, "free_persistent_data_after_render")
         col.prop(self, "viewport_solid_during_render")
 
+        col = layout.column(align=True)
+        col.label(text="Render Queue", icon='SCRIPTPLUGINS')
+        col.prop(self, "queue_paused")
+
         col = layout.column(align=True)
         col.label(text="UI", icon='WINDOW')
         col.prop(self, "show_dirty_badge")
         col.prop(self, "auto_apply_on_select")
         col.prop(self, "enable_pie_menu")
         col.prop(self, "enable_studio_hotkeys")
 
+        # User templates — inline editable list. Lives here rather than in
+        # a popup because invoke_props_dialog from a menu item races with
+        # menu dismissal in Blender; addon prefs is always accessible and
+        # gives the user real management space.
+        box = layout.box()
+        header = box.row(align=True)
+        header.label(
+            text=f"User Render Templates ({len(self.user_templates)})",
+            icon='PRESET',
+        )
+        if not len(self.user_templates):
+            box.label(
+                text="None yet. Use 'Save Current as Template…' from the Stage panel templates menu.",
+                icon='INFO',
+            )
+        else:
+            for i, ut in enumerate(self.user_templates):
+                row = box.row(align=True)
+                row.label(
+                    text=f"{ut.display_name}  —  {ut.engine}  {ut.resolution_x}×{ut.resolution_y}",
+                    icon='PRESET_NEW',
+                )
+                op = row.operator("stage.delete_user_template", icon='X', text="")
+                op.index = i
+
         col = layout.column(align=True)
         col.label(text="Diagnostics", icon='CONSOLE')
         col.prop(self, "log_level")

stage/ui/queue_panel.py

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import bpy
 from bpy.types import Panel
 
+from ..ops import queue as queue_ops
 from ..prefs import get_prefs
 from ..queue import db as queue_db
 from ..queue import worker as queue_worker
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ def draw(self, context):
         # Studio (output path, captured facets, etc.) won't propagate
         # until the user saves. Surface this prominently so they don't
         # hit a queue with stale data.
-        if bpy.data.is_dirty:
+        if queue_ops._current_blend_is_dirty():
             warn = layout.box()
             warn_row = warn.row()
             warn_row.alert = True
@@ -98,13 +99,19 @@ def draw(self, context):
 
         # Pause toggle drives auto-spawn behaviour in queue.monitor.
         # When paused the user must hit Start Worker to process one job.
+        # Label describes the CURRENT state plus the action that toggle
+        # would take, so the button is always self-explanatory.
         prefs = get_prefs(context)
         if prefs is not None:
             paused = prefs.queue_paused
             row = col.row(align=True)
             row.prop(
                 prefs, "queue_paused",
-                text="Paused" if paused else "Auto-Process",
+                text=(
+                    "Auto-Render: OFF (queue is paused)"
+                    if paused
+                    else "Auto-Render: ON (queue runs automatically)"
+                ),
                 icon='PAUSE' if paused else 'PLAY',
                 toggle=True,
             )

tests/blender/test_queue.py

@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 _TEST_DB_DIR: Path | None = None
 _REAL_QUEUE_DB_PATH = queue_paths.queue_db_path
 _REAL_BLEND_FILEPATH_FN = queue_ops._current_blend_filepath
+_REAL_BLEND_DIRTY_FN = queue_ops._current_blend_is_dirty
 
 
 def _redirect_db_to_temp() -> Path:
@@ -54,11 +55,17 @@ def _restore_real_db_path() -> None:
 
 
 def _stub_blend_path(value: str) -> None:
+    """Pretend the .blend lives at ``value`` AND is clean (saved).
+    Tests just want to exercise the operator logic; the in-memory dirty
+    state is a Blender-session quirk that doesn't reflect the test scene.
+    """
     queue_ops._current_blend_filepath = lambda: value  # type: ignore[assignment]
+    queue_ops._current_blend_is_dirty = lambda: False  # type: ignore[assignment]
 
 
 def _restore_blend_path() -> None:
     queue_ops._current_blend_filepath = _REAL_BLEND_FILEPATH_FN  # type: ignore[assignment]
+    queue_ops._current_blend_is_dirty = _REAL_BLEND_DIRTY_FN  # type: ignore[assignment]
 
 
 def _fresh_scene(name: str = "stage_queue_test"):