From the launcher. Every SAVE SLOT row that holds a save carries an Edit label next to Delete. Edit suspends the launcher and opens that slot's file; Close hands the process back with the slot list re-read. This is the path most people use, and it is wired in main.lua (openEditor / closeEditor).

Standalone, where Close quits instead:

# from repo root, game closed
love . --editor
# or
POKEPORT_EDITOR=1 love .
# open a specific save (any path)
love . --editor --save "/path/to/save.lua"

By default it loads the game's active save slot under the LÖVE save directory (same identity as the game, deliberately: the editor edits the game's saves and reads the game's ROM cache):

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/LOVE/pokemon-love2d/
Linux: ~/.local/share/love/pokemon-love2d/
Windows: %APPDATA%\love\pokemon-love2d\

If the file isn't there (or you want another copy), use Open..., drop a save.lua onto the window, or pass --save. Each write makes save.lua.bak-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS first.

Layout

file	role
`Theme.lua`	the launcher's palette + drawing primitives (cards, glow, dashed outlines, letterspaced captions)
`Kit.lua`	immediate-mode widgets built on Theme: buttons, rows, meters, chips, checkboxes, a real text field, pagers
`PadInput.lua`	virtual cursor for Switch / gamepads (stick move, A click, B close, shoulders cycle tabs)
`Ops.lua`	every mutation, behind one funnel that sets dirty + status together
`App.lua`	chrome (version rail, title bar, tab rail, status bar) and the panel router
`panels/`	one file per tab; pure layout that dispatches into Ops

panels/SpeciesPicker.lua is the one exception to "one file per tab": it is the modal species search the inspector opens, drawn by App.draw after the panel rather than routed through the tab table. Kit has no z-order, so while it is up Kit.blockClicks shields every widget underneath it.

Switch / gamepad

On Nintendo Switch (and any gamepad without a mouse), the editor uses the same virtual-cursor idea as the launcher: left stick / D-pad moves a pointer, A clicks, B closes (with the usual unsaved confirm), L/R cycle tabs, and the right stick scrolls lists. Touch taps forward as clicks. Without that path the editor soft-locked until HOME — main.lua used to drop all pad/touch events while editorMode was set.

The design reference is the SaveEditor.dc.html mockup that this port transcribes; its measurements are in the same pixel space App.lua draws in.

Two rules the code enforces and the tests assert:

Ops.mark(S, msg) is the only thing that sets S.dirty, and it always writes the status line at the same time. Refusals go through Ops.say, which speaks without dirtying. No branch may silently no-op.
Destructive verbs go through Ops.arm(S, id, msg): the first call arms and returns false, a second within Ops.ARM_SECONDS commits. Ops.armLabel relabels the button to Confirm? in between.

Headless tests

Run from repo root (luajit, or the same interpreter as tests/run_tests.lua). All four run in CI as their own tiers in scripts/test.sh:

luajit tests/run_save_editor_tests.lua      # SaveIO, App load/save/close, party + inspector, all-tab draw smoke
luajit tests/save_editor_task6_tests.lua    # Boxes + Items rules
luajit tests/save_editor_task7_tests.lua    # Events + Dex rules
luajit tests/save_editor_task8_tests.lua    # map browser + spawn points
luajit tests/save_editor_mod_tests.lua      # modded species/items stay editable
luajit tests/save_editor_pad_input_test.lua # pad cursor / NX input routing

They drive Ops.lua rather than clicking pixel coordinates. The panels are layout over Ops, so a redesign moves every coordinate but none of the rules; asserting against Ops is what keeps the suites meaningful across one.