I’m trying to position an element. Specifically a stack component within a tabbed container. For some reason I can’t draw and drop the element. Its just there sitting at the bottom of the page. I tried asking AI to fix it but it can’t move it either. In general I’ve been having a lot of issues just positioning items on a page. The grouping and stacking components seem a bit buggy and dragging and dropping in the grid view also doesn’t work reliably. Specifically it seems that some of the components don’t support the flex box layout ie stack type layout. Here I have a tabbed container but I can’t access the tabbed container properties to change it into a stack. That would be the prefered method to edit these items by using the positioning tools instead of trying to drag stuff around.
Hello again @benjaminfortunato I wasn't able to reproduce the behavior you are seeing. I tried adding a Tabbed Container inside a Stack Component and was able to drag the Stack Component around my canvas. Can you please share a screen recording of what's happening on yours? 
This is what I have on my end:
Also, to answer your question: Retool's app canvas does not currently support typed position inputs. Canvas frames use a 12-column grid layout. As you arrange or resize components, the grid becomes visible and component edges snap into position. Read more in the docs here: App IDE | Retool Docs
I think I still have a loom account so I can record this the next time it happens. What you are showing is that the app works beautifully with two elements on a blank page. Try working on an app like a form for example with a bunch of elements closely spaced together.
Performance starts to degrade and then sometimes you just can’t move something where you want it. Its not butter smooth like figma, for lack of a better term there is a lot of “jank”.
There are also some fundamental ui issues, try selecting something when there is anouther element nested inside of it, for example two inputs inside a container. How do you pick the input vs the container? Is there a tab to cycle through selections or a right click and select this object menu? If you want to make something a bit bigger or move it up there is no other way to do it but try to navigate the video game of trying to select and drag what you want when the ui lights up like a Christmas tree. Container A, Input B, Container A, Input B . . . move quick and hope you grab the right one!
Unfortunately the element menu to the left does not have drag and drop functionality. Lets say I want element a on top of element b, i should be able to draw and drop it in place via the tree menu to the left. That would help getting elements in a stack in the right order. There is the copy paste function but the right click copy below function is pretty random. Sometimes it paste below, sometimes back where it was before, sometimes above.
You need some better tools to move stuff around that are reliable and elegant. If its a visual editor, l I would like to edit visually. That means having some elegant methods to 1) grab what you want 2) position it where you want 3) change its properties through text values
Hey again @benjaminfortunato Benjamin thanks for the detailed write-up. I think the fastest way to get you unblocked is a quick screenshare.
We run weekly office hours where you can walk us through your app live. You can sign up here: Come join Retool Office Hours (now in Zoom)! We'll be able to tell you on the spot which items are existing limitations, which look like bugs worth filing, and which have workarounds you can use today.
If office hours doesn't work for your schedule, reply with a short screen recording of whichever of the four is most blocking, plus a link to the app, and I'll dig in from there.