Android Studio

Android Studio is a free IDE for Android development made by Google and JetBrains. It's based on IntelliJ IDEA and has a feature-rich editor which supports Java and C/C++. It can be used to work on Godot's core engine as well as the Android platform codebase.

Importing the project

• From the Android Studio's welcome window select Open.

Android Studio's welcome window.

• Navigate to <Godot root directory>/platform/android/java and select the settings.gradle file.

• Android Studio will import and index the project.

Android Studio project layout

The project is organized using Android Studio's modules:

• lib module:

  • Located under <Godot root directory>/platform/android/java/lib, this is a library module that organizes the Godot java and native code and make it available as a reusable dependency / artifact.
  • The artifact generated by this module is made available for other Android modules / projects to use as a dependency, via MavenCentral.

• editor module:

  • Located under <Godot root directory>/platform/android/java/editor, this is an application module that holds the source code for the Android port of the Godot Editor.
  • This module has a dependency on the lib module.

• app module:

  • Located under <Godot root directory>/platform/android/java/app, this is an application module that holds the source code for the Android build templates.
  • This module has a dependency on the lib module.

Building & debugging the editor module

• To build the editor module:

  • Select the Run/Debug Configurations drop down and select editor.

  .. figure:: img/android_studio_editor_configurations_drop_down.webp :figclass: figure-w480 :align: center

  • Select Run > Run 'editor' from the top menu or click the Run icon.

• To debug the editor module:

  • Open the Build Variants window using View > Tools Windows > Build Variants from the top menu.
  • In the Build Variants window, make sure that in the Active Build Variant column, the :editor entry is set to one of the Dev variants.

  .. figure:: img/android_studio_editor_build_variant.webp :figclass: figure-w480 :align: center

  • Open the Run/Debug Configurations window by clicking on Run > Edit Configurations... on the top menu.
  • In the Run/Debug Configurations window, select the editor entry, and under Debugger make sure the Debug Type is set to Dual (Java + Native)
  • Click the + sign under the Symbol Directories section, and add the lib module directory: platform/android/java/lib

  .. figure:: img/android_studio_editor_debug_type_setup.webp :figclass: figure-w480 :align: center

  • Select Run > Debug 'editor' from the top menu or click the Debug icon.

Building & debugging the app module

The app module requires the presence of a Godot project in its assets directory (<Godot root directory>/platform/android/java/app/assets) to run. This is usually handled by the Godot Editor during the export process. While developing in Android Studio, it's necessary to manually add a Godot project under that directory to replicate the export process. Once that's done, you can follow the instructions below to run/debug the app module:

• To build the app module:

  • Select the Run/Debug Configurations drop down and select app.

  .. figure:: img/android_studio_app_configurations_drop_down.webp :figclass: figure-w480 :align: center

  • Select Run > Run 'app' from the top menu or click the Run icon.

• To debug the app module:

  • Open the Build Variants window using View > Tools Windows > Build Variants from the top menu.
  • In the Build Variants window, make sure that in the Active Build Variant column, the :app entry is set to one of the Dev variants.

  .. figure:: img/android_studio_app_build_variant.webp :figclass: figure-w480 :align: center

  • Open the Run/Debug Configurations window by clicking on Run > Edit Configurations... on the top menu.
  • In the Run/Debug Configurations window, select the app entry, and under Debugger make sure the Debug Type is set to Dual (Java + Native)
  • Click the + sign under the Symbol Directories section, and add the lib module directory: platform/android/java/lib

  .. figure:: img/android_studio_app_debug_type_setup.webp :figclass: figure-w480 :align: center

  • Select Run > Debug 'app' from the top menu or click the Debug icon.

If you run into any issues, ask for help in Godot's Android dev channel.