Command line tutorial

Some developers like using the command line extensively. Godot is designed to be friendly to them, so here are the steps for working entirely from the command line. Given the engine relies on almost no external libraries, initialization times are pretty fast, making it suitable for this workflow.

INFO

On Windows and Linux, you can run a Godot binary in a terminal by specifying its relative or absolute path.

On macOS, the process is different due to Godot being contained within an .app bundle (which is a folder, not a file). To run a Godot binary from a terminal on macOS, you have to cd to the folder where the Godot application bundle is located, then run Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot followed by any command line arguments. If you've renamed the application bundle from Godot to another name, make sure to edit this command line accordingly.

Command line reference

Legend

• Available in editor builds, debug export templates and release export templates.

• Available in editor builds and debug export templates only.

• Only available in editor builds.

Note that unknown command line arguments have no effect whatsoever. The engine will not warn you when using a command line argument that doesn't exist with a given build type.

General options

Command	Description
-h, --help	Display the list of command line options.
--version	Display the version string.
-v, --verbose	Use verbose stdout mode.
-q, --quiet	Quiet mode, silences stdout messages. Errors are still displayed.

Run options

Command	Description
--, ++	Separator for user-provided arguments. Following arguments are not used by the engine, but can be read from OS.get_cmdline_user_args().
-e, --editor	Start the editor instead of running the scene.
-p, --project-manager	Start the Project Manager, even if a project is auto-detected.
--debug-server <uri>	Start the editor debug server (<protocol>://<host/IP>[:<port>], e.g. tcp://127.0.0.1:6007)
--quit	Quit after the first iteration.
--quit-after	Quit after the given number of iterations. Set to 0 to disable.
-l, --language <locale>	Use a specific locale. <locale> follows the format language_Script_COUNTRY_VARIANT where language is a 2 or 3-letter language code in lowercase and the rest is optional. See Locale codes for more details.
--path <directory>	Path to a project (<directory> must contain a 'project.godot' file).
-u, --upwards	Scan folders upwards for 'project.godot' file.
--main-pack <file>	Path to a pack (.pck) file to load.
--render-thread <mode>	Render thread mode ('unsafe', 'safe', 'separate'). See Thread Model for more details.
--remote-fs <address>	Remote filesystem (<host/IP>[:<port>] address).
--remote-fs-password <password>	Password for remote filesystem.
--audio-driver <driver>	Audio driver. Use --help first to display the list of available drivers.
--display-driver <driver>	Display driver (and rendering driver). Use --help first to display the list of available drivers.
--rendering-method <renderer>	Renderer name. Requires driver support.
--rendering-driver <driver>	Rendering driver (depends on display driver). Use --help first to display the list of available drivers.
--gpu-index <device_index>	Use a specific GPU (run with --verbose to get available device list).
--text-driver <driver>	Text driver (Fonts, BiDi, shaping).
--tablet-driver <driver>	Pen tablet input driver.
--headless	Enable headless mode (--display-driver headless --audio-driver Dummy). Useful for servers and with --script.
--write-movie <file>	Run the engine in a way that a movie is written (usually with .avi or .png extension). --fixed-fps is forced when enabled, but can be used to change movie FPS. --disable-vsync can speed up movie writing but makes interaction more difficult. --quit-after can be used to specify the number of frames to write.

Display options

Command	Description
-f, --fullscreen	Request fullscreen mode.
-m, --maximized	Request a maximized window.
-w, --windowed	Request windowed mode.
-t, --always-on-top	Request an always-on-top window.
--resolution <W>x<H>	Request window resolution.
--position <X>,<Y>	Request window position.
--screen <N>	Request window screen.
--single-window	Use a single window (no separate subwindows).
--xr-mode <mode>	Select XR mode ('default', 'off', 'on').

Debug options

Command	Description
-d, --debug	Debug (local stdout debugger).
-b, --breakpoints	Breakpoint list as source::line comma-separated pairs, no spaces (use %20 instead).
--profiling	Enable profiling in the script debugger.
--gpu-profile	Show a GPU profile of the tasks that took the most time during frame rendering.
--gpu-validation	Enable graphics API Validation layers for debugging.
--gpu-abort	Abort on GPU errors (usually validation layer errors), may help see the problem if your system freezes.
--remote-debug <uri>	Remote debug (<protocol>://<host/IP>[:<port>], e.g. tcp://127.0.0.1:6007).
--single-threaded-scene	Scene tree runs in single-threaded mode. Sub-thread groups are disabled and run on the main thread.
--debug-collisions	Show collision shapes when running the scene.
--debug-paths	Show path lines when running the scene.
--debug-navigation	Show navigation polygons when running the scene.
--debug-avoidance	Show navigation avoidance debug visuals when running the scene.
--debug-stringnames	Print all StringName allocations to stdout when the engine quits.
--frame-delay <ms>	Simulate high CPU load (delay each frame by <ms> milliseconds).
--time-scale <scale>	Force time scale (higher values are faster, 1.0 is normal speed).
--disable-vsync	Forces disabling of vertical synchronization, even if enabled in the project settings. Does not override driver-level V-Sync enforcement.
--disable-render-loop	Disable render loop so rendering only occurs when called explicitly from script.
--disable-crash-handler	Disable crash handler when supported by the platform code.
--fixed-fps <fps>	Force a fixed number of frames per second. This setting disables real-time synchronization.
--delta-smoothing <enable>	Enable or disable frame delta smoothing ('enable', 'disable').
--print-fps	Print the frames per second to the stdout.

Standalone tools

Command	Description
-s, --script <script>	Run a script.
--check-only	Only parse for errors and quit (use with --script).
--import	Starts the editor, waits for any resources to be imported, and then quits. Implies --editor and --quit.
--export-release <preset> <path>	Export the project using the given preset and matching release template. The preset name should match one defined in export_presets.cfg. <path> should be absolute or relative to the project directory, and include the filename for the binary (e.g. 'builds/game.exe'). The target directory should exist. Implies --import.
--export-debug <preset> <path>	Like --export-release, but use debug template. Implies --import.
--export-pack <preset> <path>	Like --export-release, but only export the game pack for the given preset. The <path> extension determines whether it will be in PCK or ZIP format. Implies --import.
--convert-3to4 [<max_file_kb>] [<max_line_size>]	Convert project from Godot 3.x to Godot 4.x.
--validate-conversion-3to4 [<max_file_kb>] [<max_line_size>]	Show what elements will be renamed when converting project from Godot 3.x to Godot 4.x.
--doctool [<path>]	Dump the engine API reference to the given <path> in XML format, merging if existing files are found.
--no-docbase	Disallow dumping the base types (used with --doctool).
--gdscript-docs <path>	Rather than dumping the engine API, generate API reference from the inline documentation in the GDScript files found in <path> (used with --doctool).
--build-solutions	Build the scripting solutions (e.g. for C# projects). Implies --editor and requires a valid project to edit.
--dump-gdextension-interface	Generate GDExtension header file 'gdnative_interface.h' in the current folder. This file is the base file required to implement a GDExtension.
--dump-extension-api	Generate JSON dump of the Godot API for GDExtension bindings named 'extension_api.json' in the current folder.
--validate-extension-api <path>	Validate an extension API file dumped (with the option above) from a previous version of the engine to ensure API compatibility. If incompatibilities or errors are detected, the return code will be non-zero.
--benchmark	Benchmark the run time and print it to console.
--benchmark-file <path>	Benchmark the run time and save it to a given file in JSON format. The path should be absolute.

Path

It is recommended to place your Godot editor binary in your PATH environment variable, so it can be executed easily from any place by typing godot. You can do so on Linux by placing the Godot binary in /usr/local/bin and making sure it is called godot (case-sensitive).

To achieve this on Windows or macOS easily, you can install Godot using Scoop (on Windows) or Homebrew (on macOS). This will automatically make the copy of Godot installed available in the PATH:

# Standard editor:
scoop install godot

# Editor with C# support (will be available as `godot-mono` in `PATH`):
scoop install godot-mono

Setting the project path

Depending on where your Godot binary is located and what your current working directory is, you may need to set the path to your project for any of the following commands to work correctly.

When running the editor, this can be done by giving the path to the project.godot file of your project as either the first argument, like this:

godot path_to_your_project/project.godot [other] [commands] [and] [args]

For all commands, this can be done by using the --path argument:

godot --path path_to_your_project [other] [commands] [and] [args]

For example, the full command for exporting your game (as explained below) might look like this:

godot --headless --path path_to_your_project --export-release my_export_preset_name game.exe

When starting from a subdirectory of your project, use the --upwards argument for Godot to automatically find the project.godot file by recursively searching the parent directories.

For example, running a scene (as explained below) nested in a subdirectory might look like this when your working directory is in the same path:

godot --upwards nested_scene.tscn

Creating a project

Creating a project from the command line can be done by navigating the shell to the desired place and making a project.godot file.

mkdir newgame
cd newgame
touch project.godot

The project can now be opened with Godot.

Running the editor

Running the editor is done by executing Godot with the -e flag. This must be done from within the project directory or by setting the project path as explained above, otherwise the command is ignored and the Project Manager appears.

godot -e

When passing in the full path to the project.godot file, the -e flag may be omitted.

If a scene has been created and saved, it can be edited later by running the same code with that scene as argument.

godot -e scene.tscn

Erasing a scene

Godot is friends with your filesystem and will not create extra metadata files. Use rm to erase a scene file. Make sure nothing references that scene. Otherwise, an error will be thrown upon opening the project.

rm scene.tscn

Running the game

To run the game, execute Godot within the project directory or with the project path as explained above.

godot

Note that passing in the project.godot file will always run the editor instead of running the game.

When a specific scene needs to be tested, pass that scene to the command line.

godot scene.tscn

Debugging

Catching errors in the command line can be a difficult task because they scroll quickly. For this, a command line debugger is provided by adding -d. It works for running either the game or a single scene.

godot -d

godot -d scene.tscn

Exporting

Exporting the project from the command line is also supported. This is especially useful for continuous integration setups.

INFO

Using the --headless command line argument is required on platforms that do not have GPU access (such as continuous integration). On platforms with GPU access, --headless prevents a window from spawning while the project is exporting.

# `godot` must be a Godot editor binary, not an export template.
# Also, export templates must be installed for the editor
# (or a valid custom export template must be defined in the export preset).
godot --headless --export-release "Linux/X11" /var/builds/project
godot --headless --export-release Android /var/builds/project.apk

The preset name must match the name of an export preset defined in the project's export_presets.cfg file. If the preset name contains spaces or special characters (such as "Windows Desktop"), it must be surrounded with quotes.

To export a debug version of the game, use the --export-debug switch instead of --export-release. Their parameters and usage are the same.

To export only a PCK file, use the --export-pack option followed by the preset name and output path, with the file extension, instead of --export-release or --export-debug. The output path extension determines the package's format, either PCK or ZIP.

WARNING

When specifying a relative path as the path for --export-release, --export-debug or --export-pack, the path will be relative to the directory containing the project.godot file, not relative to the current working directory.

Running a script

It is possible to run a .gd script from the command line. This feature is especially useful in large projects, e.g. for batch conversion of assets or custom import/export.

The script must inherit from SceneTree or MainLoop.

Here is an example sayhello.gd, showing how it works:

#!/usr/bin/env -S godot -s
extends SceneTree

func _init():
    print("Hello!")
    quit()

And how to run it:

# Prints "Hello!" to standard output.
godot -s sayhello.gd

If no project.godot exists at the path, current path is assumed to be the current working directory (unless --path is specified).

The first line of sayhello.gd above is commonly referred to as a shebang. If the Godot binary is in your PATH as godot, it allows you to run the script as follows in modern Linux distributions, as well as macOS:

# Mark script as executable.
chmod +x sayhello.gd
# Prints "Hello!" to standard output.
./sayhello.gd

If the above doesn't work in your current version of Linux or macOS, you can always have the shebang run Godot straight from where it is located as follows:

#!/usr/bin/godot -s