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Contributors guidelines

This document summarizes the most important points for people interested in contributing to Godot, especially via bug reports or pull requests.

The Godot documentation has a dedicated Contributing section which details these points and more, and is a recommended read.

Table of contents

Reporting bugs

Report bugs here. Please follow the instructions in the template when you do.

Notably, please include a Minimal Reproduction Project (MRP), which is a small Godot project which reproduces the issue, with no unnecessary files included. Be sure to not include the .godot folder in the archive to save space.

Make sure that the bug you are experiencing is reproducible in the latest Godot releases. You can find an overview of all Godot releases on the website to confirm whether your current version is the latest one. It's worth testing against both the latest stable release and the latest dev snapshot for the next Godot release.

If you run into a bug which wasn't present in an earlier Godot version (what we call a regression), please mention it and clarify which versions you tested (both the one(s) working and the one(s) exhibiting the bug).

Proposing features or improvements

The main issue tracker is for bug reports and does not accept feature proposals.

Instead, head to the Godot Proposals repository and follow the instructions in the README file and issue template.

Contributing pull requests

If you want to add new engine features, please make sure that:

  • This functionality is desired, which means that it solves a common use case that several users will need in their real-life projects.
  • You talked to other developers on how to implement it best. See also Proposing features or improvements.
  • Even if it doesn't get merged, your PR is useful for future work by another developer.

Similar rules can be applied when contributing bug fixes - it's always best to discuss the implementation in the bug report first if you are not 100% about what would be the best fix.

You can refer to the Pull request review process for insights into the intended lifecycle of pull requests. This should help you ensure that your pull request fulfills the requirements.

In addition to the following tips, also take a look at the Engine development guide for an introduction to developing on Godot.

The Contributing docs also have important information on the PR workflow (with a helpful guide for Git usage), and our Code style guidelines which all contributions need to follow.

Be mindful of your commits

Try to make simple PRs that handle one specific topic. Just like for reporting issues, it's better to open 3 different PRs that each address a different issue than one big PR with three commits. This makes it easier to review, approve, and merge the changes independently.

When updating your fork with upstream changes, please use git pull --rebase to avoid creating "merge commits". Those commits unnecessarily pollute the git history when coming from PRs.

Also try to make commits that bring the engine from one stable state to another stable state, i.e. if your first commit has a bug that you fixed in the second commit, try to merge them together before making your pull request. This includes fixing build issues or typos, adding documentation, etc.

See our PR workflow documentation for tips on using Git, amending commits and rebasing branches.

This Git style guide also has some good practices to have in mind.

Format your commit messages with readability in mind

The way you format your commit messages is quite important to ensure that the commit history and changelog will be easy to read and understand. A Git commit message is formatted as a short title (first line) and an extended description (everything after the first line and an empty separation line).

The short title is the most important part, as it is what will appear in the changelog or in the GitHub interface unless you click the "expand" button. Try to keep that first line under 72 characters, but you can go slightly above if necessary to keep the sentence clear.

It should be written in English, starting with a capital letter, and usually with a verb in imperative form. A typical bugfix would start with "Fix", while the addition of a new feature would start with "Add". A prefix can be added to specify the engine area affected by the commit. Some examples:

  • Add C# iOS support
  • Show doc tooltips when hovering properties in the theme editor
  • Fix GLES3 instanced rendering color and custom data defaults
  • Core: Fix Object::has_method() for script static methods

If your commit fixes a reported issue, please include it in the description of the commit (not in the title) using one of the GitHub closing keywords such as "Fixes #1234". This will cause the issue to be closed automatically if the PR is merged.

Here's an example of a well-formatted commit message (note how the extended description is also manually wrapped at 80 chars for readability):

Prevent French fries carbonization by fixing heat regulation

When using the French fries frying module, Godot would not regulate the heat
and thus bring the oil bath to supercritical liquid conditions, thus causing
unwanted side effects in the physics engine.

By fixing the regulation system via an added binding to the internal feature,
this commit now ensures that Godot will not go past the ebullition temperature
of cooking oil under normal atmospheric conditions.

Fixes #1340.

Note: When using the GitHub online editor or its drag-and-drop feature, please edit the commit title to something meaningful. Commits named "Update my_file.cpp" won't be accepted.

Document your changes

If your pull request adds methods, properties or signals that are exposed to scripting APIs, you must update the class reference to document those. This is to ensure the documentation coverage doesn't decrease as contributions are merged.

Update documentation XML files using your compiled binary, then fill in the descriptions. Follow the style guide described in the Documentation writing guidelines.

If your pull request modifies parts of the code in a non-obvious way, make sure to add comments in the code as well. This helps other people understand the change without having to dive into the Git history.

Write unit tests

When fixing a bug or contributing a new feature, we recommend including unit tests in the same commit as the rest of the pull request. Unit tests are pieces of code that compare the output to a predetermined expected result to detect regressions. Tests are compiled and run on GitHub Actions for every commit and pull request.

Pull requests that include tests are more likely to be merged, since we can have greater confidence in them not being the target of regressions in the future.

For bugs, the unit tests should cover the functionality that was previously broken. If done well, this ensures regressions won't appear in the future again. For new features, the unit tests should cover the newly added functionality, testing both the "success" and "expected failure" cases if applicable.

Feel free to contribute standalone pull requests to add new tests or improve existing tests as well.

See Unit testing for information on writing tests in Godot's C++ codebase.

Contributing to Godot translations

You can contribute to Godot translations on Hosted Weblate, an open source and web-based translation platform.

Please refer to our editor and documentation localization guidelines for an overview of the translation resources and what they correspond to.

Communicating with developers

The Godot Engine community has many communication channels, some used more for user-level discussions and support, others more for development discussions.

To communicate with developers (e.g. to discuss a feature you want to implement or a bug you want to fix), the following channels can be used:

  • Godot Contributors Chat: You will find most core developers there, so it's the go-to platform for direct chat about Godot Engine development. Browse the Directory for an overview of public channels focusing on various engine areas which you might be interested in.
  • Bug tracker: If there is an existing issue about a topic you want to discuss, you can participate directly. If not, you can open a new issue. Please mind the guidelines outlined above for bug reporting.
  • Feature proposals: To propose a new feature, we have a dedicated issue tracker for that. Don't hesitate to start by talking about your idea on the Godot Contributors Chat to make sure that it makes sense in Godot's context.

Thanks for your interest in contributing!

—The Godot development team