Neo Godot Tools

Godot development tools for Visual Studio Code with local-first GDScript intelligence, incremental project indexing, documentation, debugging, and Godot Language Server integration.

Independent project: Neo Godot Tools is a substantially modified derivative of the original Godot Tools VS Code extension. It is not an official Godot Engine project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Godot Foundation. See Provenance and Notices for details.

• Features
• Compatibility
• Installation
• Release channels
• Commands
• Configuration
• Architecture
• Support
• Issues and contributions
• License and provenance
• FAQ
  • Why does it fail to connect to the language server?
  • Why isn't IntelliSense displaying script members?
  • Can Godot reload external script changes automatically?
  • Why isn't drag and shift-drop working on Linux?

Features

• GDScript (.gd) language features
  • syntax highlighting
  • project-symbol definition lookup
  • Godot native class and member documentation lookup
  • res:// resource links and hover previews
  • builtin code formatter
  • autocompletion
  • local semantic analysis for project symbols
  • incremental indexing for responsive project-wide language features
  • typed GDScript support
  • optional Smart Mode for dynamically typed scripts
  • function and variable hover information, including doc-comments
  • scene/script switching (Alt+O by default)
  • script warnings and errors
• GDScript Debugger
  • breakpoints, exceptions, and stepping
  • variable watch and call stack
  • current project/current file/pinned file launch targets
  • active scene tree and inspector
  • editable primitive values in the inspector
• GDResource (.tscn, .tres, and related resources)
  • syntax highlighting
  • symbol and resource definition lookup
  • hover previews for external and sub-resources
  • inlay hints
  • in-editor Scene Preview
• GDShader (.gdshader) syntax highlighting

Compatibility

Godot 3 releases older than 3.6 are outside the automated release-validation matrix. Other Godot 4 releases may work, but are not individually covered by the CI matrix.

Installation

Visual Studio Marketplace

The Marketplace is the recommended installation channel because it provides normal extension update handling.

• Neo Godot Tools on Visual Studio Marketplace

GitHub Releases

Stable VSIX packages are also attached to GitHub Releases. This is useful when installing a specific version or testing a package outside the Marketplace.

Development builds

Development builds are produced by GitHub Actions. They are intended for development and validation rather than normal production use.

To install a VSIX manually, use VS Code's Extensions → ... → Install from VSIX... command.

Release channels

Neo Godot Tools deliberately separates its release channels:

• GitHub Release — the canonical repository release artifact. Stable tags use vX.Y.Z; development tags use vX.Y.Z.devN and are published as GitHub pre-releases.
• Visual Studio Marketplace — stable releases only. Marketplace publication is performed by a dedicated GitHub Actions workflow using VS Code Marketplace OIDC trusted publishing; it does not use a long-lived Azure DevOps PAT.

GitHub Releases and Marketplace publication are therefore independently automated and can be diagnosed independently.

Commands

Commands are grouped under Neo Godot Tools in the VS Code Command Palette.

• Open workspace with Godot editor
• Open EditorSettings
• Start or stop the GDScript Language Server
• List Godot native classes
• Inspect and refresh debugger views
• Debug the current or pinned scene/script
• Pin and unpin scene files
• Open Scene Preview and related resources
• Switch between a scene and its script
• Copy resource paths

Configuration

Godot editor integration

To use VS Code as the external script editor in Godot:

1. Open Editor Settings.
2. Select Text Editor → External.
3. Enable Use External Editor.
4. Set the VS Code executable as Exec Path.
5. Use {project} --goto {file}:{line}:{col} as Exec Flags.

For automatic reloads, also review Godot's external-change and focus-loss settings.

VS Code settings

Extension settings use the neoGodotTools.* namespace:

• neoGodotTools.editorPath.godot3
• neoGodotTools.editorPath.godot4
• neoGodotTools.editor.verbose
• neoGodotTools.editor.revealTerminal
• neoGodotTools.lsp.serverHost
• neoGodotTools.lsp.serverPort
• neoGodotTools.lsp.headless
• neoGodotTools.lsp.autoReconnect.*
• neoGodotTools.documentation.*
• neoGodotTools.formatter.*
• neoGodotTools.scenePreview.*
• neoGodotTools.inlayHints.*

When the selected Godot version supports headless LSP operation, Neo Godot Tools can launch a windowless Godot process for the language server.

Architecture

Neo Godot Tools is no longer a thin wrapper around the upstream Godot Tools architecture. The current implementation is organized around a local-first language intelligence pipeline:

VS Code extension
       │
       ├── Local GDScript semantic analysis
       │        └── Incremental project index
       │
       ├── Godot resource / scene / shader tooling
       │
       ├── Debugger and editor integration
       │
       └── Godot LSP
              └── advanced semantic fallback / engine integration

Detailed design and development documents are available in docs/:

• Development roadmap
• Semantic architecture
• LSP architecture
• Semantic benchmarking
• Performance profiling
• LSP call audit

Support

See SUPPORT.md for the supported-version matrix, troubleshooting guidance, and issue-reporting requirements.

Issues and contributions

Neo Godot Tools is an open-source community project derived from the Godot VS Code tooling ecosystem. Bug reports, feature requests, documentation fixes, and focused pull requests are welcome.

Before opening an issue, check the FAQ, SUPPORT.md, and changelog.

For development workflow details, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

License and provenance

Neo Godot Tools is distributed under the MIT License. The project preserves the upstream Godot Tools copyright and license terms while adding copyright to original Neo Godot Tools modifications and contributions.

• LICENSE
• NOTICE.md
• Upstream: godotengine/godot-vscode-plugin

FAQ

Why does it fail to connect to the language server?

• Verify that the installed Godot version is supported by the project; Godot 3.6.2 and current CI-covered Godot 4 versions are the release-validation targets.
• Open the project in the Godot editor before opening it in VS Code.
• If the editor was started after VS Code, retry the language-server connection.
• Verify that the LSP host and port match between Godot and VS Code.

Why isn't IntelliSense displaying script members?

GDScript is gradually typed, so some dynamic code cannot be resolved statically. Neo Godot Tools resolves many project-level symbols locally, while ambiguous or engine-dependent cases can still fall back to Godot's Language Server. Static typing generally improves result quality.

Can Godot reload external script changes automatically?

Review these Godot Editor Settings:

• Text Editor → Behavior → Files → Auto Reload Scripts on External Change
• Interface → Editor → Save on Focus Loss
• Interface → Editor → Import Resources When Unfocused

Why isn't drag and shift-drop working on Linux?

This can occur when VS Code is running under Wayland. If necessary, add --ozone-platform=x11 to the VS Code launch flags so it runs through XWayland.