Storage Paths and Files

Godot Launcher keeps user-selected project/editor locations separate from small configuration files.

Default folders

Purpose	Default path
New projects	<home>/Godot/Projects
Downloaded editor installs	<home>/Godot/Editors
Launcher config files	<home>/.gd-launcher

On Windows, <home> is your user profile folder, such as C:\Users\You. On Linux and macOS, <home> is your home directory, such as /home/you or /Users/you.

You can change the project and editor install locations from Launcher Settings.

Config files

Godot Launcher stores small internal files in the config folder:

File	Purpose
prefs.json	User preferences such as paths, language, update settings, and launch behavior.
releases.json	Cached official stable Godot release metadata.
prereleases.json	Cached official prerelease metadata.
installed-releases.json	Registered official and custom editor installs.
migrations.json	Internal migration state.

warning

These files are launcher-managed. Edit them manually only when you are recovering from a specific problem and have a backup.

Project files

Godot Launcher expects each imported or created project to have a project.godot file.

The launcher does not move existing projects when you add them. It stores a record that points to the existing folder.

Per-project editor settings

Godot Launcher isolates Godot editor settings per project and editor version.

The settings file name follows this pattern:

editor_settings-<major.minor>.tres

For the full explanation, see Editor Settings Per Project.

Custom editor manifests

Custom-built Godot editors are registered from:

godotlauncher-editor-manifest.json

For the manifest shape, see Custom Editor Manifest Format.