godot-go — Write your game in Go. Ship it with Godot.

Why godot-go

Everything a Go developer needs to ship real games on a real engine

Mix Go with GDScript

Two languages, one project. Keep GDScript for UI, glue, and fast iteration; drop to Go for the heavy systems. They interoperate through Godot's class system, so you adopt Go one system at a time — no rewrite required.

Shared Game & Server Logic

Your gameplay lives in Go, so the same packages — data models, validation, game rules — run on an authoritative multiplayer server too. One language from client to backend, types reused across the wire.

Go Standard Library

The Go standard library ships with encoding/json, net/http, crypto, testing, and runtime/pprof — batteries included, plus a decade of battle-tested packages.

Get Started

Linux and Windows prerequisites verified against the project's CI (Go 1.26.x · Godot 4.7-stable); macOS follows the Makefile.

Linux

Prerequisites

Go ≥ 1.26 — compiler and toolchain for the bindings. CI pins 1.26.5.
C compiler (cgo) — build-essential (gcc).
GNU make — drives generate, build, and test.
Godot 4.7-stable — header dumps and headless tests; on PATH or via GODOT.
clang-format optional — formats the generated C/H bindings; the build skips it silently when absent.
goimports optional — tidies the generated Go sources; install with make installdeps.

debian / ubuntu

$ sudo apt-get install -y build-essential clang-format

Windows

Prerequisites

Go ≥ 1.26 — compiler and toolchain for the bindings. CI pins 1.26.5.
C compiler (cgo) — mingw-w64 (gcc), from your dev environment.
GNU make + bash — all targets run under bash (Git Bash).
Godot 4.7-stable win64 — point GODOT at the .exe.
clang-format optional — formats the generated C/H bindings; the build skips it silently when absent.
goimports optional — tidies the generated Go sources; install with make installdeps.

scoop

$ scoop install wget unzip

mingw-w64 gcc and make come with your dev environment (runner-provided in CI).

macOS

Prerequisites

Makefile-derived · no upstream CI

Go ≥ 1.26 — compiler and toolchain for the bindings.
C compiler (cgo) — Xcode Command Line Tools (clang).
GNU make — drives generate, build, and test.
Godot 4.7-stable macOS — on PATH or via GODOT.
clang-format optional — formats the generated C/H bindings; the build skips it silently when absent.
goimports optional — tidies the generated Go sources; install with make installdeps.

homebrew

$ brew install go clang-format
$ brew install --cask godot

xcode tools · one-time

$ xcode-select --install

Homebrew can't install the Xcode Command Line Tools (clang) — run xcode-select --install once; Homebrew itself needs them. The godot cask symlinks the binary onto your PATH.

go module · all platforms

$ go get github.com/godot-go/godot-go

Build & Test

Generate the bindings, build the native library, then run the demo.

build

$ make generate && make build

test

$ make test

FAQ

The questions every Go developer asks first

Is the API stable?

The API is experimental and evolving toward 1.0. It firms up as we approach release — pin your versions and read the changelog before updating.

Will Go's garbage collector tank my frame rate?

Go's concurrent collector pauses are sub-millisecond. For hot paths, reuse allocations with sync.Pool, keep game state in structs, and profile — your 60 fps stays safe.

Which Godot versions are supported?

Godot 4, through the GDExtension API. godot-go plugs into the engine as a native extension via cgo — no fork, no patching the engine.

Do I give up the Godot editor?

Nope. The editor, scenes, assets, and workflow stay exactly as you know them. Only your gameplay logic changes — from GDScript to Go.

How is performance versus GDScript or C#?

Your game logic compiles to native code and runs at native speed while the engine handles rendering. Heavy simulation, AI, and data crunching are exactly where Go shines.