GodotLens

GodotLens: Godot's own view of your GDScript project

An MCP server that lets an AI agent ask Godot itself about your project — where a symbol is used, what a method's real signature is, whether an edit compiles, how a scene is wired — and run the game, look at it and drive it, so the agent can check that the game does what it meant without a person playing it.

Why

An agent editing GDScript from text alone is guessing. It cannot tell a call from a comment, cannot know which methods exist on a CharacterBody2D in your Godot version, cannot see that a signal handler is wired by name inside a .tscn, and cannot see what happened at runtime.

GodotLens never answers those questions itself. It asks the engine and returns the engine's answer. Measured on Godot 4.7.1, in a project where take_damage is defined in player.gd, called twice from enemy.gd, once from player.gd, and named in a comment:

That principle — delegate every judgement to Godot — is what makes the answers trustworthy, and it is why the tool names tell you where an answer came from. gdscript_* is the language server. scene_* and project_* run the engine on the project. debug_* is your editor's debugger. runtime_* is a game GodotLens launched and is connected to.

Requirements

Godot 4.6 is the floor because the language server changed materially at 4.5 (URI encoding) and 4.6 (document ownership). Older versions are refused with a clear message rather than silently misread.

Install

npx (recommended). The package bundles the server; there are no runtime dependencies.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "godotlens": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "godotlens-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

pip

pip install godotlens-mcp

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "godotlens": { "command": "godotlens-mcp" }
  }
}

How to run

Import Resources When Unfocused. The editor notices new and changed files only when its window gains focus. An agent-driven editor never gains focus, so a new class_name script stays unknown — every script using it reports the name as undeclared and the game fails to parse — and new assets stay unimported. With this setting on, the editor rescans every half second. It is interface/editor/behavior/import_resources_when_unfocused in 4.7 and interface/editor/import_resources_when_unfocused in 4.6; to set it for one project only, put the 4.6 name under [editor_overrides] in project.godot (4.7 migrates it on load). When a synced file names a class the editor has not registered, gdscript_sync_file waits briefly, then says which class and points here.

Games GodotLens launches. runtime_run starts the game with --remote-debug pointing at GodotLens, so the game connects to GodotLens the way it would to the editor's debugger. Games are headless by default — no window, no sound, nothing takes focus. Pass windowed: true only for runtime_screenshot: the window opens at a far-off position with audio muted, and is then moved fully off-screen, so at most a small corner may show for a moment. Script errors are reported and never stop the game. A game started this way ends when it is stopped, when GodotLens exits, and on Windows even if GodotLens is killed outright. Its log, like that of every engine run GodotLens starts, goes to a temporary file of its own: Godot keeps only the newest five logs per project, and your own play and test logs stay among them.

The helper. runtime_eval and runtime_input need code inside the game. GodotLens passes its own helper.gd to the game with --script for that run only; nothing is written to your project. Godot still loads your project's settings, input map and autoloads, and the helper opens the scene. A project that sets its own main loop type runs without it, and runtime_run with helper: false runs the game exactly as it is.

Several agents. Subagents in one Claude Code session share one GodotLens process (gdscript_status and runtime_status report its server_pid). Calls run concurrently, so a long runtime_run or scene check does not hold up anyone else's query, and each agent can run its own game with runtime_run (GODOT_RUNTIME_MAX_SESSIONS, default 4). Two things are not coordinated: debug_run uses your editor's single run slot, so a second run stops the first; and two agents writing the same file overwrite each other — have one agent write at a time.

The loop

The tools are designed around one cycle. Read it once and the rest of this document is a reference.

flowchart LR
    U["<b>Understand</b><br/>gdscript_find<br/>gdscript_references<br/>gdscript_hover"]
    W["<b>Write</b><br/>gdscript_engine_api<br/>gdscript_complete<br/>gdscript_validate"]
    S["<b>Sync</b><br/>gdscript_sync_file"]
    V["<b>Verify</b><br/>gdscript_diagnostics<br/>scene_validate<br/>project_validate"]
    R["<b>Run</b><br/>runtime_run"]
    O["<b>Observe &amp; act</b><br/>runtime_tree · runtime_inspect<br/>runtime_output · runtime_eval<br/>runtime_input · runtime_screenshot"]

    U --> W --> S --> V --> R --> O
    O -- "fix, then runtime_reload" --> W
    O -- "something is wrong" --> U

    classDef step fill:#f5f7fa,stroke:#4a6785,stroke-width:1px,color:#1b2733;
    class U,W,S,V,R,O step;

1. Understand. gdscript_find locates a symbol by name; gdscript_references and gdscript_hover explain how it is used and what type it is.
2. Write. gdscript_engine_api gives real signatures instead of recalled ones, gdscript_complete offers scene-aware candidates, and gdscript_validate checks proposed content before it reaches disk.
3. Sync. Godot's language server does not watch the filesystem. After editing a .gd file, call gdscript_sync_file or it keeps answering from the old text.
4. Verify. gdscript_diagnostics for compile errors, scene_validate for what the compiler cannot see in a scene, project_validate after moving files.
5. Run. runtime_run starts the game and returns its first output and errors.
6. Observe and act. See the live tree and values, press inputs, evaluate expressions, take a screenshot; fix the code and runtime_reload it into the running game.

Two conventions apply throughout:

• All line and character parameters are 0-indexed, matching the LSP. Editor line 1 is line 0. gdscript_find exists partly so you rarely have to compute one by hand.
• Results carry a verified flag where it matters. verified: false with an empty diagnostics list means Godot never reported back — that is not a clean bill of health.

Tools

Understanding code

Writing code

Keeping Godot in step

Project and scenes

These run the Godot binary, so scenes resolve exactly as the engine builds them, inherited and instanced scenes included. They do not parse .tscn as text, and need no editor.

Debugger in your editor

Godot serves a Debug Adapter Protocol server from the editor, no addon required. These use the editor's own run slot — one game at a time — and are the way to set breakpoints.

Games GodotLens launches

runtime_run starts the game as its own process, connected straight back to GodotLens, so several agents can each run one at once and no editor is needed.

Limitations

Worth knowing before you trust a result.

What the language server cannot see

• It reads .gd files only. A signal handler wired in a .tscn [connection] block is invisible to it, so renaming that handler leaves the scene pointing at a method that no longer exists. This is why scene_validate exists and why gdscript_rename warns.
• Autoload and input action names are bare strings. GameState.add_score(1) and Input.is_action_pressed("jump") are validated by nothing at all. Check them against project_config before writing them.
• New files reach it only through the editor's filesystem scan (see How to run). The scan notices a folder only when its modification time changes, and Godot keeps those times in whole seconds, so a file created in the same second as a scan can be missed. When a new class is still unknown a second later, GodotLens creates and removes an empty hidden file (.godotlens-rescan) in that folder — the editor ignores dot-names — so the next scan re-reads it. Nothing else is written to your project.
• gdscript_references is expensive on 4.6+, reparsing every script in the project. Prefer gdscript_references_in_file when one file is enough.

Running games

• No pixels in a headless game. runtime_screenshot needs windowed: true, and runtime_step does too: Godot pauses again only after the next drawn frame.
• Hot reload covers scripts only. Edited .tscn files and new or changed assets need a restart. A script that fails to compile is disabled in the running game, so runtime_reload refuses one with errors — which needs the editor's language server to check; without an editor it reloads unchecked and says so.
• runtime_eval is Godot's Expression, not full GDScript: calls, operators and member access, no statements or assignment. Calls run for real.
• Breakpoints are only in your editor (debug_*). debug_evaluate works only while paused in a frame with a script instance; in a static function or at a parse-error break it is refused, because Godot would resume the game instead of answering.
• Godot rate-limits what a game reports (network/limits/debugger/* project settings): a game printing heavily has its output truncated by the engine.
• On Linux and macOS a game is stopped when GodotLens exits normally, but keeps running if GodotLens is killed outright. On Windows it is stopped either way (a job object).

Scene and project checks

• scene_* and project_config start your autoloads, as the game would, so a script that uses an autoload compiles. project_validate and runtime_monitors start nothing.
• Some scene mistakes are not visible to any engine API. An unknown property on a [sub_resource] is dropped by Godot while loading, before anything can ask about it.
• project_validate covers scenes and resources. A broken preload() or extends path in a script is a compile error, which gdscript_diagnostics reports.

One project, one editor. A second editor on the same project — a headless one beside your GUI editor, say — rewrites .godot/'s class cache from its own view and can drop classes the other registered. Attach GodotLens to the editor you have open.

Architecture

Four channels, one process. Each tool group maps to exactly one of them, which is how you know where an answer came from.

flowchart TD
    Agent["AI Agent<br/>(and its subagents)"]
    GL["<b>GodotLens</b><br/>MCP server · JSON-RPC 2.0<br/>Python 3.10+ · no dependencies"]

    Agent <-- "stdio" --> GL

    GL -- "TCP 6005<br/>language server" --> Editor
    GL -- "TCP 6006<br/>debug adapter" --> Editor
    GL -- "subprocess<br/>--headless --script" --> Binary
    Game -- "TCP, game connects back<br/>remote debugger protocol" --> GL

    Editor["<b>Godot Editor</b><br/>your open editor<br/><i>gdscript_* · debug_*</i>"]
    Binary["<b>Godot binary</b><br/>run on demand<br/><i>scene_* · project_*</i>"]
    Game["<b>Games GodotLens launched</b><br/>one process each<br/><i>runtime_*</i>"]

    classDef svc fill:#eef4fb,stroke:#4a6785,stroke-width:1px,color:#1b2733;
    classDef godot fill:#f3f0fb,stroke:#6b5b95,stroke-width:1px,color:#1b2733;
    class Agent,GL svc;
    class Editor,Binary,Game godot;

The MCP, LSP and DAP protocols and Godot's binary value format are implemented directly against the standard library, so the package has zero runtime dependencies and the npm bundle is a handful of .py and .gd files.

Configuration

Contributing

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest -m "not integration"   # no Godot needed
ruff check .

Integration tests launch a real headless Godot and skip cleanly without one. The one test that opens a game window runs only when asked, or under a virtual display on Linux:

GODOT_BIN=/path/to/godot pytest -m integration
GODOTLENS_WINDOWED_TESTS=1 GODOT_BIN=/path/to/godot pytest -m windowed

CI runs the suite on Linux, Windows and macOS across Python 3.10–3.13, runs the integration tests against a real Godot on all three, and installs the built npm tarball and executes it.

License

Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE and NOTICE.