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Defold

v0.1.4

Defold game engine support with bundled API docs, Lua language server, and code snippets

Updated 11 months ago
35k downloads 13 stars Repository ↗
Install in Zed

Zed Defold Extension

A Defold game engine extension for the Zed editor that provides Lua language support for Defold script files.

🚀 Installation

The easiest way to install this extension is to use Zed's "Install Dev Extension" feature, which handles compilation automatically:

  1. Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/whiterabbit1983/zed-defold.git
cd zed-defold

  1. Open Zed and install the dev extension:

    • Press Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+P (macOS)
    • Type zed: install dev extension
    • Select the command and navigate to this extension's directory
    • Zed will automatically compile and install the extension

  2. Done! The extension will appear in your installed extensions list.

Note: Zed will automatically install the required wasm32-wasip1 Rust target and compile the extension if needed. You can skip the manual steps below.

Manual Build and Installation (Advanced)

If you prefer to build manually or Zed's auto-compilation doesn't work:

  1. Install the WebAssembly target (if not already installed):
rustup target add wasm32-wasip1
  1. Build the extension:
cargo build --release --target wasm32-wasip1

This creates target/wasm32-wasip1/release/zed_defold.wasm

  1. Install using Zed:
    • Press Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+P (macOS)
    • Type zed: install dev extension
    • Navigate to this extension's directory
    • Zed will register the pre-built extension

Prerequisites

  • Rust (latest stable version) - for manual builds
  • Zed editor installed

Setup for Build Tasks

Prerequisites

  1. Install Defold: Download from https://defold.com/download/
  2. Install bob.jar: Defold's command-line build tool

Environment Variables

To use build tasks, add these to your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or Windows Environment Variables):

# Path to bob.jar (required for build tasks)
export BOB_JAR="/path/to/bob.jar"

# Defold credentials (optional, needed for cloud builds)
export DEFOLD_EMAIL="your.email@example.com"
export DEFOLD_AUTH="your_auth_token"

# Android signing (optional, for Android bundles)
export ANDROID_KEYSTORE="/path/to/keystore.keystore"
export ANDROID_KEYSTORE_PASS="your_password"
export ANDROID_KEYSTORE_ALIAS="your_alias"

# iOS signing (optional, for iOS bundles)
export IOS_IDENTITY="iPhone Developer: Your Name"
export IOS_PROVISIONING="/path/to/profile.mobileprovision"

Getting Your Auth Token

  1. Open Defold Editor
  2. Go to File → Preferences
  3. Copy your authentication token from the General tab

Alternative: Shell Scripts

If you prefer shell scripts over Zed tasks, create these in your project:

build.sh (macOS/Linux):

#!/bin/bash
java -jar "$BOB_JAR" \
  --email "$DEFOLD_EMAIL" \
  --auth "$DEFOLD_AUTH" \
  build

bundle.sh (macOS/Linux):

#!/bin/bash
PLATFORM=${1:-js-web}
java -jar "$BOB_JAR" \
  --email "$DEFOLD_EMAIL" \
  --auth "$DEFOLD_AUTH" \
  --platform "$PLATFORM" \
  --bundle-output build/bundle \
  --variant debug \
  resolve build bundle

Make them executable:

chmod +x build.sh bundle.sh

Then run from Zed's terminal:

./build.sh
./bundle.sh x86_64-win32

Available Platforms

  • js-web - HTML5
  • x86_64-win32 - Windows 64-bit
  • x86_64-macos / arm64-macos - macOS Intel/Apple Silicon
  • x86_64-linux - Linux 64-bit
  • arm64-android / armv7-android - Android
  • arm64-ios / x86_64-ios - iOS

Build Tasks

While Zed extensions don't support custom commands (yet), you can use Zed's task system to run Defold build commands:

Quick Install

Use the installer script from the scripts/ folder of this repository.

Run from your Defold project root:

Windows:

# From your Defold project root
path\to\zed-defold\scripts\install-tasks.ps1

Linux/macOS:

# From your Defold project root
/path/to/zed-defold/scripts/install-tasks.sh

Manual Setup (All platforms)

  1. Copy defold-tasks.json from this repository to .zed/tasks.json in your Defold project
  2. Set up environment variables (see Environment Variables section above)
  3. Run tasks via Ctrl+Shift+P → "task: spawn"

Available tasks:

  • Resolve Dependencies - Download project dependencies
  • Clean Build - Clean the build folder
  • Build - Build the project
  • Bundle - Bundle for HTML5, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS

Build Tasks Troubleshooting

"Could not find or load main class"

"Authentication required"

  • Set DEFOLD_EMAIL and DEFOLD_AUTH environment variables
  • Or remove --email and --auth from task arguments for local builds

"Keystore not found"

  • Check that keystore paths in environment variables are correct
  • Or remove keystore arguments from Android bundle tasks

Code Snippets

Note: Zed extensions do NOT support bundled snippets. Install them separately using the provided script.

Quick Install Snippets

Use the installer script from the scripts/ folder of this repository:

Windows:

path\to\zed-defold\scripts\install-snippets.ps1

Linux/macOS:

/path/to/zed-defold/scripts/install-snippets.sh

Manual Installation

If you prefer to install snippets manually:

Windows:

# Create snippets directory
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$env:APPDATA\Zed\snippets"

# Copy the snippets file
Copy-Item defold-snippets.json "$env:APPDATA\Zed\snippets\defold.json"

macOS:

# Create snippets directory
mkdir -p "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Zed/snippets"

# Copy the snippets file
cp defold-snippets.json "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Zed/snippets/defold.json"

Linux:

# Create snippets directory
mkdir -p ~/.config/zed/snippets

# Copy the snippets file
cp defold-snippets.json ~/.config/zed/snippets/defold.json

After installation, restart Zed or run zed: reload extensions.

Available Snippets

The extension provides 26 code snippets for common Defold patterns:

Lifecycle Functions

  • init - Initialize script
  • final - Finalization logic
  • update - Frame update
  • fixed_update - Fixed timestep update
  • on_message - Message handling
  • on_input - Input handling
  • on_reload - Hot-reload handling

GUI Functions

  • gui_init - GUI initialization
  • gui_on_message - GUI message handling
  • gui_on_input - GUI input handling

Common Patterns

  • factory_create - Create object from factory
  • go_animate - Animate game object
  • msg_post - Post message
  • go_property - Define script property
  • timer_delay - Create timer
  • http_request - HTTP request
  • acquire_input - Acquire input focus
  • collision_response - Handle collision
  • contact_point_response - Handle contact point
  • module - Lua module template

GUI Functions

  • gui_init - GUI initialization
  • gui_on_message - GUI message handling
  • gui_on_input - GUI input handling
  • gui_animate - Animate GUI node

Property Annotations

  • property - Define script property
  • class - Annotate script class
  • field - Add field annotation
  • selftype - Annotate self parameter
  • script_template - Complete script with properties

Usage Example

Type init and press Tab (or Enter) to insert:

function init(self)
    -- Initialization logic
end

No external dependencies needed! Everything is bundled in the project.

Troubleshooting

License

Apache-2.0

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

ZedExt An unofficial community project. Not affiliated with Zed Industries.

Data from Zed’s extension registry and GitHub · updated

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