GodotLite

Minimal Godot 4 export templates for shipping smaller games and apps.

Official Godot export templates include every engine feature — 3D, Vulkan, XR, advanced text shaping, and dozens of modules — whether your project uses them or not. GodotLite provides pre-built export templates with all of that stripped out, resulting in significantly smaller exports.

Usage

1. Download the export template for your platform from the Releases page
2. Open your project in the Godot editor
3. Go to Project > Export
4. Select your export preset
5. Under Custom Template, set Release to the path of the downloaded template
6. Export your project as usual

What's removed

Compared to official Godot export templates, GodotLite removes:

• 3D engine — for 2D-only projects
• Vulkan renderer — uses GL Compatibility instead
• XR/VR/AR support
• ZIP archive support
• Advanced text shaping — no right-to-left or complex script support (uses the fallback text server)
• Deprecated API wrappers
• All optional modules not explicitly enabled

If your project depends on any of the above, use the official Godot export templates or build custom templates from source (see Development below).

Development

This section is for contributors or anyone who wants to build custom templates from source.

How it works

Godot's build system supports a custom.py file that overrides default build options. GodotLite ships a custom.py that:

1. Disables all modules by default (modules_enabled_by_default = "no")
2. Re-enables only the modules your project needs (GDScript, FreeType, etc.)
3. Strips unused engine subsystems (3D, Vulkan, XR)
4. Optimizes for size (optimize = "size", full LTO)

The build script clones a pinned Godot version (currently 4.5), copies custom.py into the source tree, and runs scons to produce the templates.

Requirements

• git
• scons
• A C/C++ toolchain for your platform (g++/clang)
• Godot build dependencies for your OS (see the official compiling docs)

Building

./build.sh              # all platforms
./build.sh linux        # Linux x86_64 only
./build.sh windows      # Windows x86_64 (cross-compile)
./build.sh macos        # macOS universal binary

Templates are output to godot/bin/.

Customizing custom.py

The default configuration is tuned for a 2D app using the GL Compatibility renderer. Adjust it to fit your needs:

If your project uses 3D, change or remove:

disable_3d = "yes"  # remove this line or set to "no"

If your project uses Vulkan, change:

vulkan = "no"       # set to "yes"
use_volk = "no"     # set to "yes"

Enable or disable modules depending on what your project actually uses. The key pattern is:

# Disable everything first
modules_enabled_by_default = "no"

# Then enable only what you need
module_gdscript_enabled = "yes"
module_freetype_enabled = "yes"
# ... add or remove modules as needed

Common modules you might want to enable:

Module	What it provides
module_gdscript_enabled	GDScript language
module_mono_enabled	C# language support
module_freetype_enabled	Font rendering
module_svg_enabled	SVG image support
module_webp_enabled	WebP image support
module_websocket_enabled	WebSocket networking
module_mbedtls_enabled	TLS for HTTPS/WSS
module_regex_enabled	Regular expressions
module_godot_physics_2d_enabled	2D physics
module_godot_physics_3d_enabled	3D physics
module_navigation_enabled	Pathfinding/navigation
module_multiplayer_enabled	High-level multiplayer API

A full list of modules is available in the modules/ directory of the Godot source, or in the Godot build option docs.