Skip to main content

How to Install Godot 4 on a Mac

In this article, I will show you how to install the Godot 4 game engine on a Mac.

How to Install Godot 4 on a Mac

From the Godot examples: 2D Grappling Hook running on a Mac.

In this article, I will show you how to install the Godot 4 game engine on a Mac.

Step 1. Install dotnet (optional)​

If you would like to be able to write or build Godot projects using C#, you will need to install dotnet first.  To do that, see my previous article:

Step 2. Download Godot 4​

To download Godot 4, do the following:

At the time of this writing, the build works for both types of Macs (Intel and Apple Silicon).  So you don't have to choose.

Step 3. Install Godot 4​

To install Godot 4, do the following:

  • Browse to the downloaded file in Finder
  • Double-click it in Finder to unzip it
  • Drag the .app to the Applications folder in the Finder sidebar

Later you can go into the Downloads folder and delete the zip file for cleanup.

Step 4. Start Godot 4​

To start Godot 4 for the first time, do the following:

  • In the Finder Applications window, double-click the Godot app
  • You will get a one-time warning that it was downloaded from the Internet
  • Click Open to get beyond the warning
  • In the Dock, find the app, right-click, and select Options > Keep in Dock
  • Back in the editor, you will get a popup that you don't have any projects
  • Click Open Asset Library - don't worry if you see nothing, let's fix that
  • Click Support (in the upper right of the window)
  • Click Community
  • The examples should appear

Leave that there for the next step.

Step 5. Download and run a demo​

Before you can download and run a demo, you have to create a folder for it.

  • Open up a terminal window
  • Run this command to create a folder for the demo:
mkdir -p ~/projects/godot/godot-demo

Look through the examples and find one marked "demo."

I selected the one labeled 2D Grappling Hook.

  • Select the demo
  • Click Download

You may get an error about not being able to save to the path before you do anything.

  • Click Browse and navigate to the folder that you created above
  • Click Select This Folder or if you clicked into it Select Current Folder
  • Click Install & Edit

The demo should load in the editor.

To run the demo, you should see a set of buttons near the top right of the editor. They will look like video controls.

  • Press the play button (it looks like a triangle)
  • Play around with the demo

Be aware that the demo is in its own window and may end up behind the editor.

Step 6. Setup the command line​

In this step, I will show you how to set up Godot to run from the command line on a Mac.

First, you need to determine the correct path to run Godot from the command line.

  • Open up a terminal window
  • Run this command and instead of hitting enter, hit the Tab key:
/Applications/Godot

In my case, when I hit the Tab key it expands to:

/Applications/Godot_mono.app/

If you got something different (like just Godot.appif you installed the non-C# version) substitute it in the path when running this command next:

echo 'alias godot="/Applications/Godot_mono.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot"' >> ~/.zprofile

This is assuming you are running zsh, which is typical for Macs these days.

  • Source the file with this command:
source ~/.zprofile

Verify that the alias is working by running this command:

which godot

In my case, that returns:

godot: aliased to /Applications/Godot_mono.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot

You can try commands like:

godot --version

or:

 godot --help

Step 7. Launch from the command line​

To launch from the command line do the following in a terminal window:

  • Change to the folder where you downloaded the demo:
cd ~/projects/godot/godot-demo

To launch just the build, run this command:

godot

To open the project in the editor, run this command:

godot -e

See the references section below for links to the command line tutorial.

Conclusion​

In this article, you learned how to:

  • Install and run Godot 4 on a Mac
  • Switch on community support to build and run the demos
  • Set it up to launch from the command line

References​

  • Godot Engine - [1]
  • Godot 4.0 sets sail - [2]
  • Godot Engine Download or macOS - [3]
  • Godot Demo Projects - [4]
  • Godot Command Line Tutorial - [5]
  • Your first 2D game - [6]
  • Godot Scripting C# - [7]
  • Godot Scripting Languages - [8]