Build from source

Lothal is open source. These are the steps from the repository README; if the two ever disagree, the README is right.

What you need

• Godot 4.7 or later
• A Rust toolchain

Build and run

git clone https://github.com/OneWeekendAI/lothal.git
cd lothal/rust
cargo build --release
cd ..
mkdir -p build
cp rust/target/release/liblothal_core.dylib build/   # macOS
# cp rust/target/release/liblothal_core.so build/    # Linux
# copy rust\target\release\lothal_core.dll build\    # Windows
godot project.godot

The physics runs in a Rust library (the “core”), so that library must be in build/ before Godot starts. Then press F5 in the Godot editor to run Lothal.

If Godot reports errors about missing functions or a missing GDExtension library, the core is not in build/, or it was built for a different platform. Rebuild it and copy it again.

Run the tests

Run the test suite headless. Every check must pass:

tools/run_tests_safe.sh      # macOS / Linux
tools/run_tests_safe.ps1     # Windows

Next

Contributing covers bug reports and pull requests.