Godot CLI UID File Generation

generate-uid.sh

#!/usr/bin/env zsh

# Add the following line to your ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc depending on OS.
# alias godot-uid='/Users/username/path/to/script/generate-uid.sh "$PWD"'
# Then make this script executable with chmod +x generate-uid.sh
# You can run this in your Godot project directory root to auto-generate missing .uid files.
# If using AI, add a Cursor rule (.cursor/rules/godot-uids.mdc) so your editor knows to use it.
# Provides a handy output of newly created files too!

set -e  # bail on script errors

proj_dir="${1:-$PWD}"              # default to current dir if no arg

echo "🔧  Starting UID generation in $proj_dir …"

# ---------- 1) snapshot BEFORE ----------
tmp_before=$(mktemp)
find "$proj_dir" -type f -name '*.uid' | sort > "$tmp_before"

# ---------- 2) run Godot ----------
godot_log=$(godot -e --headless --path "$proj_dir" --quit 2>&1)
rc=$?

if (( rc != 0 )); then
    echo "❌  UID generation failed—full log below:" >&2
    echo "$godot_log" >&2
    rm -f "$tmp_before"
    exit $rc
fi

# ---------- 3) snapshot AFTER & diff ----------
tmp_after=$(mktemp)
find "$proj_dir" -type f -name '*.uid' | sort > "$tmp_after"

new_files=$(comm -13 "$tmp_before" "$tmp_after")   # only in AFTER set
rm -f "$tmp_before" "$tmp_after"

echo "✅  UIDs generated successfully."

if [[ -z $new_files ]]; then
    echo "ℹ️  No new .uid files were created."
    exit 0
fi

echo "🆕  New UID files:\
"
#echo "--------------------------------------------"
while IFS= read -r uid_file; do
    rel_path="${uid_file#$proj_dir/}"      # strip project prefix
    printf '%s: ' "$rel_path"
    cat "$uid_file"
done <<< "$new_files"
#echo "--------------------------------------------"

Add the following line to your ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc depending on OS.

alias godot-uid='/Users/username/path/to/script/generate-uid.sh "$PWD"'

Then make this script executable with chmod +x generate-uid.sh

You can run godot-uid command in your Godot project directory root to auto-generate missing .uid files.
If using AI, add a Cursor rule (.cursor/rules/godot-uids.mdc) so your editor knows to use it.
Provides a handy output of newly created files too!

Note: On MacOS you need to have created a symlink to your Godot executable like doing a command like this

sudo ln -s "/Users/username/path/to/Godot_mono.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot" /usr/local/bin/godot

Otherwise the godot command line won't be available. Linux should automatically have this as godot or godot4 (you'll need to update the command in the above script to work with godot4 version).