GDScript Code Sandbox

How to use these snippets in a real project

Every snippet on this page is a complete script for one node. To use one, create the node type named in its extends line, select that node in the Scene dock, click Attach Script in the Inspector, and paste the snippet over the template Godot generates. The script becomes that node's behaviour. There is no component to add afterwards and nothing to register anywhere, because in Godot the script belongs to the node it sits on.

If a snippet declares @export variables they appear in the Inspector the moment the file saves, which is where a designer tunes them without opening the script. That is the practical reason to mark a value as exported rather than leaving it a plain var: exported data is part of the scene, so two instances of the same script can carry different numbers.

The editor above gives you syntax highlighting, drafts saved in your own browser, and the structural checks in the panel beside it. It does not execute GDScript. The language is run by the Godot engine, and almost everything a script does depends on the scene tree around it, which only the real editor has. Draft here, then paste into a scene to watch it behave.

GDScript rules that catch C# developers out

• Indentation is the block. There are no braces and no semicolons. A function body, an if, and a for each open with a colon and are delimited by indentation. Mixing tabs and spaces inside one file is a parse error, not a style warning.
• := infers a type, = does not. var speed := 300.0 is a float from then on. var speed = 300.0 is a Variant that will happily accept a string later and fail somewhere else. Prefer the inferred form.
• Return types use an arrow. func take_damage(amount: int) -> void: gives you autocompletion and catches the same class of mistake the C# compiler would catch for free.
• $Path replaces GetComponent. $Sprite2D is shorthand for get_node("Sprite2D") and resolves against the scene tree by name, not against a type. Cache it once with @onready var sprite := $Sprite2D rather than looking it up every frame.
• Signals are declared, emitted, and connected. Write signal died, fire it with died.emit(), and listen with enemy.died.connect(_on_enemy_died). There is no delegate type to define and no event keyword.
• queue_free() is not Destroy. It frees the node at the end of the current frame, which is why a freed node still answers this frame and is gone the next. Use is_instance_valid() before touching a reference you may have freed.
• Frame callbacks are split. _process(delta) runs every rendered frame; _physics_process(delta) runs on the fixed physics tick and is the only correct place to set velocity and call move_and_slide().
• Arrays and dictionaries are built in. Array[int] gives a typed array, and dictionaries use {"key": value} literals. There is no using directive to add first.

Keep the GDScript cheat sheet open while you write, compare each pattern against its C# original in the Code Lab, or assemble the scene these scripts expect in the Scene Builder.