Anvil

Anvil is a Godot 4 (C#) editor plugin that generates compile-time safe StringName constants for the names and paths your project already has — tracked folders, global groups, input actions, and audio buses — so you stop typing raw strings by hand and stop finding out about typos at runtime.

Why

Referencing resources, groups, actions, and buses by raw string is fragile:

// note: you can use UID instead, this is just an option when working with raw file paths
GD.Load<AudioStream>("res://sfx/planted.wav"); // typo-prone, breaks silently if the file moves

AddToGroup("enimies"); // no compiler error, just a bug
Input.IsActionPressed("interact"); // same risk if the action gets renamed

Anvil scans folders you choose, plus your project's global groups, input actions, and audio buses, and generates a single Storage class with strongly-typed StringName constants for everything it finds:

using Anvil;

GD.Load<AudioStream>(Storage.Sfx.Planted);
AddToGroup(Storage.GlobalGroups.Enemies);
Input.IsActionPressed(Storage.InputActions.Interact);

Rename a file, delete a folder, or mistype an ID, and you get a compile error instead of a silent runtime bug.

Features

• Folder tracking — right-click any folder in the FileSystem dock and choose Track with Anvil... to generate an ID for every file inside it.
• Two generation modes per tracked folder:
  • Id — constants are just the file's base name (Storage.Sfx.Planted), plus a HintString for use with [Export(PropertyHint.Enum, ...)].
  • FullPath — constants are the full res:// path to the file, useful when you need to Load() it directly.
• Recursive scanning — optionally include subfolders.
• Global groups — every group declared in Project Settings → Globals → Groups is generated automatically as Storage.GlobalGroups.*, no tracking required.
• Input actions — every custom action in Project Settings → Input Map is generated as Storage.InputActions.* (Godot's built-in ui_* actions are excluded), no tracking required.
• Audio buses — every bus in the current audio bus layout is generated as Storage.AudioBuses.*, no tracking required.

Installation

1. Copy the addons/anvil folder into your project's addons/ directory.
2. Enable the plugin under Project → Project Settings → Plugins.
3. Anvil will generate Storage.cs and anvil_rules.tres automatically on load, and again whenever you run Generate Anvil IDs from the Project → Tools menu.

Usage

Tracking a folder

Right-click any folder in the FileSystem dock and select Track with Anvil....

You'll be asked for:

Field	Description
Output Name	The name of the generated nested class, e.g. Sfx → Storage.Sfx
Recursive	Whether to include files in subfolders
Mode	Id or FullPath, as described above

Already-tracked folders show Edit Anvil Tracking... and Untrack from Anvil instead, so you can reconfigure or stop tracking a folder at any time.

Generating IDs

Anvil generates automatically on project load. To regenerate manually (e.g. after adding new files to a tracked folder), use Project → Tools → Generate Anvil IDs.

Using generated IDs

using Anvil;

GD.Load<AudioStream>(Storage.Sfx.Planted);
AddToGroup(Storage.GlobalGroups.Enemies);
Input.IsActionPressed(Storage.InputActions.Interact);
AudioServer.SetBusVolumeDb(AudioServer.GetBusIndex(Storage.AudioBuses.Music), -6f);

[Export(PropertyHint.Enum, Storage.Sfx.HintString)]
public string SoundId;

If you're referencing IDs from one folder repeatedly in a file, using static drops the Storage. prefix:

using static Anvil.Storage;

GD.Load<AudioStream>(Sfx.Planted);
AddToGroup(GlobalGroups.Enemies);

How it works

Anvil stores your tracked-folder configuration in res://addons/anvil/anvil_rules.tres — a plain Godot Resource (AnvilRuleSet, containing a list of AnvilRule), editable either through the context menu dialog or directly in the inspector.

On generation, Anvil:

1. Loads anvil_rules.tres.
2. Validates every rule — skipping (with a warning) any rule with an empty output name, a duplicate output name, or a folder that no longer exists.
3. Scans each valid tracked folder (respecting the Recursive flag and excluding .import/.uid files).
4. Scans declared global groups and input actions.
5. Reads the current audio bus layout from AudioServer.
6. Writes everything into res://addons/anvil/generated/Storage.cs.

File structure

addons/anvil/
├── plugin.cfg
├── AnvilPlugin.cs
├── anvil_rules.tres      # generated on first run
├── generated/            # generated on first run
│   └── Storage.cs
├── icons/
│   └── anvil_icon.svg
└── src/
    ├── AnvilContextMenu.cs
    ├── AnvilFileIO.cs
    ├── AnvilGenerator.cs
    ├── AnvilRule.cs
    ├── AnvilRuleManager.cs
    ├── AnvilRuleSet.cs
    ├── AnvilTrackFolderDialog.cs
    ├── AnvilValidator.cs
    └── ForgeMode.cs

Storage.cs is generated at runtime into res://addons/anvil/generated/ — not part of the repo itself.

Known limitations

• Renaming or moving a tracked folder in the FileSystem dock is not detected automatically — Anvil matches rules by exact string path, so a rename leaves the old rule pointing at a path that no longer exists (reported as a warning on generation) and the new location untracked. Re-track the new location and remove the stale rule manually.
• Storage.cs is regenerated in full every time — don't hand-edit it, your changes will be overwritten.

License

MIT