Godot Resources (4.x)

Model game data as reusable, Inspector-editable Resource objects instead of hard-coded values, and load/save them as .tres/.res. Targets Godot 4.7.

When to use

• Use when representing items, stats, enemy configs, dialogue lines, or level metadata as data; authoring .tres files in the Inspector; or loading/saving custom resources.

When not to use: nodes/scene structure → godot-nodes-scenes; saving the player's runtime progress (engine-agnostic save format/slots) → save-systems; the C# variant of this pattern → godot-csharp.

Core workflow

1. Subclass Resource with class_name and @export fields. It now appears in the "New Resource" dialog and as an @export type, editable in the Inspector.
2. Create instances as .tres files in the FileSystem dock (text, diff-friendly) or .res (binary, smaller/faster). Edit their fields in the Inspector, no code needed.
3. Reference resources from nodes via @export var data: ItemResource, or arrays @export var loot: Array[ItemResource].
4. Load at runtime with preload (constant path) or load/ResourceLoader.load (variable path). Use threaded loading for large assets.
5. Duplicate before mutating a shared resource at runtime, or every node using it changes too (resources are shared references).
6. Save generated/edited resources with ResourceSaver.save.

Patterns

1. A custom data resource

# item.gd
extends Resource
class_name ItemResource

@export var id: StringName = &""
@export var display_name: String = "Item"
@export_multiline var description: String = ""
@export var icon: Texture2D
@export var max_stack: int = 99
@export var value: int = 0

Create sword.tres from this class in the FileSystem dock and fill it in the Inspector.

2. Consume resources from a node

extends Node
@export var starting_items: Array[ItemResource] = []   # drag .tres files in the Inspector