Use a tagged release from the Releases tab when the repository has one. Godot's documentation says that route gives you a version the author declared stable. Download ZIP of the latest revision is the fallback, and it makes your build depend on whatever happened to be committed that day.
What the documentation says
Godot's guide to installing plugins says the preferred place to find plugins is the Asset Library, and that you can also find them on code hosting sites such as GitHub. To install, download the plugin as a ZIP archive. On GitHub, if a plugin declares tags, go to the Releases tab for a stable release, since that is a version declared stable by its author. If there are no tags, use Download ZIP for the latest revision.
Then extract the archive and move its addons folder into your project. The guide notes that merging into an existing addons folder will not overwrite files. To enable the plugin, open Project Settings, go to the Plugins tab and tick Enable. No editor restart is needed.
Why the difference matters
A tag is a name for a specific commit. The latest revision is a moving target. Two developers installing a week apart from Download ZIP may get different code with the same plugin name. That breaks reproducibility and makes review meaningless, because you cannot say which version you reviewed.
It also matters for incident response. When an advisory names a version range, you can only answer whether you are affected if you know which version you hold.
A routine that takes ten minutes
- Prefer the Asset Library or a tagged release. If neither exists, note that in your record and consider whether the plugin is mature enough.
- Copy the tag name and, if you can, the commit it points to.
- Download, extract and read the code for editor scripts and compiled libraries. See the post on tool scripts.
- Commit the addons folder to your repository in its own pull request, with the tag in the message.
- Add an inventory row: name, tag, commit, source URL, license, date, reviewer.
- Because Godot merges folders without overwriting, an update can leave stale files behind. When updating, delete the old addon folder first, then add the new one, and review the full diff.
That last step is an inference from how merging works, not a quote from the guide, so test it in your own project.
Vendoring or fetching?
The installing guide describes copying addon files into your project folder, so committing those files to your repository is how you make the version repeatable. That also makes your scanner and reviewers able to read it. For the wider picture of copied-in code, see engines, middleware and asset packs.
Quick check
Where does Godot say to download a stable plugin version?
From the Releases tab on GitHub when the plugin declares tags, as that version was declared stable by its author.
Do I need to restart the editor after enabling a plugin?
According to the guide, no. You can use it right after enabling it, and disabling also needs no restart.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
