wind
March 13, 2026, 2:09am
1
Hi, i’m using external editor, is it possible to trigger hot reload on Defold Editor via http?
I want to make the editor reload when the some files are modified.
Thank you for the answer
External tools can connect to the running editor and interact with it using a REST API.
Editor HTTP API
===============
External tools can connect to the running editor and interact with it using a REST API.
> [!IMPORTANT]
> This HTTP API is currently in an experimental state. It might change drastically or even be removed completely if we deem it necessary. But hopefully, it shouldn't come to that.
### Overview
The editor exposes a local HTTP server while a project is open.
To quickly discover the current port, run the editor command `Help → Open Editor Server`. This opens the local server page in your browser.
Interact with it by sending HTTP requests to:
```
http://localhost:[port]/[endpoint]
```
Endpoint descriptions are available in the OpenAPI ([v3.0.3](https://spec.openapis.org/oas/v3.0.3.html)) document:
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2 Likes
wind
April 1, 2026, 2:54am
3
Thank you for the answer.
I’ve trying to http GET on openapi.json at http://localhost:[port]/openapi.json, but i keep getting 404 not found error.
Is there anything that i miss? I’m running defold using ./Defold --port 8181.
I’m using Defold 1.11.1
wind
April 1, 2026, 5:22am
4
Turns out need to update to 1.12.3 to access openapi.json
but 1.12.3 has issues with hot reloading, hot reloading was broken for me since 1.12.0.
in 1.12.3 when file is changed, hot-reload does not want to trigger and keep printing WARNING:DLIB: Actual content differs from expected content-length (0 != 33) to the console. It seems, the editor doesn’t realize that the file has been changed
OpenAPI spec is new, but the HTTP endpoint is not. I believe it is available in 1.11.1, you can call the same commands:
Editor HTTP API
===============
External tools can connect to the running editor and interact with it using a REST API.
> [!IMPORTANT]
> This HTTP API is currently in an experimental state. It might change drastically or even be removed completely if we deem it necessary. But hopefully, it shouldn't come to that.
### Overview
The editor can be interacted with by performing GET requests to the following URLs:
```
http://localhost:[port]/command
http://localhost:[port]/console
```
#### Port Configuration
Currently, the port is assigned randomly from a broad subrange. Since 1.11.0, the port is written to the `.internal/editor.port` file.
Additionally, since 1.11.0, the editor executable has a command line option `--port` (or `-p`), which allows specifying the port during launch, e.g.:
```bash
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wind:
in 1.12.3 when file is changed, hot-reload does not want to trigger and keep printing WARNING:DLIB: Actual content differs from expected content-length (0 != 33) to the console. It seems, the editor doesn’t realize that the file has been changed
You can create an issue on GitHub with a simple reproducible project: