Publishing Geode Mods

Once your awesome mod is finished, it’s time to publish it for all the world to see! Geode comes with an in-game “Download” section where users can download mods from, which gets its content from the Geode Index.

Getting Your Mod on the Repo

⚠️ All mods submitted on the index must provide the source code! If your mod is open source, just include a link to a Github repository or equivalent. For closed source mods, see the dedicated section

Submitting a mod to the official mod index is as follows:

Make sure you have the latest CLI set up.
Build and release your mod somewhere - we highly recommend using GitHub releases, as this provides a straight-forward way to deal with versioning.
- Do NOT replace existing uploaded versions! This will change the hash and thus users will be unable to download the old version.
Login to the index using the CLI: geode index login. This will prompt you to login using your GitHub account.
Run geode index mods create
Provide a direct download link to the .geode file (for example https://github.com/HJfod/BetterEdit/releases/download/v6.3.3/hjfod.betteredit.geode)
If you are verified on the index, then the mod will be available to download immediately. If you are not verified, then an index admin will have to validate that your mod meets the index guidelines and approve your mod.

Releasing updates

To release an update, use geode index mods update. You will have to be already logged in with the index to use this command.

If you are using GitHub releases (or any other system), do not update an existing release - create a new one instead. Updating an existing release will break that version of the mod, as the Geode package is checksummed.

Make sure to increase your mod version when updating it! You should be following Semantic Versioning, especially if you’re developing a mod with a public API.

What about closed source mods?

Even if your mod is closed source, you still need to submit the source code for verification. Do so by asking someone who can approve new mods on the index repository and send them the source code privately, for example by adding them temporarily as a contributor to your private repository.

Geode developers will never leak or steal your source code! If you find that the person who verified your mod has breached this vital level of trust, do let the other Geode lead developers know immediately.

What about paid mods?

If your mod is fully paid, you will have to publish it yourself on a separate platform, as the Geode team doesn’t want to handle processing user authentification and payments. However, there are many options for still getting the mod on the index:

If your mod has a free / lite version that is usable on its own (like BetterEdit does), then publishing that is on the index is perfectly okay! In the same vain, if an otherwise free mod contains paid features, that is allowed - you just have to make it clear that the mod contains paid content in the mod description. In the future you will also be required to add a Contains Paid Content tag for free mods that have paid features.
If your mod has no free version, you may also publish an installer mod for your paid mod on the index that just asks the user to authenticate / purchase the mod and installs the paid version. However, you will have to make it unambiguously and obviously clear that the mod is a link to a paid mod before the user installs it, for example by naming the mod “Trial Version” or equivalent. In the future you will also be required to add a Paid tag for mods that act as just wrapper for paid mods.
All mods can also include a support.md file in your mod that will show a big donate button in the mod’s info page in-game. In there, you can include links to your PayPal, Patreon, OnlyFans, and whatnot :)

Who can approve mods?

New mods and updates for mods can be verified by lead developers and index admins. Additionally, anyone with the verified priviledge can automatically submit new mods / update their own mods without needing to wait for a staff member to verify it.