OpenSCAD User Manual/Paths

OpenSCAD looks for and saves resources to various paths. This is an overview.

This page describes the patterns used for all systems and all platforms. For the paths used on your particular installation, look at "Library info" on the "Help" menu.

Env variables

HOME
XDG_CONFIG_HOME
OPENSCAD_FONT_PATH
OPENSCADPATH

Per platform roots

ResourcesPath
- UNIX-like:
- Mac OS X: OpenSCAD.app/Contents/Resources
- Windows: installation directory, typical default C:\Program Files\OpenSCAD
DocumentsPath
- UNIX-like: $HOME/.local/share
- Mac OS X: [NSDocumentDirectory], typically $HOME/Documents
- Windows: [FOLDERID_Documents]\OpenSCAD, often C:\Users\username\Documents\OpenSCAD
UserConfigPath
- UNIX-like: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/OpenSCAD or $HOME/.config/OpenSCAD
- Mac: [NSApplicationSupportDirectory], typically $HOME/Library/Application Support/OpenSCAD
- Windows: [FOLDERID_LocalAppData]\OpenSCAD, typically C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\OpenSCAD

Note: the UserConfigPath directory is not created by default; if desired, the user must create it.

Windows note: FOLDERID_Documents and FOLDERID_LocalAppData were formerly known as CSIDL_PERSONAL and CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA.

Read-only Resources

libraries: [ResourcesPath]/libraries
fonts: [ResourcesPath]/fonts
render color schemes: [ResourcesPath]/color-schemes/render
editor color schemes: [ResourcesPath]/color-schemes/editor
templates: [ResourcesPath]/templates

User Resources

libraries: $OPENSCADPATH, [DocumentsPath]/OpenSCAD/libraries
fonts
- $HOME/.fonts
- $HOME/.local/share/fonts

render color schemes: [UserConfigPath]/color-schemes/render
editor color schemes: [UserConfigPath]/color-schemes/editor
templates: [UserConfigPath]/templates

Misc Resources

GUI preferences (Uses QSettings):
- UNIX-like: $HOME/.config/OpenSCAD.conf
- Windows: Registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\OpenSCAD\OpenSCAD
- Mac OS X: $HOME/Library/Preferences/org.openscad.OpenSCAD.plist

backups: [DocumentsPath]/OpenSCAD/backups