ItchDeploy

Build your Unity game and put it on itch.io without leaving the editor. Press one button: it builds the platform you are on and uploads it to the matching itch.io channel. The same run works from the command line, and the plugin can write the GitHub Actions workflow that does it on every push.

Documentation · Releases · Report an issue

What it does

• Installs Butler and completes itch.io authentication through the official browser flow.
• Loads the games available to the connected itch.io account; select an existing target or create a new page.
• Builds and deploys locally from the Unity Editor.
• Generates a platform-aware GitHub Actions workflow, checks required secret names, runs tests, builds and publishes artifacts.
• Configures Unity Build Automation targets and the Butler post-build hook while surfacing project, billing, source-control and secret blockers.
• Validates scenes, maintains build archives and backups, versions builds, and records deployment history.

Requirements

• Unity 6000.0 or newer.
• Git for GitHub Actions setup.
• An itch.io account. Butler is installed by the plugin when needed.
• An eligible Unity Build Automation consumption plan only when that deployment mode is used.

Install

1. Download ItchDeploy.unitypackage from GitHub Releases, and verify it against the published .sha256 next to it.
2. In Unity, choose Assets > Import Package > Custom Package... and select the file. Keep every entry selected and press Import.
3. Wait for compilation to finish.
4. Open Tools > ItchDeploy > Open ItchDeploy (Ctrl+Shift+D).

The package installs into Assets/ItchDeploy, which is the location the tool supports. Git UPM installation is not advertised yet because editor resources rely on stable asset paths.

Nothing else is required: no third-party packages, no manifest changes, and no scoped registries. Butler is downloaded on demand into your user profile rather than into the project, so it never lands in your repository.

All plugin code lives in the ItchDeploy and ItchDeploy.Editor namespaces, so it cannot collide with types in your own project.

First deployment

1. On Project itch.io, choose Connect in browser. The plugin installs Butler, opens its official login, and stores the credential locally.
2. Select an itch.io project from the loaded list, or open itch.io to create one.
3. On Build, select platforms and channel mappings.
4. Use Overview for a local build and deployment, or configure GitHub Actions / Unity Automation independently.

No itch.io API key, password, or GitHub token is stored in .itchdeploy.json.

What ItchDeploy never does on its own

Publishing to a store page is always an explicit action:

• Building through Unity's own Build Settings window does not publish. Only the Build & deploy screen uploads anything.
• Everything that can act on its own lives on one screen, Project settings → Triggers: publish after every Unity build, build folder watcher, scheduled builds, automatic git tag, deployment reports, and the local webhook receiver. All of them are off until you switch them on.
• The daily update check is off by default. When enabled, it contacts github.com to compare release tags and sends nothing about your project.
• Secrets (itch.io key, SMTP password, webhook secrets) are held in an encrypted per-user store, never in project assets or .itchdeploy.json.

Editor language

The interface is English by default and switches to Ukrainian automatically only on a system already running in Ukrainian. The choice can be changed at any time in Project settings.

Deployment modes

Mode	Best for	Execution
Unity Editor + Butler	Manual releases and local verification	The current workstation
GitHub Actions	Git-driven CI/CD and release artifacts	Platform-specific GitHub runners
Unity Build Automation	Unity-managed cloud builds	Unity Build Automation targets

The modes can be configured and enabled independently; they are not mutually exclusive.

Platforms

Target	Build	itch.io deployment
Windows x64	Yes	Yes
Linux x64	Yes	Yes
macOS	Yes	Yes
WebGL	Yes	Yes (html5)
Android	Yes	Yes (APK; AAB is rejected for itch.io)
iOS	Xcode project	No — unsigned artifact only

Android builds in the generated workflow are always signed with a custom keystore, because an unsigned release APK cannot be installed from an itch.io page. They therefore require ANDROID_KEYSTORE_BASE64, ANDROID_KEYSTORE_PASS, ANDROID_KEYALIAS_NAME, and ANDROID_KEYALIAS_PASS as repository secrets whenever Android is part of the matrix. iOS signing is deliberately outside the generated workflow.

GitHub Actions secrets

The generated workflow checks the secrets needed by the selected platforms:

• UNITY_LICENSE, UNITY_EMAIL, UNITY_PASSWORD
• UNITY_SERIAL only when required by the Unity license type
• BUTLER_API_KEY when GitHub deployment to itch.io is enabled
• The Android signing secrets listed above whenever Android is in the build matrix

The plugin checks whether secret names exist through GitHub CLI; GitHub never exposes their values.

Configuration

.itchdeploy.json is the non-secret source of truth shared by the Editor and CI. It stores the itch.io target, Unity version, platform channels, WebGL compression, and automation switches. The Import action applies this file to the window; Export writes the current non-secret settings back to it.

Verification

Automated:

• Unity EditMode suite (140 tests) covering the pipeline, integrations, configuration, backups, UI state, and every publishing trigger.
• The release layout — Editor and Runtime without the test folder — compiles standalone against Unity 6000.0.62f1 with no errors or warnings.
• The generated GitHub Actions workflow is byte-identical to the committed one.

Checked against the real Butler (push --dry-run, v15.30, on Unity player output):

• A macOS .app built on Windows is uploaded with its executable marked, so it launches; Info.plist stays non-executable.
• .itchignore patterns reach Butler in a form it actually honours, so Unity's _DoNotShip folders are excluded rather than shipped.

Requires a manual release check:

• A full upload to a live itch.io page. Everything up to the byte transfer is covered above, but the transfer itself, the resulting channel and the download are not exercised by the suite.

CI builds Windows, Linux, macOS, WebGL, Android and an unsigned iOS Xcode artifact.

Unity Build Automation also depends on the organization's current billing/consumption plan. When Unity returns notOptedIn, ItchDeploy treats this as an external blocker, explains the required action, and does not report a false ready state.

Security

Do not commit API keys, Unity credentials, keystores, generated settings assets, deployment history, or the downloaded Butler binary. See SECURITY.md for vulnerability reporting.

License

MIT © 2026 Andrii Sviatenko.