TOC format

.toc (Table of Contents) files contain information about a particular addon (such as its name, description, saved variables, etc), as well as instructions on how the addon should be loaded by the client (for example, the order in which lua and xml files should be loaded). The file must be present, and have the same name (plus extension) as its parent folder for the addon to be recognized by the client.

Basic rules
must contain  or one of the alternatives below.

The file may contain the following elements:
 * Metadata printed as, where whitespace is trimmed (except at the start of a line)
 * Comments printed as  ignored by the client
 * A list of files to be loaded as  or

Vladimir.xml Estragon.lua libs\SomeEmbeddedLibrary.lua
 * 1) Interface:
 * 2) Title: Waiting for Godot
 * 3) Notes: Nothing to be done.
 * 4) Version: 4.2
 * 1) This is a comment

When loading files present in subdirectories backslashes should be as directory separators. This prevents issues with path resolution if a referenced file itself includes other files relative to its own directory.

File load order
The .toc file provides an ordered list of files to be loaded by the client. In the earlier example:
 * Vladimir.xml loads first, and is in the same folder as the .toc file
 * Estragon.lua loads second, and is in the same folder as the .toc file
 * SomeEmbeddedLibrary.lua loads third, and is in a subfolder called libs

Not every file must appear in a .toc list:
 * xml files may contain  or 
 * and can use images and sounds contained within the addon folder and its subfolders

Interface version

 * 1) Interface:

The interface metadata specifies which version of the game client the addon has been made for. This field prevents users from experiencing errors by loading out-of-date addons or mixing Retail and Classic; unless they explicity ignore warnings and choose "Load out of date addons". Omitting this field causes the game to treat the addon as always out of date.

There are a number of ways to get the current interface version:
 * It probably is (retail) or  (classic): But these numbers are maintained locally, so they might be out of date.
 * Use : In particular,   should output the correct version to your chat frame.
 * Steal it from another AddOn : Recently updated AddOns, which are not listed as "out of date" by the client contain the latest Interface version in their toc tag.

Prior to patch 8.2.0:
 * Extract FrameXML and check FrameXML.toc: Launch wow with the  flag, then at the login screen, activate the console using the `/~ key, and type   to extract FrameXML files into World of Warcraft\BlizzardInterfaceCode.
 * View FrameXML.toc online: For instance at wowcompares.

Display in the addon list
The following metadata change how an addon appears in the addon list.

These tags support localization, which may written by appending a hyphen and the locale code to the tag name, such as. See Localization for a full list of current locale codes.

Coloring is possible via UI escape sequences.


 * Title : String - The name to display on the AddOns list (default: name of the addon's folder).
 * 1) Title: Waiting for Godot
 * 2) Title-frFR: En attendant Godot
 * Notes : String - The description displayed when the user hovers over the addon entry in the AddOns list.
 * 1) Notes: This word is |cFFFF0000 red !

Loading conditions
The following metadata changes when and how an addon loads:


 * RequiredDeps, Dependencies, or any word beginning with "Dep" : String - A comma or space separated list of addon (directory) names that must be loaded before this addon can be loaded. ## Dependencies: someAddOn, someOtherAddOn
 * OptionalDeps : String - A comma or space separated list of addon (directory) names that should be loaded before this addon if they can be loaded. ## OptionalDeps: someAddOn, someOtherAddOn
 * LoadOnDemand : Number - If this value of this tag is "1", the addon is not loaded when the user first logs in, but can be loaded by another addon at a later point. This can be used to avoid loading situational addons. ## LoadOnDemand: 1
 * LoadWith : String - A comma-separated list of addon (directory) names that, when loaded, will cause the client to load this LoadOnDemand addon as well. ## LoadWith: someAddOn, someOtherAddOn
 * LoadManagers : String - A comma-separated list of addon (directory) names; if no addons on this list are loaded, the client will load your addon when the user logs in; if at least one addon on this list is loaded, your addon is treated as LoadOnDemand. An example of a LoadManager is AddonLoader.
 * SavedVariables : String - A comma-separated list of variable names in the global environment that will be saved to disk when the client exits, and placed back into the global environment when your addon is loaded; the variables are not available before the event fires for your addon. See Saving variables between game sessions. ## SavedVariables: foo, bar
 * SavedVariablesPerCharacter : String - A comma-separated list of variable names in the global environment that will be saved to disk when the client exits, and placed back into the global environment when your addon is loaded for a particular character. Note that PerCharacter saved variables are only loaded for the character for which they were saved. ## SavedVariablesPerCharacter: somePercharVariable
 * DefaultState : String - Determines whether the addon is enabled by default when first installed. If the value of this tag is "disabled", the user must explicitly enable the addon in the addons list before it is loaded. ## DefaultState: enabled

Informational
The following metadata do not change how an addon behaves, but may be accessed using :


 * Author : String - The AddOn author's name, displayed
 * Version: String - The AddOn version. Some automatic updating tools may prefer that this string begins with a numeric version number.
 * X-_____: String - Any custom metadata prefixed by "X-", such as "X-Date", "X-Website" or "X-Feedback"

Restricted

 * Secure : Number - If the value of this tag is 1 and the addon is digitally signed by Blizzard, its code is considered secure.