TOC format

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.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

The .toc file and addon folder name need to match, e.g. ..\Interface\AddOns\MyAddon\ and MyAddon.toc

The file may contain the following elements:

• Metadata as ## Directive: Value
• Comments as # this is a comment
• A list of files as myFile.xml or subfolder\anotherFile.lua

Whitespace before # will be interpreted as the start of a filename. However, the client trims whitespace around metadata values (after the colon).

Backslashes (\) are recommended for subdirectories to prevent issues with <Include> tags.

## Interface: 110000
## Title: Waiting for Godot
## Notes: Nothing to be done.
## Version: 1.0.0

# This line is a comment
Vladimir.xml
Estragon.lua
libs\SomeLibrary.lua

Multiple client flavors

Classic and retail versions of the game can be properly supported by including multiple TOC files in the same addon. The client first searches for the respective suffix and otherwise falls back to AddonName.toc

Flavor		Suffix
	Mainline	AddonName_Mainline.toc
	Wrath of the Lich King Classic	AddonName_Wrath.toc
	Burning Crusade Classic	AddonName_TBC.toc
	Classic Era	AddonName_Vanilla.toc

• Clients also recognize legacy suffixes -WOTLKC, -BCC, and -Classic.

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
• SomeLibrary.lua loads third, and is in a subfolder called libs

Not every file must appear in a .toc list:

• XML files may contain <Script file="nameOfAnotherFile.lua" /> or <Include file="alsoLoadThis.xml" />
• Texture:SetTexture() and PlaySoundFile() can use images and sounds contained within the addon folder and its subfolders

Interface version

The interface field declares the version of the game client for which the addon has been made. This field guarantees that users of an addon will have a game API that is compatible with the one the author used during development.

Conversely, if addons declare an older interface than the user's current one, instability and breakages may occur because the game API changes over time. However, users may opt into this risk by ticking the "Load out of date addons" checkbox. Additionally, the omission of this field causes the game to treat the addon as always out of date.

Here is an example of how this field is declared in TOC files:

## Interface: 110000

Interface sources

There are a number of ways to get the current interface version.

Wowpedia

This wiki maintains a set of the latest interfaces for each flavor of the game. They are displayed in the table below. Note that these values are updated by contributors, so they may occasionally be out of date.

Flavor		Patch	TOC version
	Mainline PTR	10.2.0	100200
	Mainline	10.1.7	110000
	Wrath Classic	3.4.2	30403
	Classic Era	1.14.4	11501

GetBuildInfo

The GetBuildInfo API function will return data about the currently released game client that is available to players. For example, /dump select(4, GetBuildInfo()) will output the interface version to your chat frame.

AddOns list formatting

The following directives change how an AddOn appears in the AddOns list. Both may be coloured using UI escape sequences (e.g. |c########|r), or localized by appending a hyphen and the locale code (e.g.Title-enGB). Later entries overwrite earlier ones, so the non-localized fallback should go first.

Title

Name displayed in the AddOns list.

## Title: Waiting for Godot
## Title-frFR: En attendant Godot

Notes

Tooltip displayed in the AddOns list.

## Notes: This word is |cFFFF0000red|r

IconTexture

Path to a texture file to be shown as the icon for this addon in the addon list. Optional.

## IconTexture: Interface\Icons\TEMP

IconAtlas

Name of a texture atlas to be shown as the icon for this addon in the addon list. Optional, and has a lower priority than IconTexture if both are set.

## IconAtlas: TaskPOI-Icon

Addon compartment integration

The following directives will control the registration of the addon into the Addon compartment dropdown accessible from the minimap.

AddonCompartmentFunc

Name of a global function to be executed when the dropdown list button for this addon has been clicked. This field is required to have the addon be shown in the Addon Compartment list.

## AddonCompartmentFunc: MyAddon_OnAddonCompartmentClick

AddonCompartmentFuncOnEnter

Name of a global function to be executed when this dropdown list button for this addon has been highlighted. Optional.

## AddonCompartmentFuncOnEnter: MyAddon_OnAddonCompartmentEnter

AddonCompartmentFuncOnLeave

Name of a global function to be executed when this dropdown list button for this addon is no longer highlighted. Optional.

## AddonCompartmentFuncOnLeave: MyAddon_OnAddonCompartmentLeave

Loading conditions

The following directives control when an AddOn loads, and any dependencies that must or may load first.

LoadOnDemand

1 to delay loading until LoadAddOn().

## LoadOnDemand: 1

Dependencies

AddOns that must load first. Aliases include RequiredDeps and any word beginning with Dep.

## Dependencies: someAddOn, someOtherAddOn

OptionalDeps

AddOns that should load first if available.

## OptionalDeps: someAddOn, someOtherAddOn

LoadWith

AddOns that, once loaded, trigger this one to load. Implies LoadOnDemand. Warning: Currently broken on Classic - Issue #223.

## LoadWith: someAddOn, someOtherAddOn

LoadManagers

AddOns that, if present, trigger this one to behave as LoadOnDemand. See AddonLoader for an example.

## LoadManagers: someAddOn, someOtherAddOn

DefaultState

disabled to require the user to explicitly enable the AddOn in the AddOns list.

## DefaultState: disabled

Saved variables

Main article: Saving variables between game sessions

SavedVariables

Variables saved in WTF/[account]/SavedVariables.

## SavedVariables: MyAddOnNameFoo, MyAddOnNameBar

SavedVariablesPerCharacter

Variables saved in WTF/[account]/[server]/[character]/SavedVariables.

## SavedVariablesPerCharacter: MyAddOnNameAnotherVariable

Informational

The following metadata may be accessed using GetAddOnMetadata().

Author

The AddOn author's name, displayed

Version

The AddOn version. Some automatic updating tools may prefer that this string begins with a numeric version number.

X-_____

Any custom metadata prefixed by "X-", such as "X-Date", "X-Website" or "X-Feedback"

Restricted

The following tags are inaccessible to third-party AddOns.

AllowLoad

Both if an addon can be loaded in the GlueXML and FrameXML environments, or Glue to restrict it to the GlueXML environment only.

GuardedAddOn

1 if a secure addon is not permitted to be disabled and should be loaded before any other unguarded addons.

OnlyBetaAndPTR

1 if an addon should only be loadable on test realms.

SavedVariablesMachine

List of global variable names to be persisted across all accounts on the same machine.

Secure

1 with Blizzard's digital signature to indicate a secure AddOn.

Details

• WoW reads up to the first 1024 characters of each line only. Additional characters are ignored and do not cause an error.
• Starting from Patch 9.0, 1.14.0 and 2.5.3, newly created/added files and even complete addons, are also detected when doing a /reload after the game started.

Patch changes

• Patch 10.1.0 (2023-05-02): Added IconAtlas, IconTexture, and Addon compartment related metadata fields. Added the restricted GuardedAddOn metadata field.
  
• Patch 9.1.0 (2021-06-29): Multiple TOC files now possible using a suffix to disambiguate Classic, BCC and Retail.
  
• Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): /reload recognizes changes to TOC metadata and entirely new files in the Interface/AddOns/ directory tree.
  
• Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): /reload recognizes changes to the file order.
  
• Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22): Added LoadManagers metadata
  
• Patch 1.11.0 (2006-06-19): Added Secure metadata
  
• Patch 1.9.0 (2006-01-03): Added LoadWith metadata
  

See also

• GetAddOnInfo returns basic information about an addon.
• Using the AddOn namespace describes the parameters passed to each file.