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

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 printed as ## TagName : tagValue, where whitespace is trimmed (except at the start of a line)
Comments printed as # this is a comment ignored by the client
A list of files to be loaded as myFile.xml or subfolder/anotherFile.lua

## Interface: 90105
## Title: Waiting for Godot
## Notes: Nothing to be done.
## Version: 1.0

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

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.

Multiple client flavors

Different flavors of the game can be marked as supported, by including multiple TOC files in the same addon.^[1] The client first searches for the respective suffix and otherwise falls back to AddonName.toc

Flavor	Suffix
Retail	`AddonName_Mainline.toc`
Burning Crusade Classic	`AddonName_TBC.toc`
Classic Era	`AddonName_Vanilla.toc`

Clients also recognize legacy suffixes -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

## Interface: 90105

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 This field prevents users from experiencing errors by loading out-of-date addons or mixing Retail and Classic; unless they explicity ignore warnings and choose "Load out of date addons".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 90105 (retail) or 11401 (classic): But these numbers are maintained locally, so they might be out of date.
Use GetBuildInfo: In particular, /dump select(4, GetBuildInfo()) 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 -console flag, then at the login screen, activate the console using the `/~ key, and type ExportInterfaceFiles code 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 Title-enGB. See Localization for a full list of current locale codes.

Coloring is possible via UI escape sequences |c########|r.

Title: String - The name to display on the AddOns list (default: name of the addon's folder).

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

Notes: String - The description displayed when the user hovers over the addon entry in the AddOns list.

## Notes: This word is |cFFFF0000red|r

Loading conditions

The following metadata changes when and how an addon loads:

Dependencies

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

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

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

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

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

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 ADDON_LOADED event fires for your addon. See Saving variables between game sessions.

## SavedVariables: foo, bar

SavedVariablesPerCharacter

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 GetAddOnMetadata:

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.

Notes

WoW reads up to the first 1024 characters of each line only. Additional characters are ignored and do not cause an error.
Prior to Patch 9.0.1, the list of files may be edited while the game is open (taking effect after /reload), but changing metadata would have no effect and any files must have already been inside the AddOns folder.

Patch changes

Patch 9.1.0 / API (2021-06-29): Multiple TOC files now possible using a suffix to disambiguate Classic, BCC and Retail.^[1]
Patch 9.0.1 / API (2020-10-13): /reload recognizes changes to TOC metadata and entirely new files.
Patch 4.0.1 / API (2010-10-12): /reload recognizes changes to the file order.
Patch 2.1.0 / API (2007-05-22): Added LoadManagers metadata
Patch 1.11.0 / API (2006-06-19): Added Secure metadata
Patch 1.9.0 / API (2006-01-03): Added LoadWidth metadata

References

^ ^a ^b Meorawr. Multiple Interface Version Support. WoWUIBugs.

[WoWUIBug.2368-1] Meorawr. Multiple Interface Version Support. WoWUIBugs.

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