Publishing to itch.io

Publishing to itch.io

File → Publish to itch.io… uploads your game to itch.io: the web version (played right in the browser), the Windows app, or both. It uses butler, itch.io's own uploader, which comes with Arcadia Studio: there's nothing else to install.

itch.io games are made and described on itch.io itself. Arcadia Studio sends the game's files; its title, description, price, cover, screenshots and visibility are edited on itch.io's Edit game page.

1. Sign in (once)

Click Sign in to itch.io. Your browser opens itch.io, where you approve Arcadia Studio's uploader. You never type your password into Arcadia Studio. The sign-in is kept encrypted for your Windows user, and it's only handed to the uploader while it's running.

If the browser sign-in can't work on your computer, Use an API key… takes a key from itch.io's Settings → API keys page instead. Sign out forgets it on this computer (to stop a key working everywhere, remove it on that itch.io page too).

2. Set up the game

If you don't have the game on itch.io yet, Set up… → Create a new game on itch.io opens itch.io's page for it. For a browser game, choose HTML as the kind of project.

Then Set up… chooses where the uploads go: pick one of your itch.io games from the list, or type its address (https://you.itch.io/my-game, or you/my-game). Each upload goes to its own channel:

Channel	For
Web channel (html5)	The web version.
Windows channel (windows)	The Windows app. itch.io marks a channel as a Windows download when its name contains win or windows.

3. Upload

• Web version and/or Windows app: tick either or both.
• Version: shown to players and in the itch.io app. Arcadia Studio offers the last one + 1.
• Start a new channel hidden: a channel's first upload isn't downloadable until you make it visible on itch.io.
• Skip an upload that changes nothing: nothing is sent if the files are the same as last time.

Check makes the builds and asks itch.io what each upload would change (new, changed and removed files), without uploading anything. Publish sends them, with a progress bar. After the first upload, later ones only send what changed, so they're quick.

Playing in the browser (once)

itch.io only lets its own page set this. After the web version's first upload, on the game's Edit game page:

1. Set Kind of project to HTML.
2. Tick This file will be played in the browser beside the web upload.
3. Save.

Open itch.io's Edit game page takes you there. Tick I've done this afterwards; later uploads keep the setting.

Arcadia too?

After a game is published to itch.io, if it isn't on Arcadia yet, Arcadia Studio asks whether you'd like to publish it there as well. Arcadia is a community-driven arcade with built-in leaderboards. Yes opens Publish to Arcadia with the title, description and version filled in from itch.io, for you to finish: add a cover, and set up a leaderboard and a leaderboard page if you'd like. No isn't asked again for that game.

Leaderboards and leaderboard pages are Arcadia's: on itch.io the game plays without them.

AI assistants

Over MCP, an assistant can set up itch.io publishing, build the uploads and run the same check (itch_publish). It can't upload: publishing is always your click.