How do I catch this when it only happens for some players?

Capture it automatically from the player's device with the full stack trace, the device and OS, the build, and a breadcrumb trail of what they did. That turns a vague complaint into a specific, reproducible issue you can fix without owning the hardware it happens on.

How to Fix a Godot EditorPlugin Not Loading After Restarting the Editor

Q: What causes a Godot EditorPlugin not loading after restarting the editor?

The plugin.cfg points at a script path that moved, the entry script lacks the @tool annotation, or a script error during _enter_plugin makes Godot silently disable the addon.

Quick answer: Verify plugin.cfg's script path matches the actual file, ensure the entry script is @tool and extends EditorPlugin, fix any errors thrown in _enter_tree, then re-enable the plugin in Project Settings.

Your custom addon worked, but after a restart it is gone from the Plugins list or shows as disabled. Godot disables plugins that error or cannot find their entry script.

How to fix it

1. Check plugin.cfg

Confirm the script key in addons/yourplugin/plugin.cfg points at the real entry file. A wrong or moved path makes Godot drop the plugin on load.

2. Use @tool on the entry

The entry script must start with @tool and extends EditorPlugin. Without @tool it does not run in the editor and the plugin will not activate.

3. Fix startup errors

An exception in _enter_tree causes Godot to disable the plugin. Open the editor with the console visible, fix the error, and re-enable the plugin under Project Settings > Plugins.

Catching the ones you can't reproduce

The hardest version of this to fix is the one you can't reproduce — it only happens on a player's hardware, OS, driver, or save state, under conditions that simply aren't present on your machine. A report that says “it crashed” or “it froze” gives you nothing to act on, so the bug survives release after release while quietly costing you players.

Automatic error capture closes that gap. Each failure arrives with its full stack trace, the device and OS, the build number, and a breadcrumb trail of what the player did right before it broke, so even a failure you have never seen becomes a specific, reproducible issue. Fold identical failures into one signature ranked by how many players each hits, and your worklist sorts itself worst-first instead of arriving as a stream of vague complaints.

This is where a tool like Bugnet earns its place. Its SDK captures every Godot error automatically with the full stack trace plus device, OS, memory, build, and game-state context, folds duplicates into one grouped issue with an occurrence count, and ties each to the build it first appeared on — so you fix the problem that hurts the most players first and confirm it is gone when its signature disappears from the next release.

The bug you can't reproduce isn't gone — it's just invisible until you capture it from the player's device.