Community Labs
Community Labs is a system and status in VRChat that allows uploaded worlds to be approved and discoverable within VRChat. It acts as a precursor to a published world.
Caution! Community Labs worlds are disabled by default, as they could cause performance issues, or contain offensive content. They may contain qualities that are against the Terms of Service, or 
Creator Guidelines.
Enabling Community Labs
In order to travel to worlds that are in Community Labs status, you must enable it in your Settings. To enable Community Labs, open the Quick Menu. Then select the Main Menu button at the top right. From here, select the Settings Tab at the bottom of the Main Menu. Then, select the Comfort & Safety category on the left side. Under the Safety header, enable the Show Community Labs option.
Alternatively, open your Quick Menu, and select the Main Menu button in the top right. Then, select the Worlds Tab at the bottom of the Main Menu. Next, select the Community Labs world category on the left side and select the View Community Labs Worlds button.
Accessing Community Labs
With Community Labs being enabled, you can now view Community Labs worlds. To find them, open your Quick Menu, and select the Main Menu button on the top right. Next, select the Worlds Tab at the bottom of the Main Menu. The "Community Labs" world category will appear on the left side.
You can now explore the large amount of worlds uploaded to Community Labs daily!
Joining Community Labs worlds
When joining worlds in Community Labs, visual indicators are highlighting that they are a Community Labs world.
- When joining through a portal, there is a green ring around the portal and the Community Labs icon on the top left of it.
- Loading into a Community Labs world shows you a unique tip on the loading screen.
Note: There are no visual indicators for Community Labs worlds, when joining one through an invite, except for the tip given on the loading screen. Community Labs worlds can still be joined, even if the option for it is disabled.
Publishing to Community Labs
There are a few steps that first must be taken, before publishing a world to Community Labs.
Requirements
- You must have a VRChat account. If you have a third-party platform account (Steam, Meta, etc.), it must be merged with your VRChat account first.
- Your VRChat account must not be banned from submitting worlds to Community Labs.
- Trust rank must be "User" or higher.
- At least one week must have passed since your previous submission to Community Labs, if applicable.
SDK
In the SDK's "Builder" tab, navigate to "World Visibility". Select the "Publish to Community Labs" button to allow your world to be published to Community Labs.
Website
If a world is uploaded privately, you can publish it to Community Labs by going to your world page on the VRChat website, and scrolling down to the "Danger Zone" section of the page. Click the "Publish to Community Labs" button to publish your world to Community Labs.
Navigate there, by going to this page on the VRChat website, and select any private worlds that are uploaded to your account.
Reporting Community Labs worlds
A world may contain performance issues, offensive content, and or qualities that could be against the Terms Of Service. Such Worlds can be reported using the in-client report form.
Community Labs 101
Here are some basic principals of what to expect, when your world is in the Community Labs system:
- Only one world can be submitted each week.
- A world can be updated as often as you like, however, it won't change the Labs status of the world.
- If your world does well in Community Labs, your world will automatically be published to Public status!
- Worlds that are reported for legitimate reasons, will be removed from Community Labs, and moderation action may be taken against the author in severe cases. Worlds will stay in Community Labs
For more information, see this page on VRChat's Creators' documentation.
Official FAQ[1]
Q: How long does it take for my world to get to Public status?
A: There's no set "time". Your world going Public and out of Community Labs is based on many factors. The factors involved are best described as "How much do users seem to be enjoying your world?". The specifics are kept secret.
Q: I have a Public/Community Labs world that I'd like to make Private again.
A: Go to the VRChat Home website, and click the Unpublish button. When you choose to re-publish your world, users will still have your world in their Favorites, and you'll retain some of your previous world stats. users will not be able to see the name or picture of your world in their list instead they will see "world currently set to private". Be aware that publishing a world again will put it back to Community Labs status.
Q: I can only Publish once per week? How can I be expected to iterate or update with a limit that strict?
A: The limit applies only when publishing brand-new worlds. You can update your existing world, no matter what state it is in (Private, Community Labs, Public), whenever you like. Your world will remain at whatever status it is in.
Q: I have a world that I would like categorized as an Avatar/Game/etc World. How do I do that?
A: If you would like your world to be categorized as an Avatar World or Game World, just add the appropriate tag from the VRChat website, or by pressing the add tags button in the SDK. Add avatar or game as one of your world tags. However, don't falsify your world or abuse tags to promote your world. Utilizing "SEO-like" techniques is not permitted. VRChat reserves the right to moderate users who abuse our systems to unfairly or misleadingly promote their own content.
Q: Is it possible for a world to never leave Community Labs?
A: Not really. It might take a very long time for a world to get out of Labs (if it isn't popular at all), but given endless time, a world will eventually get out of Labs.
Q: How does a world fail out of Community Labs? What can I do if my world fails out of Community Labs?
A: If a world is reported, it will be investigated. If a world breaks the Terms of Service, is malicious, or some other report is sent that is valid, it will be delisted from Labs. The same goes for Public worlds. If you correct the issue, you can re-submit your world to Community Labs. If your world had some more serious issues, like Terms of Service violations, you may find yourself restricted from submitting worlds.
Q: How does VRChat prevent "report bombs" or falsified reports?
A: VRChat uses the same methods used in avoiding false/inaccurate reports on users/worlds to detect invalid reports. This is a tested system that has served them quite well and aims to prevent malicious users from abusing the report system.
Resources
- VRChat Community Labs on docs.vrchat.com
- World Creation, Optimization, and Community Labs Tips on creators.vrchat.com
