voicePrompt

# Module (asset type) A module is a reusable, stateless (or globally-stateful) Luau library that other code pulls in with `require()`. Modules are the unit of factored-out logic in a world: helpers, math libraries, format parsers, registries, shared algorithms. ## When to use one - You have logic you want to share across multiple components, services, scenes, or tools. - You have a registry, lookup table, or shared cache that callers all read from / write to. - You want a stable API surface (`M.fn`) other code can depend on. If the logic is bound to one entity, use a `.component`. If you want a named UI of fields rather than functions, use a `.preset`. ## Where it lives - Source: `/zero/source/.../<name>.module/` - Identity: the source path with `/` written as `.` and each segment's type suffix dropped — `/zero/source/demo/beats.module` is `demo.beats`, and `/zero/source/kit.package/beats.module` is `kit.beats`, the container's name kept and its `.package` suffix gone. `asset.create` returns this string, `asset.resolve(...).identity` reads it back, and the `require` forms below write it as `<identity>`. - Folder shape: - `init.luau` (or `init.lua`) — module body. **Required.** Returns a table (conventionally named `M`). - `README.md` — instance-level documentation. **Required.** - `.metadata` — agent-editable tags + free-form fields. **Required.** ## How to create one ```luau asset.create("module", "<name>") -- Creates: /zero/source/<name>.module/ -- init.luau (canonical `local M = {} … return M`) -- README.md (instance README template) -- `folder` places it in a subfolder of /source, and that subfolder -- leads the identity: `{ folder = "lib" }` produces `lib.<name>`. -- `into` authors it inside a resolved container (a package, a toolbox), -- whose own identity leads the same way: asset.create("module", "<name>", { folder = "lib" }) asset.create("module", "<name>", { into = asset.resolve("myPkg.package") }) ``` ## How it operates 1. **Registration.** Writing `init.luau` into a `.module/` folder indexes the asset and registers the module path with the resolver. 2. **Loading.** The first `require("<identity>")` runs the file's body and caches the returned table. Subsequent requires from anywhere return the **same table** — this is the shared-state lever for "module-local" registries. The body runs in an environment of the module's own: a name it declares without `local` is readable by the module's own functions and by no other script, so an export reaches its callers through the returned table and nothing else. Requiring a component's folder runs its chunk the same way, once, and its `update`, `start` and `public` stay in that environment; a component runs on an entity through `entity(id).component.add(name)`. 3. **Hot reload.** Editing the file re-runs the module body and folds what it returns into the table already loaded, so that table keeps its identity: a caller that captured it with `require` reads the new source's functions and values through the reference it already holds, and a later `require` returns that same table. A key the new source drops goes away; a key something set at runtime stays. The body's own `local`s start again from their initial values, so state that must outlive an edit lives in `modules.state()` (`guides { path: "core/scripting-and-tasks" }`). 4. **Identity resolution.** A module is reached by its `<identity>`, and where the caller lives decides which spelling of it resolves. For a module in a **world**, from a caller in that same world — another module, a component, a scene entrypoint, or an `execute` chunk: - `require("<identity>")` — the identity on its own, resolved against the caller's own root. It carries every folder segment, so a module created with `{ folder = "demo" }` is `require("demo.beats")`. - `require("@root::<identity>")` — the same root-relative resolution, written out. - `require(".sibling")` — a module in the same folder, by its bare name; `..name` steps up one folder, `...name` two. Logs, stack traces and hot-reload notices name that same module `@local.source.<identity>` — its key under the world source root. The `<identity>` tail of that key is the form above, so a trace reading `@local.source.demo.beats` is `require("demo.beats")`. For a module in a **library** — content under `/zero/source/libs/@<lib>/` — `@<lib>::` addresses that library's root from anywhere: `require("@builtin::modules.transform")`. Mounting a world as a library moves its files under such a root and flips the caller root to `@<lib>::`, which is what keeps the root-relative forms above resolving across the move. ## Discovery - `asset.list("module")` — every registered module. - `asset.inspect("<name>")` — public functions, source path, this type README. - `ls /zero/source/<name>.module` lists the files the folder holds. ## Authoring conventions - Return a single `M` table from `init.luau`. Top-level statements with side effects run on first require — useful for one-time initialization, dangerous if they touch the engine before it's ready. - Write exported functions as `typed function`, not `function`: the argument types are enforced at the call and the checker knows the signature, so a caller's mistake is reported where they made it. - Annotate exported functions with `--!desc` / `--!arg` / `--!return` / `--!example` so the LSP, `tools.list`, and `asset.inspect` surface them. A function with no `--!desc` is reachable only by someone already reading this file. - Declare a VALUE with `Field.<kind>(default, mode, description)`, and a table whose members are reached through a metatable with `--!members <TypeName>` — the latter gives the surface its accepted member set, its type, and its documentation from one table. See `guides { path: "core/authoring" }` for all four rules and `modules/api/engine/entity.module/members.module` for a worked member table. - Keep module state in module-local upvalues or in `modules.state()`. A name the body declares without `local` lives in the module's environment, which every run of the module shares: a function the previous run left in place reads what the reload assigned. Module-locals start again from their initial values with each hot reload; the table `modules.state()` returns is the same table on both sides of every reload. - Prefer focused modules over kitchen-sink modules. If two halves of a module have no shared state, split them. ## Common pitfalls - **Cyclic requires.** A `require` chain that loops will return the partial table (the half built before the cycle was detected). Design for one-way dependencies. - **Engine-time side effects.** Don't `entity.spawn` at module top-level — the engine may not be ready. Expose an `M.init` and call it from a scene entrypoint. - **Hot-reload + module-local cache.** A module that caches expensive computation in upvalues loses that cache on reload — fine for dev, but be aware in performance work. - **`init.lua` vs `init.luau`.** Either works, `.luau` is canonical. - **Writing one while play runs.** A `/source` write made while play is running lands on the play shadow, and a guarded play-exit discards it unless it is kept. One `.module` write shadows `init.luau`, the `README.md` and the `.metadata` together. `vfs.write(path, bytes, { durable = true })` skips the shadow, and `vfs.promotePlayShadow` keeps what is already on it — the `core/vfs` guide has the model and what each route costs. ## Related types - `.component` — for entity-bound state + lifecycle hooks. - `.service` — generates content you don't have yet (a mesh, sound, texture, …) via a metered provider. - `.tool` — for a single agent-callable function with a YAML schema. - `.package` — to group several modules + components + scenes into one shippable folder. ## In the Inspector Exports: what the module exports (name, kind, signature), parsed from its source without running it, with **Check** (the LSP's diagnostics for its entry file) and **Open**.

# services.shared The implementations behind the `services.*` tools. They wrap the `service` asset type (`asset.resolve(name, "service")`) so the tools stay thin and an agent never has to resolve or invoke a service directly. - **discover** — `list` enumerates available services with fully-described operations; `balance` reads credits. - **start** — `generate` resolves the service and invokes it, returning a handle. - **track** — `status` / `jobs` read the in-flight run records a generation mirrors into `/zero/source/tmp/services/<id>.json`; `outputs` reads the durable provenance stamped on each produced asset (the run records aren't synced and vanish on restart — the asset stamp is what survives).

# editorSelection Named selection scopes for the editor. A scope is an independently tracked, ordered set of typed refs plus a primary (the last ref added or clicked). Distinct scopes never clobber each other, so viewport, outliner, inspector and asset browser share one answer to "what is selected" per kind. A ref is `{ kind: string, id: string }` — a stable id, never a display string, so rename/move never invalidates a selection. ## Exports - `M.scope(name) -> Scope` — get/create a named scope handle. - `M.set(scope, refs)` — replace refs in order; primary becomes the last. - `M.get(scope) -> { Ref }` — refs in click order (fresh array). - `M.primary(scope) -> Ref?` — last-clicked ref, or nil. - `M.clear(scope)` — empty a scope. - `M.toggle(scope, ref)` — add if absent, remove if present. - `M.add(scope, refs)` — add each ref not already present; primary becomes the last added. - `M.remove(scope, refs)` — remove each of `refs`; primary becomes the last remaining or nil. - `M.contains(scope, ref) -> boolean` — membership by `(kind, id)`. - `M.count(scope) -> number` — the scope's selection size. - `M.subscribe(scope, fn) -> handle` / `M.unsubscribe(scope, handle) -> boolean`. - `M.context() -> { scope, refs, primary }` — last-focused scope, for command ctx. ## Usage ```luau local Selection = require("@builtin::modules.api.editor.selection") local scope = Selection.scope("entity") Selection.set(scope, { { kind = "entity", id = "player_1" } }) Selection.subscribe(scope, function() refreshInspector() end) ``` ## Notes - State lives in a fixed `_G` slot, seeded pre-seal by the boot chain (`prelude.luau`); it survives hot-reload and edit↔play flips. Mutations after boot write into nested tables only. - `set` / `toggle` / `clear` mark their scope as last-focused, which drives `context()` and therefore which scope commands act on. - The service holds the editor's selection state in Luau. Refs handed back by `get` / `primary` / `context` are copies, so a caller can hold or mutate them without touching internal state.

# xr_pointer The pointing hand as the editor's pointer in a headset: the laser's ray, whether it is on a panel, and the trigger's and grip's press and release as edges that every reader of one frame sees identically. ```luau local Pointer = require("@builtin::modules.api.editor.xr_pointer") local p = Pointer.sample() if p.worldPressed and p.ray ~= nil then -- a trigger press began in the world along p.ray end ``` A trigger press belongs to the world when the laser was not on a panel as it began. `Pointer.step(down, value, press, release)` is the press and release rule with its two thresholds (0.55 and 0.35 for the trigger, 0.6 and 0.4 for the grip).

# edui.shell (module) The editor dock shell on the CSS-parity `ui.*` surface. One edui app owns a `ui.*` native `dockArea` whose children are a `dockPanel` per registered edui panel — real `egui_dock` tabs, splits and drag, with the arrangement persisting across rebuilds because the dockArea and each dockPanel carry a stable `id`. ## Why a separate registry The shell keeps its own panel registry (`addPanel` / `removePanel` / `panelsSorted`), distinct from the deprecated zui `editor.registry`. That keeps the zui editor completely untouched while panels migrate to edui one at a time: the zui dock renders the zui-framework panels it always has, and the edui shell renders the edui panels registered here. The two registries fold into one at cutover, when the zui dock is retired. ## One app, one reactive loop `App.rebuild` sets the shell as the building app before it calls `buildShell`, so a panel's `build()` — which uses `edui.current()` to register its closures — wires every callback onto the ONE shell app. All interaction for every panel flows through the shell's single callback env, and a click anywhere rebuilds the whole dockArea. That is why the shell needs no per-tab scheduler (unlike zui's `dockApp`): the edui App is the scheduler. ## Usage ```lua local edui = require("@builtin::modules.edui") edui.shell.addPanel{ id = "entities", title = "Entities", order = 10, build = function() return edui.panel{ title = "Entities", body = edui.tree{ ... } } end, } edui.shell.mount() -- registers the screen on the EditorUI layer -- each editor-update frame: edui.shell.update(dt) -- liveness rebuild every `refresh` seconds ``` `mount(opts?)` takes `{ refresh? }` (seconds between liveness rebuilds, default 0.5). `refresh()` forces an immediate rebuild; `unmount()` tears the screen down but keeps the panel registrations for a later `mount`.

# edui.widgets (module) Editor-chrome primitive builders for `edui`. Each returns a styled `ui.*` widget subtree; the common ones are re-exported flat onto `edui` (`edui.panel{...}`, `edui.text{...}`, `edui.iconButton{...}`, …). Two things make these "framework" primitives rather than raw `ui.*`: 1. **They read the active theme's editor tokens** (`editor-row-height`, `editor-selection-bg`, `editor-hover-bg`, `border`, `radius-md`, …) via `ui.getToken`, so chrome looks like the editor by default and restyles with the theme. `edui.palette()` returns the resolved set. 2. **Interactive builders register their closures with the currently-building `edui` app** (`edui.current()`), so you pass `onClick = function() end` and never touch a callback id. ## Builders - Containers: `vbox`, `hbox`, `spacer`, `divider`, `panel`, `toolbar`. - Content: `text`, `svgIcon`, `iconButton`, `button`. - `panel{ title? | toolbar?, body }` is the standard dockable-panel shell (a header over a height-filling body). - `nodeGraph{ key, nodes, edges, selected?, height?, onSelect?, onMove?, onConnect?, onDisconnect?, onDelete?, onOpen?, onField?, redraw? }` — a node graph on one canvas: titled nodes with output and input ports, wires between them, and a value on every input port that has no wire into it. Drag the background to pan, scroll to zoom, drag a node to move it, drag from a port to another port to connect, drag a connected input away to pick its wire up, click a value to edit it where it stands, press Delete to remove the selection. The widget draws and reports; the owner holds the graph and applies what `onField`, `onConnect`, `onDisconnect`, `onMove` and `onDelete` report. Nodes with no position are laid out left to right over the wires. `edui.nodeGraphView(key)` answers where the view stands and, through its `locate`, where a port or a value is on the canvas. - `iconButton{ d, tooltip?, active?, onClick, key }` — a hoverable/active icon square; `d` is an SVG path (or full `<svg>`). Icons are inline SVG (feather/lucide-style 24-view stroke paths), matching the editor's icon language — pass a path `d` and it is wrapped for you.

# speech_to_text Turns recorded speech into text: the words spoken in a short audio clip, written as plain text. Push to talk (`edui.voicePrompt`) uses it to turn what a creator says into the prompt their agent receives. One operation, `transcribe`, against the `transcribe` endpoint of the `origozero/speech_to_text` offering. A call costs 1 credit. | Input | | |---|---| | `audio` | VFS path of the clip: a WAV or an MP3 file. `audio.encodeWav` writes the WAV from what `microphone.samples` captured. | | `format` | `wav` (the default) or `mp3`. | The framework reads the file, sends it base64 in the request with the instruction to write down the words spoken and nothing else, reads the answer at `choices.1.message.content`, and writes it to the `asset_path` the caller directs. The offering fixes the transcription model. ```luau local pcm = microphone.samples() local wav = audio.encodeWav(pcm, microphone.status().sampleRate, 1, { sampleRate = 16000 }) vfs.write("/zero/source/tmp/voice/clip.wav", wav, { overwrite = true }) local run = asset.resolve("speech_to_text", "service"):invoke({ audio = "/zero/source/tmp/voice/clip.wav", asset_path = "/zero/source/tmp/voice/clip.txt", }) -- Poll tools.use("services", "status", { id = run.id }) until `status` is -- "completed"; the transcript is the file at the row's `asset`, and the -- row's `charged` is what the call cost. ```

# assetType (asset type) An asset type says what a kind of asset is: the files an asset of the kind is made of, the code that gives it behaviour, the interface a person uses to work with it, and how it is found, pictured and checked. A `<typename>.assetType/` folder declares a type called `<typename>`, and every `<name>.<typename>/` folder is an asset of it. `assetType` is itself a type, so a type is an asset like any other: it is created, versioned, installed and contributed the same way. ## Making a type `asset.create("assetType", "<typename>")` scaffolds a type. The type registers the moment its folder is written, anywhere under `/zero/source/`, and from then on `<name>.<typename>/` folders are its assets. An asset of a type that is not registered yet is not an asset, so make the type first. A type folder is a root: `~.x` in any file inside it names the type's own `x`, wherever the type is installed. Keep the type's whole implementation inside its folder and reach it that way. What a type folder must hold is set by this type's own `type.yaml`, the same way every type's `type.yaml` sets what its assets hold. `asset.validate` on a type reports anything missing, and the scaffold produces a folder that passes. ## What sets your type's schema (`type.yaml`) `type.yaml` is the structural contract every asset of the type is checked against. The keys below are the ones the engine reads; a key not listed here is ignored. | Key | What it controls | |---|---| | `suffix` | The folder suffix of the type's assets. Defaults to `.<typename>`. | | `primary` | The file or files that are the asset's content: what the asset resolves to when it is used. | | `entry_files`, `primary_aliases` | Further files that load as the asset or share its identity. | | `is_container` | Whether the suffix stays in the identities of what the asset holds. | | `is_opaque_walker` | Whether a walk of the tree stops at the asset and registers only its primary. | | `plural_dir`, `classify_exts` | Loose files in a folder of this name, or with these extensions, are assets of the type. | | `is_text_default` | Whether the asset's files are text unless stated otherwise. | | `broadcasts_subassets` | Whether assets nested inside an asset of the type are found by their own short name. | | `root` | `true` makes every asset of the type a root, so `~.x` inside one names that asset's own `x`. | | `contract_ref: { field, category }` | A key of the primary file that names another asset the asset is built on. | | `files: { required, optional }` | The files an asset holds (below). | | `allow_unlisted` | `false` reports every file the type does not declare. | | `aliases_from: [{ file, key }]` | Further names an asset answers to, read from its own files. | | `settings:` | Typed per-asset settings (below). | | `inspector:` | The interface people use for the type and its assets (below). | | `preview:` | How an asset is pictured (below). | | `references:` | Names of other assets the type's files carry (below). | | `indexing:` | What search reads for each asset (below). | | `describe:` | How a missing description is generated (below). | ### The files an asset holds Each entry under `files.required` or `files.optional` is `{ path, kind: file | folder, one_of_group?, content? }`. `*` in a path matches within one segment. Entries that share a `one_of_group` are satisfied by any one of them. `content` lists checks on the file's bytes: | Check | Passes when | |---|---| | `non_empty` | the file has content | | `json_field { key, type?, non_empty?, accept? }` | the JSON holds the key (a dotted path) with that shape | | `yaml_field { key, type?, non_empty?, accept? }` | the same for YAML | | `described { keys?, headings?, message? }` | the file says what the asset is (see "Ask your assets to say what they are") | Each check takes a `message`, which is what the author is told when it fails. ### Settings `settings: { values, schema: { type | instance, export? } }` gives every asset typed settings. `values` names the file an asset's values live in; `schema.type` declares one schema for the whole type, and `schema.instance` names a file each asset declares its own in. `asset.create` writes the resolved values, and a write to the values file reaches `onChange` with what changed. ## The human side (`inspector.luau`) A type is used by people through its Inspector, and without one the type is usable only from code. The Inspector is the type's interface for a person: for a procedural graph it is the graph editor, for a kit it is the tracking view of what the kit holds and what is still missing. Writing it is part of writing the type. `inspector: { type, instance? }` in `type.yaml` names the files. `type` is the interface for the type itself and for its assets; `instance` names a file an asset may ship to add its own. Each returns: ```luau return { sections = { { id = "graph", title = "Graph", build = function(ctx) ... end } }, replace = { contents = { ... } }, -- replace a default section by id order = { "graph", "contents" }, -- section order } ``` `build(ctx)` receives the asset and builds the section. A section's `title`, and the text its rows carry, is a string or an `i18n.text` value read from a catalog (`i18n.text("inspectors.mesh.title")`), which follows the editor's language. `asset.create("assetType", ...)` scaffolds a working `inspector.luau` to start from. `asset.validate` on a type that names no inspector, or names one that does not load, reports it. ## Say what your type is for (`about.yaml`) Every type carries an `about.yaml` that says what the type is for, in three plain-language texts: ```yaml intent: "Sets the typeface of the text in your game: UI, labels, signs and 3D lettering." function: "A font, from a TTF, OTF or WOFF file, made available to all of Zero's text, including 3D text." usage: "You choose it by name for your UI or your text, and the text appears in that typeface." ``` - **`intent`** is what the type is for in someone's game, in the words a game maker uses. Up to 800 bytes. - **`function`** is how it works today: what an asset of it is made of and what the engine does with it. Up to 1500 bytes. - **`usage`** is what a person or an agent does with one. Up to 1200 bytes. Write about the type as a whole, not one asset of it, and say what it does now. Agents read these texts to learn when to reach for the type and how; people searching find the type by them. The scaffold starts each text with `[[describe]]` and a note on what to write; a text that still starts that way counts as not written. `services describe` can write them. They show up in `asset.inspect` as `detail.about`, in `assetTypeRef:getAbout()`, at the end of the type's `types/<typename>` guide, and at the top of the type's Inspector. ## Ask your assets to say what they are A type can require each asset to carry a description: a file, written by the author or generated, saying what the asset is and what it is for. Declare it with a `described` check: ```yaml files: required: - path: "README.md" kind: "file" content: - { check: "described", message: "Say what this widget is for and where it goes." } ``` A file that is missing, empty or still has a line starting with `[[describe]]` fails the check, and so does a YAML file whose named `keys` are missing or over their `max_bytes`, or a Markdown file missing a named heading. `asset.validate` names the asset, and a push that carries it is refused with `message`. `services describe` finds such assets and writes their descriptions. `describe:` steers what is generated: ```yaml describe: guidance: "Say what the widget shows, what input it reacts to, and where it fits in a UI." examples: - "<identity of an asset of this type whose description reads well>" ``` An example is an asset of your type whose description is a true, written one, never a placeholder and never the asset being described; with none, leave `examples` empty. A type whose assets the model cannot perceive (a sound, a motion) says so in `guidance`, and the description is drawn only from what the asset's own files state. Start the file unwritten in your `template/`: a heading and one line starting with `[[describe]]`, never example content, which every new asset would carry verbatim. A type whose assets say what they are through their own content (a mesh, a texture) declares no check. ## The type's code (`behavior.luau`) `behavior.luau` returns one table. These are the keys the engine reads from it; anything else on the table is the type's own. ### What the type's assets can do | Key | Shape | What the engine does with it | |---|---|---| | `ref` | `{ [name] = function(self, ...) }` | Every function becomes a method on every asset of the type: `ref:name(...)`. | | `modules` | `{ [name] = require(".x") }` | Code the type's assets reach with `asset.containing(__FILE__).modules.<name>`. | | `events` | an events schema | Events an asset fires. Readers subscribe through `ref.events.<name>:connect(...)`; the type fires them. | | `refShapes` | `{ [method] = function(self) -> (typeExpr, source?) }` | The result type of a `ref` method for one particular asset (below). | | `namePattern` | a Lua pattern | The names `asset.create` accepts for the type's assets. Default `^[A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9_]*$`. | | `derive` | `{ output, module, compute, fingerprint, matches?, required?, timeout? }` | A file computed from the asset when it is committed; a `required` one holds the commit until it lands. | Some `ref` names mean the same for every type, and the engine calls them: - **`instantiate(self, target?, opts?) -> (root, idMap)`**: puts the asset in a scene. Defining it is what makes the type scene-instantiable. Its return is a contract (below). - **`inspect(self) -> detail`**: what `asset.inspect` reports for the asset beyond the common record (below). - **`preview(self, opts)`**: renders the asset's picture; it wins over the type's `preview:` recipe. - **`previewMaterial(self) -> { material }`**: the material a `surface` preview paints. - **`saveDefinition(self)`**: writes the asset's in-memory edits back to its files in edit mode. Some names are answered for every asset before the type is asked, so a `ref` entry of the same name is never reached: `getSource`, `getBytes`, `getText`, `exists`, `deps`, `canInstantiate`, `canPreview`, `preview` (which calls yours when you define one), `meta`, `runtime`, `events`, `typeRef`, `modules`, and the residency flags `has_backing_asset`, `has_runtime_changes`, `cpu_resident`, `gpu_resident`. ### When the engine calls the type | Hook | Signature | When it runs | |---|---|---| | `onCreate` | `(name, opts) -> { [path] = contents }` | On `asset.create`. Returns the files of the new asset, laid over the type's `template/`. Annotate `opts`: its type is the schema `asset.create` checks the caller's arguments against. A `""` key writes a single loose file. | | `onReplace` | `(dest, files) -> files` | On an `asset.create` over an asset already at `dest`, after `onCreate`, so what the author added can be carried into the replacement. | | `onRegister` | `(self)` | Once per asset, when it first registers: when the world loads, on a live `asset.create`, and when an asset arrives later (installed, pulled, synced). This is what makes an asset take effect the moment it is written. | | `onChange` | `(ref, change)` | On every write to a file inside an asset of the type. `change` is `{ path, asset, type, kind, origin }`, plus `settings` and `settingsChanged` for a write to the settings values file; `kind` is `edited` or `seeded`, `origin` is `local` or `remote`. Filter on `change.path`. Writes to one asset arrive in order, each after the hook for the one before has finished, and the hook may wait on what it reads. A write the hook makes inside its own asset arrives later like any other, so keep the hook convergent. | | `onDependencyChange` | `(ref, change)` | When a module the asset's code requires is re-run, or a name the asset carries starts resolving. `change.kind` is `dependency`. | | `onDelete` | `(ref)` | When an asset of the type leaves the world: deleted, or the world it is in is swapped away. | | `validate` | `(ref) -> { { code, message, severity?, path? } }` | On `asset.validate`, after the `type.yaml` checks, for the type's own rules. `severity` defaults to `error`. Runs on every push, so a type's rules hold at publish. A hook that fails reports `validate.hook_failed`. | ### Settings hooks | Hook | When it runs | |---|---| | `settingsDefaults(name, opts, asked) -> table` | Once per `asset.create`, for values the schema's defaults do not give. | | `settingsCorrections(values, name, opts) -> (corrections?, reasons?)` | On every settings write. A correction to a field the writer named refuses the write, giving the reason. | | `settingsDerivedDefaults(values, explicit, changed)` | On a settings write, for fields derived from others. | | `normalizeSettings(values, stored?)` | On every read and write, to map an earlier spelling of a field to the current one. | | `settingsHealed(values, stored)` | On a read, to repair stored values. | | `settingsSchemaProblem(schema, ref) -> string?` | When an asset's own schema is read; a returned string refuses the schema. | `creationInputs` (`{ [opt] = true | selectorOpt }`) names `asset.create` options that are inputs to the type rather than settings. ### Reloading An edit to `behavior.luau` reaches existing assets with no restart. ## How an asset is pictured (`preview:`) | `kind` | The picture is | The type provides | |---|---|---| | `instantiate` | the asset placed in the preview studio through its `instantiate` | `ref.instantiate` | | `image` | a file the asset holds, fitted to the frame | `source: { files }`, the candidate files in order | | `surface` | the asset painted on a mesh | `mesh`, and `ref.previewMaterial` | | `custom` | whatever `ref.preview` returns | `ref.preview` | ```yaml preview: kind: surface mesh: sphere ``` `angle: [yaw, pitch]` turns the camera. The studio owns the light, the backdrop and the framing, so an asset pictures the same in every world. A type with no `preview:` that defines `instantiate` still answers `ref:preview()`. A picture is rendered when something asks to view it (the editor showing the asset, `ref:preview()`), when previews are generated on request (`assets.generatePreviews`), and when the asset is staged. An edit alone renders nothing. The picture records what it was made from, so a stale one is told from a current one. ## The names your type's assets hold (`references:`) Where your type's own format or API carries the name of another asset, declare it here: ```yaml references: keys: # a top-level key of the type's files that holds a name, or a table of them - { key: "shader", type: "shader" } args: # an argument of a call, counting from 1 - { call: "g:node", position: 2, type: "procNode" } fields: # a field of the options table a call takes - { call: "fx.beam", field: "material", type: "material" } ``` `type` is the category the name resolves in. `asset.declareReferenceKey`, `asset.declareReferenceArg` and `asset.declareReferenceField` declare the same from a script. ## What search reads (`indexing:`) `indexing:` is how assets are found. Search reaches an asset only through what its type's `indexing:` names, and adds nothing of its own. That includes you: an asset indexed badly is one you cannot find later, when you are making something else and need it. A type whose assets are never looked for says `indexing: none`. ```yaml indexing: data: # text, read from the asset's files - role: identity extractor: verbatim source: { file: "README.md" } - role: interface extractor: symbols source: { files: ["init.luau"] } - role: implementation extractor: verbatim source: { files: ["init.luau"] } content: # the picture - role: identity modality: image source: { file: "preview.png" } facets: # what a query filters and re-ranks by file: ".metadata" rigged: { type: bool, from: { components: { contains: SkinnedModel } } } roughness: { type: number, filter: range, from: { file: "mat.yaml", field: "floats.roughness" } } ``` **Roles.** Each `data` and `content` entry has a `role`, and a query matches in two slots: - **`identity`**: what an asset is. For anything you look at, the picture; for anything else, the text that says what it is. - **`capability`**: what it does and how it is made. `interface` (the signatures or shape a caller uses) and `implementation` (the body) both count as capability, and a type with code usually declares both. Ask what a person would recognise an asset of the type by, and what it does, and point each role at the file that says it. For text, that is the asset's description: the file your template starts with a `[[describe]]` block, which the author writes or `services describe` fills in (see "Ask your assets to say what they are"). **`data`.** `extractor: verbatim` embeds a file's text as it is; `symbols` embeds the declared signatures of code. `source` is `{ file }` or `{ files: [...] }`. Never index a file name (`source: { field: name }`): one or two words carry nothing to match. **`content`.** `modality: image` embeds the picture itself, so a text query matches what the asset looks like. A type whose assets are looked at makes the picture its identity. **`facets`.** What a query narrows and re-ranks the matches by. `file` is embedded whole, so keys nobody declared in it are still found. Each further key is computed for every asset and states a value for every one, including `false`: a file can imply "not rigged" but never say it, and a query separates rigged from unrigged only because the unrigged ones say `rigged: false`. A key is `{ type: bool | number | enum, filter?: range, from }`, where `from` is `{ file, field }` (a field of one of the asset's files, dotted for nesting), `{ metadata: key }`, or `{ components: { contains | any_outside } }` (what the asset's entities carry). ## What blocks a push A push checks every asset it carries against its type. These refuse it: - a required file that is missing, a `content` check that fails, a `described` file not written yet; - an error from the type's `validate`. Unlisted files and warnings do not. A `described` file blocks only a push that changes the asset. When a push is refused, the message names each asset and what it lacks. `world.publishBlockers()` and `zm status` read the same list without pushing. ## Typing a result from the asset (`refShapes`) A `ref` method whose result depends on the asset (one entry per child folder, per row of a config, per control a map declares) can only be annotated as `{ [string]: Thing }`, which accepts any key. `refShapes` states the result for each asset instead: a function returning a Luau type expression for that asset, and the module whose types the expression uses. Read the asset; never run it. ```lua -- inputMap.assetType/behavior.luau M.refShapes = { activate = function(self): (string, string) local names = {} for _, control in ipairs(M.ref.controls(self)) do table.insert(names, control.name .. ": Handle") end if #names == 0 then return "", "" end return "{ " .. table.concat(names, ", ") .. " }", "@builtin::modules.zinput.scheme" end, } ``` With it, `map.jump:onPressed(fn)` is checked and `map.noexisting` is reported. A per-asset type applies where the call site names which asset: a component field whose default names it, or an annotation `AssetRef<"inputMap", "<identity>">`. `asset.resolve(name, category)` carries only the category, and a name computed at runtime carries nothing, so calls on those keep the declared return. The type belongs to the call's result: index it there, or bind what you need from it there, and the names stay checked. `require("@builtin::assetTypes.assetType.shared.refShapes").published()` shows what was published: `categories` (each type's method surface) and `returns` (per-asset results by identity, then method). An identity missing from `returns` was never published. Results are recomputed when an asset is written; at most 64 assets of one type are read. ## Putting an asset in a scene (`ref.instantiate`) A caller writes one piece of code against every instantiable type, so what `instantiate` returns is fixed: ```lua local Instantiable = require("@builtin::assetTypes.assetType.shared.instantiable") M.ref = { instantiate = function(self, target, opts) local root = Instantiable.root(self, target, opts) -- compose the asset under `root`, now return Instantiable.result(self, root, idMap) end, } ``` **In.** `target` is the entity the asset lands under, or onto for a hierarchy type; with none, the type spawns a new root. `position`, `rotation` (three numbers in degrees, or a quaternion), `scale`, `name` and `temporary` mean the same for every type: `Instantiable.root` applies them to a root you make, `Instantiable.place` to one you adopt. Document any options of your own in the hook's `--!arg` docs. **Out.** `(root, idMap)`. `root` is the composed root, live when you return: build synchronously, never defer to a component's `awake`. `idMap` maps each original id to the spawned one, so a component that composes the asset again on every load can pass it back in and keep references into the composition. Every call goes through `Instantiable.result`, which refuses a root that is not live and turns a missing `idMap` into `{}`. ## Inspecting an asset (`ref.inspect`) `asset.inspect(ref)` builds a record every asset shares (`identity`, `name`, `guid`, `source`, `typeName`, `typeDefinitionPath`, `scope`, `origin`, `description`, `tags`), then calls `ref.inspect(self)` for the type's own `detail`: ```lua M.ref = { inspect = function(self) -- read the asset's own files, never runtime state: inspect works on an asset -- that has not been compiled, uploaded or registered return { --[[ what makes this asset what it is ]] } end, } ``` Without it, the record is the shared part alone, and an agent inspecting the asset learns nothing of what it is. A hook that raises leaves `detail` empty and sets `record.warning`. ## Discovery - `asset.list("assetType")`: every registered type. - `asset.inspect("<typename>")`: the type, its README and its `about.yaml` texts. - `asset.resolve("<typename>", "assetType")`: the type itself.

# services.shared.describe The work behind `services describe`: which assets lack the description their type asks for, what each needs, the request for each, and writing the answer. ```luau local Describe = require("@builtin::tools.services.shared.describe") local report = Describe.describe({ mode = "find" }) print(report.calls, report.totalCost) for _, row in ipairs(report.assets) do print(row.asset, row.call) end ``` `Describe.describe(options)` takes `{ mode, scope, assets, instructions, examples }` and answers a report (see the tool's README). What it reads: each type's `described` checks and `describe:` block through `assetType.shared.typeYaml`, the `describing-assets` guide and the `answer-format.md` beside this module (the reply format) that the model follows, and the asset's files. The service that makes the text is `describe`: one operation, one price per call. The assets are packed whole into calls of at most `CALL_BUDGET_BYTES` of request text (and `CALL_MAX_ASSETS` assets), each asset sits in a block carrying an id the tool assigns, and the model answers one JSON object per line keyed by those ids, which the tool reads line by line so that one bad answer fails one asset.

# services Generate real content — 3D meshes, textures, audio — from a prompt, by spending credits. This is the whole surface for it: discover what you can make, start a generation, track it, and find what you've made. You never touch the underlying asset type or task plumbing. When a build needs a recognizable thing — a treasure chest, a snowboard, a character, a sound — you **generate** it. You don't assemble it from boxes and spheres. ## The loop Discover what you can make: each service lists its operations, and each operation is self-describing: its inputs, the kind of asset it produces, and its credit cost. Check your credit balance if you want. Start a generation with a service and a prompt; this returns immediately with a handle and runs in the background, because a generation takes minutes and blocking would trip the execute time limit. When the run ends it posts a notice, `generation finished` naming its id and the job's `asset` (the spawnable asset path, which you can drop straight into a blocked-out slot) or `generation failed` naming its id and the error, and the notice reaches you on your next tool call; `services.status` reads a run's progress by its id meanwhile. A run files its output where your writes landed when you started it: one started in edit keeps its asset on source even when it finishes after you entered play, and one started inside your play session leaves it on the play shadow, where a play-exit discard takes it back; `durable` in the input states it outright. The notice and `services.status` both say where the output stands (`durable`, and the shadowed paths when the play shadow holds any of it). Alongside the live per-session job view, a durable outputs record survives restarts by reading the provenance stamped on each generated asset. ## Describing your assets `describe` is the one tool here that makes text, not content. It finds the assets in your world that lack the description their type asks for (for the built-in types that ask, a README, or the `about.yaml` texts of a type) and fills them in: `{ mode = "find" }` lists what is missing and what filling it costs, `{ mode = "all" }` fills it, and `{ assets = { ... } }` fills the assets you name. A call costs 1 credit and covers many assets, and `find` reports the number of calls before anything is spent. What it writes is an ordinary file in the asset, there for you to edit.

# edui The editor UI framework, on the CSS-parity `ui.*` surface. An editor-only toolkit: panels author closures instead of callback ids, a dock shell over `ui.*` native docking, and typed editor-chrome primitives. Gameplay and normal world UI author raw `ui.*` trees and need none of this. **`edui.guide` beside this file is how to use it** — creating a panel, the spec it returns, how a panel is drawn and redrawn, the whole widget vocabulary, and how a panel reaches the selection and the dock. ## What installs - **`framework`** — everything under one table. From outside the package, `require("@builtin::~edui.framework")`; inside it, `require("~.framework")`. It carries `app`, `widgets`, `shell`, `topbar`, `query`, `fileDialog`, `worldDialog`, `stats`, and the chrome primitives flat (`panel`, `tree`, `field`, `section`, `text`, `button`, `menu`, …). - **`app`** — maps a panel's closures to `ui.*` callback ids, dispatches to them, and coalesces redraws. - **`widgets`** — the primitives, plus the typed inspector layer (`widgets.tree`, `widgets.fields`, `widgets.controls`). - **`inspector`** — the Inspector as an ordered list of sections: the generic asset sections, the Settings section and its actions, and the merge with the sections a type's `inspector.luau` declares (`inspector.assetSections`, `inspector.settingsSection`), and the building blocks those sections compose (`inspector.parts`, reached as `ctx.parts`). - **`shell`** — the dock: one `ui.*` `dockArea` holding a `dockPanel` per registered panel, and the panel registry behind it. ## Referencing - Inside this package, modules reference siblings with `~.` — e.g. `require("~.app")`, `require("~.widgets.fields")`. - Editor content built on the framework references it by package identity — `require("~edui.framework")`, `require("~edui.shell")`.

# argForm <!-- zero:scaffolded-readme --> <!-- Replace the line below with what this module provides and who consumes it, then delete both comment lines. --> TODO: describe this module.

# assetBrowser <!-- zero:scaffolded-readme --> <!-- Replace the line below with what this module provides and who consumes it, then delete both comment lines. --> TODO: describe this module.

# edui.widgets.controls edui's own interactive controls, drawn on the `ui.*` canvas substrate (paint commands + pointer/key/scroll events) rather than the generic `ui.*` widgets, so an editor control looks and behaves like an editor control and enforces its type. `Controls.make(W)` binds them to the widgets barrel and returns: - **`numberField(P, o)`** — a numeric field that only ever holds a number. Drag the value to scrub, scroll to nudge, double-click to type digits (letters can't enter); an optional ▲▼ stepper sits on the right. `o = { value, onChange, key, readOnly, width?, stepper? }`. - **`boolToggle(P, o)`** — a pill/knob toggle switch, distinct from a checkbox. `o = { value, onChange, key, readOnly }`. Canvas paint points are POSITIONAL `{x, y}` arrays. Interaction payloads arrive as the value the edui app unwraps from the engine event envelope (`d.dx`/`d.dy` for drag/scroll).

# edui.document One open document in an editor panel. `edui.document.new{ id }` makes one; `doc:open(path, line?)` shows a VFS file or asset in the viewer its kind calls for; `doc:build(edui.palette())` is the panel content. Text is editable (`doc:save()` writes it and runs a .luau file through the LSP) and the document follows its file on disk: a write lands in a buffer with no unsaved edits, and raises a "changed on disk" bar over one that has them. `doc:setText` tells the owner (`onChange`) when it moves `doc:dirty()`, so a panel can mark its tab. `doc:suspend()` sets a document aside while its panel is closed: the watch and the viewer's resources go, the path and the unsaved edits stay. `doc:resume()` picks it back up and reads the file as it is now — a clean buffer adopts what changed meanwhile, an edited one raises the conflict. Viewers are modes. The built-in ones are `code`, `markdown` (rendered, with a Source toggle), `image`, `asset` (a live orbitable render for any asset type that declares a preview) and `info`. `edui.document.registerMode{ name, match, build }` adds another. The Code panel is one document; `edui.shown` opens a panel around another.

# entityPicker <!-- zero:scaffolded-readme --> <!-- Replace the line below with what this module provides and who consumes it, then delete both comment lines. --> TODO: describe this module.

# edui.widgets.fields Inspector field rows for edui — a two-column (label + control) row whose control is chosen by the field's declared TYPE (from the component's backing schema), falling back to the value's shape when no type is given. The label column carries the field name and a per-type **badge** (num/str/bool/enum/rgb/vec3/rot/ref/obj, each in its own hue) so a row's type reads at a glance. The control column maps: - `number` → drag-scrub numeric field (`controls.numberField`); a spec carrying `min` / `max` shows its bounds beside the input (`1 – 16`, an open side as `…`) - `bool` → toggle switch (`controls.boolToggle`) - `string` → framed text input - `enum` → a value button that opens a menu of members - `color` → swatch + native colour picker - `vec3` → three axis-coloured (x/y/z) numeric cells - `quat` → an editable euler (X/Y/Z degrees), read back to a quaternion - `assetRef` → a live-asset chip - nested table → a recursing disclosure Each editable leaf fires `onChange(newValue)` (vec3/quat fire the full new table). A row spec's `description` is the label's tooltip, and its `error` is drawn beneath the row in the danger colour. Every committed edit is one undoable operation named after the field. ## `schemaField` — a row from a Field descriptor `edui.schemaField{ label, desc, value, key, onChange?, readOnly?, error?, errors?, nameOf? }` is the one place a `Field.*` descriptor becomes its control. The descriptor decides the control: | Descriptor | Control | |---|---| | `Field.enum` (string with an enum constraint) | dropdown of its members | | `Field.number` / `Field.range` / `Field.bitmask` | number; a range shows `min – max`, a bitmask `0 – 2^bits-1` | | `Field.bool` / `Field.string` | toggle / text input | | `Field.color` | swatch + picker; an edit keeps the value's alpha | | `Field.vec2` | two axis cells (x/y), each edit emits `{ x, y }` | | `Field.vec3` / `Field.quat` | axis triple / editable euler | | `Field.assetRef` / `Field.resource` / `Field.dataRef` | asset chip accepting the descriptor's category | | `Field.instantiableRef` | asset chip accepting the spawnable kinds (`"*"` is the wildcard category and narrows nothing; the scene-instantiable constraint does) | | `Field.taggedRef` | asset chip accepting any kind, reading "accepts assets tagged <tag>" — the field's own constraint checks the tag | | `Field.entityRef` | entity chip, named through `nameOf` | | `Field.struct` (and `Field.settingsOf`) | a disclosure of its subfields, each a `schemaField` in declaration order (`Settings.orderedNames`); an edit emits the whole struct | | `Field.list` | a disclosure of its elements, each a `schemaField`, with **Add**, **Remove**, **Move up** and **Move down**; every action emits the whole new list. The first element has no Move up and the last no Move down; Add appends the element descriptor's default | | `Field.table` / `Field.componentRef` | the value-shaped control `field` would choose | A value stored as an array (`{ 1, 0, 0, 1 }`) reads as its map form (`{ r, g, b, a }`), and a missing value shows the descriptor's default. `error` is this row's own message. `errors` maps paths **relative to this field** to messages — `"filter"`, `"[2]"`, `"[2].name"` — and each nested row of a struct or list receives the part under its own name (`edui.widgets.subErrors(errors, head)` does the re-keying). The descriptor's `description` is the label's tooltip. Callback keys, for a row keyed `k`: the disclosure `k:disc`; a subfield or element `k/<name>` / `k/<i>`; list Add `k:add`; Remove `k:rm:<i>`; Move up `k:up:<i>`; Move down `k:down:<i>`; a vec2 axis `k:x` / `k:y`. `Fields.make(W)` binds these to the widgets barrel; the barrel exposes `edui.field`, `edui.schemaField` and `edui.section`, and `edui.widgets.subErrors`.

# edui.widgets.tree (module) The editor hierarchy tree primitive — `edui.tree{...}`. The tree is **generic over its nodes**. It never reads an `entity` field: a caller supplies the accessors and owns the state, and the tree only reports clicks. That is what lets one primitive back the Entities hierarchy, an asset folder listing, and a scene-layer list with no branch per caller. - Accessors: `idOf(node)`, `childrenOf(node)`, `labelOf(node)` — defaulting to `node.id`, `node.children`, and `node.label`/`node.name`. - Expand state is the caller's: pass an `expanded` set (`{ [id] = true }`) or an `isExpanded(node, id)` predicate, and handle `onToggle(node, id)`. - Selection is the caller's: pass `selected` (an id, or an `{ [id] = true }` set for multi-selection) and handle `onSelect(node, id)`. - `renderRow(node, row, selected)` replaces the default label with your own content (badges, per-row icon buttons); return one widget or a list. ## Flattening `flatten{ roots, ... } -> { { node, id, depth, hasChildren, expanded, parent } }` is exported separately (`edui.widgets.flattenTree`) and is **pure** — no `ui.*` calls and no app — so display order is testable without a rendered frame. A node's children appear only while that node is expanded, so a collapsed tree costs nothing to build. A node that appears on its own ancestry is reported and skipped instead of recursing forever. ## The window `windowBounds(total, offset, viewport, rowH, overscan?, quantum?) -> first, last` (`edui.widgets.windowBounds`) is the pure arithmetic behind the windowed shape: the rows in view plus an overscan on each side, the start snapped to a multiple of the quantum so a small scroll moves nothing. `first` is the 0-based index of the band's first row and `last` the 1-based index of its last, so the rows are `first + 1` through `last`. ## Row rendering Rows are uniform-height, which is exactly the shape `scrollArea`'s `virtual` prop wants — the renderer then draws only the band in view. Leaf rows still reserve the disclosure-chevron slot so every label at a given depth starts on the same column. Row keys are stable (`"<key>:<id>"`), so the callback ids survive a rebuild and anything the renderer tracks by id (focus, `ui.widgetState`) stays put. The disclosure chevron and the select target are **siblings, never nested** — a click lands on exactly one, so opening a node cannot also select it. The select target grows to fill the rest of the row, which is what keeps the whole row clickable rather than just the label. The selection background sits on the non-clickable row container so it spans the indent and chevron too. Note that `virtual` is *render*-side windowing: the row widgets are still built for every visible node. Construction-side windowing (building only the scrolled band) needs the `virtualTotal`/`virtualFirst` scrollArea props, which are not on this branch.

# Service (asset type) A **service** generates content you don't have yet — a 3D mesh, an image, a PBR material, a sound effect, a humanoid animation, a navigable splat world — from the inputs each operation declares, landing it as an asset in your world. When nothing in `asset.list` fits what you're building, a service is where new content comes from. A `<name>.service/` is a **declaration**, not code. The asset type ships the whole runtime — the metered invoke, the submit → poll → download → write pipeline, the async generation handle, error handling — in its `shared.module/`. An instance only declares its surface: which provider **offering** it meters, and the **operations** it offers. There is no HTTP, polling, credit, or secret code in a service. ## Using a service Every service is used the same way, whatever it generates: ```luau local mesh = asset.resolve("mesh_gen", "service") mesh:operations() -- callable operations, each with its inputs + credit cost mesh:cost() -- credits the next run costs (estimate) mesh:balance() -- credits you have local g = mesh:invoke({ prompt = "a wooden treasure chest" }) --> { id, task, asset_path, operation } -- async: the run is still going local row = tools.use("services", "status", { id = g.id }) -- poll until it settles -- once row.status == "completed", row.asset is the spawnable asset ``` `:invoke` returns immediately with a handle; the run finishes in the background. The `services` toolbox (`status`, `jobs`) is the agent-facing way to track a run to completion, and a completed row's `asset` is the asset to spawn — see the generating-assets-and-content guide. The handle's `asset_path` is where the run directs the raw generated file, which the importer turns into the asset that row names. A run outlives the engine that started it. The gateway keeps the job and its result for hours after the charge, and the run keeps its own record in the world — what it was asked for, the job doing the work, and the step it had reached — so when the world next loads, every run that did not finish is picked up where it left off and lands its asset the way an uninterrupted run does. Nothing is submitted, or paid for, a second time, and nothing is asked of the caller. A service with several operations selects via `input.operation` (`mesh:invoke({ operation = "from_image", image = "/zero/source/.../ref.png" })`); a single-operation service just takes its input. ## Asking a service for an answer Some operations produce an answer rather than an asset: a verdict, a classification, a completion. `:call` runs such an operation directly and returns the answer to the caller, with no run behind it: ```luau local text = asset.resolve("describe", "service"):call({ instructions = "Answer in one word.", content = "Name a colour.", }).value ``` Each step is one request on the caller's connection, answered at the provider's speed, metered like any call. Nothing is filed: no gateway job, no run record, no file, no `services.status` row. `value` is what the operation's result names; `bound` holds every value its steps bound. Inputs are checked the way `:invoke` checks them, and `asset_path` / `durable` are refused, since nothing is written. A run (`:invoke`) is what keeps a paid result safe through a crash, so an operation that produces an asset runs; one whose answer is the point is called. An offering with no `.service` is called the same way through `require("@builtin::modules.serviceCall")`: `call(offering, endpoint, opts)` for an endpoint that answers in one response, and `stream(offering, endpoint, opts, onEvent?)` for one that answers as a stream, such as the language-model offering `origozero/llm` (`chat`). `stream` returns the whole answer once it settles (`text`, `events`, `charged`) and hands each event to `onEvent` as it arrives. ## Authoring one ```luau -- <name>.service/init.luau local Service = asset.containing(__FILE__).modules.shared return Service.define({ name = "<name>", description = "Generate <thing> from a text prompt.", offering = "<provider>/<name>", -- the offering ZeroMind meters output = { kind = "mesh", ext = "glb", dir = "/zero/source/generated/meshes" }, operations = { generate = { description = "What this makes, agent-facing.", input = { prompt = { type = "string", required = true } }, cost = 5, steps = { … }, -- the pipeline (see below) result = { url = "$url" }, -- the framework downloads + writes it }, }, }) ``` An operation takes exactly the fields it declares in `input`, plus the `operation`, `asset_path` and `durable` the framework itself reads. A call carrying any other field is refused by name — ahead of the credit pre-flight and ahead of any endpoint — with the fields the operation does take named in the message, so a field the steps have no `$ref` for costs a message rather than a run. An operation that declares no `input` states nothing about its surface and takes any field. An input declaring `enum = { "2k", "4k", "8k" }` accepts those values and no others, and the set is published on the input so a reader learns it from the listing rather than from a refusal. A value outside it is refused with the same timing as an undeclared field — before the credit pre-flight, before any endpoint. That timing is the point where a pipeline spends per step: a value the last step's upstream rejects is one the earlier steps were already charged for. An input declaring `dimensions` takes an image size as a `WIDTHxHEIGHT` string in pixels, inside every bound the declaration states: `multipleOf` (each edge), `maxEdge`, `minPixels` / `maxPixels` (width times height) and `maxAspect` (the long edge over the short one). The words `also` lists (`also = { "auto" }`) are accepted beside a size. It is refused with the same timing for any other value, and the refusal names every bound, so a size the provider would refuse costs a message: ```luau size = { type = "string", dimensions = { multipleOf = 16, maxEdge = 3840, minPixels = 655360, also = { "auto" } }, } ``` A set may hold strings or numbers (`enum = { 24, 30, 60 }`), and a value matches only a member equal to it: the number `30` and the string `'30'` are different values, and the refusal quotes strings and leaves numbers bare so it reads that way. Whenever the provider honours a fixed set of values for an input, the set is its `enum` and the input's `desc` says what the choice does to the result, so the values a reader learns and the values the call accepts are one list. An input declaring `min` / `max` accepts numbers inside that span and is refused with the same timing for a figure outside it. Either bound stands on its own: `min` alone is a floor, `max` alone a ceiling. Both are published on the input beside `enum` and `default`. A span an upstream honours belongs here for the same reason a value set does: a figure the pass that reads it refuses is one every earlier pass has already been paid for. ### Declaring the pipeline `steps` is an ordered list of metered calls. Each step: - `call` — the offering's logical endpoint name. - `body` / `params` / `headers` — templated. `"$name"` injects an input or a prior step's bound value; `"${name}"` interpolates inside a string (a missing value drops the key); `"$name?"` is optional. `{ fromFile = "$path", dataUri = "image/png" }` sends a local asset; `{ firstOf = { a, b } }` uses the first present value; `{ scale = "$n", by = 1000 }` multiplies a number; `{ truncate = "$text", to = 64 }` clamps a string to at most that many characters, for an upstream that caps a field's length; `{ whenSet = "$n", use = true }` sends `use` when `$n` was named and drops the key when it wasn't, for an upstream that reads one field only while a companion flag is on — naming such a field alone is otherwise accepted, charged for, and ignored. - `poll` — when the call submits a job: `{ endpoint, param }` plus optional `idFrom` / `statusFrom` / `done` / `fail` / `doneWhen` / `failWhen` / `progressFrom` overrides (sensible defaults cover the common providers). - `bind` / `bindFrom` — name the value later steps reference; `bindFrom` extracts it (a dotted path, a fallback list `{ "a", "b" }`, or an array-find `{ find = "assets", where = { type = "x" }, get = "url" }`). For a polled step the default bind is the submitted job id. `result` is either `{ url = "$bound" }` (download the URL and write it) or `{ bytes = "$bound" }` (write bytes a step returned directly). `output` sets where the asset lands (`<dir>/<safe(prompt)>.<ext>`); a caller's `asset_path` overrides it. The run writes the file at that path and imports it like any other, so the completed row names the asset the importer produced. A path ending in an asset type's extension (`clips/door.soundClip`) names that asset: the file is written beside it under `output.ext` (`clips/door.mp3`) and imported into it. Two destinations keep the written file as the result: one inside another asset's folder, which is that asset's own content (a `.package` holds assets of their own, so a file inside one imports as usual), and a file no importer claims. The derived name is a truncation of the request, so several runs can derive one name — the same line under two voices, two prompts that open on a shared phrase. The framework hands each run a name no other run holds and no file in `<dir>` already spends, appending `_2`, `_3`, … when it must, and the handle's `asset_path` is the name that run will write. So a set of related generations can run at once and each result is readable at its own path. The written file is then imported, and the name is derived by the rule the importer names an asset with, so the name a run reserves is the name its finished asset carries. Read `mesh_gen` as the worked template: `asset.resolve("mesh_gen","service"):getDefinition()`. ## Discovery - `asset.list("service")` — every registered service. - `asset.resolve("<name>","service"):info()` — offering, output, operations. - `asset.resolve("<name>","service"):operations()` — each operation's inputs + cost. ## Related types - `.module` — reusable library code you `require` and call. - `.tool` — an agent-callable function that composes multiple engine steps. - `.component` — per-entity behaviour. ## In the Inspector Service: what the service does and each operation it offers, with its credit cost and inputs, parsed from its declaration without running it. Invoking an operation spends credits, so it is not offered here.

# luau_introspect (module) Parses Luau/asset source TEXT into structured declarations. Pure string/pattern parsing (`string.find` / `string.match` / `string.gmatch`) over the literal source — no compiling, no VM spawn, no runtime state, no engine FFI. Given source text, it extracts what is written in the file. This is the shared parser every per-assetType `M.ref.inspect` hook uses to turn a component/module/tool's own source into the structured record `asset.inspect` returns. ## Exports - `docstrings(src) -> DocMap` — scans `--!desc` / `--!arg` / `--!return` / `--!example` comment runs and binds each run to the name of the declaration on the next non-comment line (the identifier after `function`, `public:`, `local function`, or `M.`). - `publicFields(src) -> { FieldEntry }` — parses `public = { name = Field.<kind>(default, mode), ... }` table-literal entries and module-scope `public.<name> = Field.<kind>(...)` assignments. - `events(src) -> { EventEntry }` — parses `events = { name = Event(payloadSchema?, syncMode?), ... }` table-literal entries. - `methods(src) -> { MethodEntry }` — parses `function public:<name>(...)` / `typed function public:<name>(...)` declarations (params + optional return type). - `lifecycleHooks(src, catalog) -> { string }` — top-level `function <name>(` declarations whose name is in the caller-supplied `catalog` array. - `moduleExports(src) -> { ExportEntry }` — parses `M.<name> = function` assignments, `function M.<name>(...)` declarations, and a trailing `return { foo = foo, ... }` export table. - `forSource(src, computeFn) -> any` — memoises `computeFn(src)` keyed on `src` itself in a module-local table. The same source text returns the cached result without re-running `computeFn`; different source text recomputes. Keyed on the source content (not an asset checksum) because composite/container assets (component folders, scene folders, etc.) all hash to the empty-string checksum — a checksum-keyed cache collapses every such asset's detail onto whichever one was inspected first. ## Usage ```luau local Introspect = require("modules.luau_introspect") local src = self:getInitScript() local detail = Introspect.forSource(src, function(s) return { fields = Introspect.publicFields(s), events = Introspect.events(s), methods = Introspect.methods(s), hooks = Introspect.lifecycleHooks(s, lifecycleCatalog), } end) ``` ## Notes - Every function is a pure string→table transform: same source text in, same structured table out, every time. No reads of live component state, no entity/world queries. - Structural scanning runs over a comment- and string-aware **mask** of the source (a same-length copy where comment bodies and string-literal contents are blanked to spaces, delimiters and newlines preserved). Pattern matches and brace/paren balancing run on the mask — so a brace, `Field.`, `Event(`, or a whole entry that appears inside a comment or a string literal never registers — while captured values are sliced from the original source at the same (aligned) indices. This makes the parser robust to apostrophes in comments, commented-out entries, string defaults containing `}` / `Field.` / `Event(`, and `[[ ]]` long strings. - `default` / `category` are raw trimmed source-text slices (with any trailing comment stripped), not evaluated values. - For a **ref constructor** (`Field.assetRef` / `dataRef` / `resource` / `componentRef`) the FIRST positional argument is the category / contract / componentType selector, captured under `category`; the SECOND argument is captured under `default`. - For every **other** Field kind the first argument is the `default` and `category` is nil. - A trailing `Sync` / `NoSync` identifier is captured as `sync`, tolerating a trailing comma or a trailing comment after the last argument. - Field/Event entries whose key is a computed or indirect expression (`[expr] = Field.number(...)`) are omitted — only literal identifier keys are recognised. - `methods` captures a `...` variadic parameter (as `name = "..."`), with its `: <type>` annotation when present. - A `--!desc` written above a field/event declaration (`<name> = Field.<kind>(...)` / `<name> = Event(...)`) or a `public.<name> =` assignment binds to that name in `docstrings`, and is folded into the corresponding `publicFields` / `events` entry's `desc`. - `lifecycleHooks` never hardcodes the lifecycle-callback catalog; the caller passes the list of names to match against. - `forSource`'s memo is bounded (oldest-key eviction) so a long session touching many distinct asset versions can't grow it without limit.

# assetType.shared.ref Builds the metatable every `AssetRef` (the `{ __ref, type, name, guid, identity, path }` envelope returned by `asset.resolve` / `asset.ref`) carries. Replaces the per-call C metatable that used to live in `crates/zero_scripting/src/ffi/bindings/asset.rs::attach_asset_ref_metatable`. ## Public API ```lua local assetRef = require("@builtin::assetTypes.assetType.shared.ref") -- Called by the Rust factory (push_asset_ref_handle) via -- _G.__build_asset_ref_proxy after the envelope fields are set. assetRef.build(envelope) -- attaches AssetRefMT, returns the table ``` The module exposes no invalidation surface — discovery is registry-driven and hot-reload is transparent (see "Discovery and hot-reload" below). ## Method dispatch order `ref.foo` is resolved in this order: 1. **Default methods** — `getSource` / `getBytes` / `getText` / `exists` / `inspect` and the lazy `meta` property. Per-type definitions cannot override these (engine contract from gh#1889). 2. **Per-type `ref` table** — discovered through `asset.resolve(<typename>, "assetType")` + `require(<identity>.behavior)`. The lookup resolves to whichever `<typename>.assetType/` folder is currently registered for the typename (built-in, user, or library-vendored) and pulls its `ref` methods. 3. **Nil** — unknown key, same shape as the original C metatable. ## Adding methods for a new asset type Drop a `behavior.luau` into the type folder: ``` src/lua/lib/assetTypes/<typename>.assetType/ ├── type.yaml -- structural spec (existing) ├── behavior.luau -- ref + global behaviour (new) └── template/ -- placeholder body (existing) ``` `behavior.luau` returns: ```lua return { ref = { --!desc Per-instance method on every `<typename>` AssetRef. myMethod = function(self, ...) ... end, }, global = { -- Reserved for the asset.<typename>.* surface — not consumed -- yet; included so the contract from gh#1889 lands cleanly. }, } ``` Within `ref` methods, `self` is the AssetRef envelope: `self.path`, `self.identity`, `self.guid`, `self.type`, `self.name` are available. Engine-required fields (`guid`, `path`, `identity`, `type`) must not be redefined. ## Discovery and hot-reload Type discovery uses the asset registry, so it doesn't matter where a `<typename>.assetType/` folder lives — engine built-ins under `@builtin::assetTypes.<X>`, user types dropped under `/zero/source/<X>.assetType/`, or types vendored inside an imported library all resolve identically. The dispatcher walks `asset.resolve(<typename>, "assetType")` → canonical identity → `require <identity>.behavior` on every miss; the asset registry is the cache for the resolve half and Luau's `_LOADED` is the cache for the require half. Hot-reload is transparent. When a `<typename>.assetType/behavior.luau` is rewritten through VFS, the engine's `invalidate_require_cache_for_state` re-runs the module and mutates the cached `_LOADED[<identity>.behavior]` table in place. Dispatch reads `mod.ref` on every access (rather than caching a sub-pointer), so existing AssetRefs see the new methods on the very next access — no Rust-side hook into this module is needed, and no invalidation API is exposed for callers to call. The same registry-driven path also handles type **registration** correctness: dropping a new `<typename>.assetType/behavior.luau` updates the asset registry, the next `asset.resolve(<typename>, "assetType")` returns the new ref, and AssetRefs of that type immediately gain the new methods. ## Why Luau, not Rust The asset surface needed per-category behaviour (`material:getProperties()`, `bundle:instantiate(entityId)`, `tool:run(args)`) and the old shape couldn't grow without an FFI change per method. Owning the proxy in Luau means: - Type-specific methods ship as content (the `<typename>.assetType/` folder), not engine code. - Adding a new asset type drops in a new folder; no Rust rebuild. - Methods can call any other Luau global (`vfs`, `asset`, `Material`, `entity`, etc.) directly, instead of going through narrow FFI primitives. ## Consumers - `crates/zero_scripting/src/ffi/bindings/asset.rs::attach_asset_ref_metatable` — the Rust factory that pushes envelopes invokes `_G.__build_asset_ref_proxy` once per push. - Every Luau call site of `asset.resolve` / `asset.ref` / `entity(id).component.X.material` / any binding declared `AssetRef<...>` — they all receive envelopes built through this module.

# yaml.module YAML decode + encode for authored engine content. Pure Luau, no engine dependencies — a general parsing library, not data-system plumbing. ```luau local Yaml = require("@builtin::modules.yaml") local doc = Yaml.decode(vfs.read(path)) vfs.write(path, Yaml.encode(doc)) ``` ## Supported subset - Block mappings (`key: value`) and block sequences (`- item`), nested to any depth. - Compact sequence-of-mapping entries (`- path: x` / ` kind: y`). - Flow collections — `{ a: 1, b: 2 }` and `[1, 2, 3]` — single line. - Plain scalars with type inference: `~` / `null` → nil, `true` / `false` → boolean, numeric literals → number, everything else → string. - Single- and double-quoted strings (`''` escapes a literal quote inside a single-quoted string; `\n` `\t` `\r` `\\` `\"` inside a double-quoted one). A quote opens a quoted scalar where a scalar begins — after `key:`, after a `- ` entry marker, or inside a flow collection — so a plain scalar carries an apostrophe as data (`note: the world's rules`). Quoted keys are read in flow mappings. - `#` comments — honored outside quotes, so a `#` inside a quoted string is kept as data. - Literal (`|`) and folded (`>`) block scalars, with a chomping indicator (`-` strips the final newline, `+` keeps every trailing blank line, none keeps one newline) and an indentation indicator (`1`-`9`: the content's indent past the parent's), in either order (`|-`, `>+`, `|2`, `>1-`). A block scalar's content is literal text: quotes (balanced or not), `#`, `key: value` and `---` inside it are data. - An optional leading `---` document marker. ## Loud-error contract Constructs outside the subset above raise instead of misparsing: anchors/aliases (`&`, `*`), tags (`!`), directives (`%`), multi-document streams (a second `---`), a block-scalar header it cannot read (`|x`, `|-+`, `|0`), tab indentation, and inconsistent indentation (both block structure and block-scalar bodies). Every error carries the offending line number (`yaml: line N: ...`), so a bad config points straight at the line to fix. Tab indentation is rejected everywhere — including block-scalar body lines whose leading whitespace contains a tab. A tab after the first non-space character of a line is content and passes through. ## API - `Yaml.decode(text: string): any` — decode a YAML document into a Luau value (table, scalar, or nil for an empty document). Raises on malformed input or an unsupported construct. - `Yaml.decodeWithComments(text: string): (any, boolean)` — decode as `decode` does, and report whether the text carries a comment by the decoder's own rule: a `#` at a line's start or after whitespace, outside a quoted scalar and outside a block scalar. Re-encoding the value drops such comments, so an editor that writes a document back reads this first. - `Yaml.encode(value: table): string` — encode a Luau table as YAML (block style, two-space indent, alphabetically sorted keys). Raises on values YAML can't represent (functions, userdata, non-string mapping keys). A top-level empty table encodes to an empty document, which decodes back to `nil` (the YAML empty-document ambiguity).

# json JSON encode/decode library for Luau. Encodes Lua values to JSON strings and decodes JSON strings back to Lua values. Used for communication with the Rust side of the engine, the VFS read/write bridge, and any wire-format that needs JSON. Pure Luau, no engine dependencies. Compact and pretty-printed encoders, plus a hand-rolled decoder that streams the input by position so it works under WASM as well as native. ## Exports - `Json.encode(value: any, indent?: string, currentIndent?: string) -> string` — compact encode. Functions / unknown types and NaN/Inf encode as `null`. - `Json.encodePretty(value: any, indentStr?: string) -> string` — pretty-printed encode with sorted object keys (diff-friendly). - `Json.encodeArgs(...: any) -> string` — encode varargs as a JSON array. - `Json.decode(str: string) -> any` — decode a JSON string. Returns the decoded value, or `nil` + error message on failure. ## Usage ```luau local Json = require("@builtin::modules.json") local widget = { type = "button", text = "Click Me" } local compact = Json.encode(widget) -- '{"text":"Click Me","type":"button"}' local pretty = Json.encodePretty(widget, " ") local decoded = Json.decode(compact) local v, err = Json.decode("oops") -- v = nil, err = error message ``` ## Notes - Object keys are sorted alphabetically in both encoders for consistent output across runs. - Numeric keys on objects are stringified at encode time (JSON has no numeric keys). Pure-integer key sets get detected as arrays via `isArray` and encoded with brackets. - NaN, +Inf, -Inf encode as `null` — JSON has no representation. Round trips through `decode` recover `null` (Lua `nil`), so they don't preserve. - Unicode `\uXXXX` escapes decode to UTF-8 by hand to stay WASM-safe. Only the BMP is covered; supplementary planes via surrogate pairs are not. - Functions encode as `null`. - Decode is character-streamed — no regex, no `string.match` patterns on the whole input — so the line-and-column information needs to be reconstructed from the position offset.

# assetType runtime The machinery that reads a `<typename>.assetType/behavior.luau` and turns its declarations into live behaviour. A `behavior.luau` is a table of declarations — `ref` methods, `modules` shared code, an `events` schema, a `namePattern`, `refShapes`, and the `onCreate` / `onRegister` / `onChange` / `onDelete` / `validate` / `settingsDefaults` / `settingsCorrections` hooks. None of it runs itself. This is the code that runs it, and it lives here because reading a type's declarations is the **assetType type's own behaviour** — the same way `material.assetType` owns what a `.material` does. ## Sub-modules | Module | Reads | Responsibility | |---|---|---| | `ref.module` | `ref`, `modules` | Builds every `AssetRef` envelope, attaches the shared metatable, and dispatches per-type methods and shared modules onto it. Also owns edit-mode write-behind persistence. | | `create.module` | `onCreate`, `namePattern`, `validate` | Backs `asset.create`: resolves the type, checks the name against its pattern, runs `onCreate` (or clones `template/`), and writes the instance. `validate.module` beside it checks a creation `opts` table against the type's `createSchema`. Before running `onCreate`, resolves the type's settings chain (below) and hands the result to the hook as `opts.settings`. | | `settings.module` | `settings`, `settingsDefaults`, `settingsCorrections` | A type's declared settings schema and where its values live (`type.yaml`'s `settings:` block). `Settings.resolveForCreate` layers the schema's own defaults, the type's own `settingsDefaults(name, opts, asked)` hook (a DEFAULT the schema can't express — a name-derived convention, a fact read off a payload the caller handed it, a value following a field `asked` shows a higher layer naming; any later layer overrides it), the Preset Manager, an importer's settings, the caller's `settings` table, then the type's own `settingsCorrections(values, name, opts)` hook (a CROSS-FIELD CONSTRAINT the schema can't express, applied last over the fully merged values). A correction over a default/preset/importer value lands silently; a correction that would override what the caller's own `settings` table explicitly asked for refuses the creation instead, naming the field and why. Neither hook is ever handed a table to mutate; each returns what it wants changed (`settingsCorrections` may also return a `{ [field]: reason }` table for that refusal message). `Settings.cloneValues` deep-copies a values table — `create.module` hands `onCreate` a copy, never the table it stamps. `Settings.valuesOf` / `writeValues` read and write an asset's own values file. | | `typeYaml.module` | `type.yaml` | The folder a type lives in and its parsed `type.yaml`, decoded once per content version of the file. `settings.module` and `inspector.module` read their blocks through it. `about` / `aboutAt` read a type's `about.yaml` (`intent`, `function`, `usage`), leaving out any key that is empty or still starts with `[[describe]]`; `aboutRows` and `aboutMarkdown` lay the texts out for the Inspector and the `types/<name>` guide. | | `inspector.module` | `type.yaml`'s `inspector:` block | Which inspector a type declares for its assets (`inspector: { type: ... }` or `{ instance: ... }`), and the declaration that file returns — the sections it adds, the generic ones it replaces, and their order — or the problem that kept it from loading. | | `onRegister.module` | `onRegister` | Fires an instance's once-only registration hook — on arrival, on world load, and for `@builtin` library instances. | | `changeDispatch.module` | `onChange`, `onDelete`, `refShapes` | Routes a VFS source write or a folder delete to the enclosing typed asset's type hooks. | | `refShapes.module` | `refShapes`, `ref` | Publishes what every `AssetRef<category>` answers to, so a member read on an asset-typed value is checked against that category's real surface. | | `events.module` | `events` | The per-asset event runtime behind `ref.events`. | | `instantiable.module` | `ref.instantiate` | The instantiation contract an asset type opts into: `root` stands the root entity, `place` applies the base placement opts to one the type adopted, and `result` shapes the `(root, idMap)` every `instantiate` returns. Also registers the `sceneInstantiable` field-constraint validator. | | `declaration.module` | `type.yaml` | The type's decoded declaration, read once and held until a write inside an `.assetType` folder; what every question about a type as a whole reads. | | `previewRecipe.module` | `type.yaml` `preview:` | How an instance's `preview.png` is produced: which of the four recipes (`instantiate`, `image`, `surface`, `custom`) the type declares, and what that recipe needs. | ## Reaching it ```luau local rt = require("@builtin::assetTypes.assetType.shared") rt.ref.loadTypeBehavior("material") ``` Fields resolve lazily. The prelude requires the sub-modules directly, in dependency order (`ref`, then `changeDispatch`, `onRegister.install()`, `refShapes.install()`) — a table that required all six on load would take that ordering away from it.