# Component (asset type) A component is a reusable behavior + data unit attached to an entity. The component file declares public fields, methods, and lifecycle callbacks; the engine instantiates one per attachment and drives its hooks every frame. Components are the primary unit of gameplay code — movement, AI, animations, UI panels, network sync, and per-entity state all live here. ## When to use one - You need per-entity state that survives across frames. - You need per-entity behavior driven by engine lifecycle hooks (`start`, `update`, `onDestroy`). - You want to expose configurable fields to designers / `entity.spawn` callers / scenes without code changes. If you need a stateless pure-function library, use a `.module`. If you need to generate content declaratively, use a `.service`; compute work belongs in a `.computeShader`. ## Where it lives - Source: `/zero/source/.../<Name>.component/` - Identity: `<Name>` (the `.component` suffix strips from the identity, but the folder retains the suffix on disk). - Folder shape: - `init.luau` (or `init.lua`) — declares the component. **Required.** - `README.md` — instance-level documentation. **Required.** - `.metadata` — agent-editable tags + free-form fields. **Required.** The structural contract is enforced by `asset.validate` against this type's `type.yaml`. ## How to create one Always start with the scaffold — it guarantees the folder shape matches `type.yaml` from the moment it's on disk: ```luau asset.create("component", "<Name>") -- Creates: /zero/source/<Name>.component/ -- init.luau (canonical declare + public block + hooks stubbed) -- README.md (instance README template) ``` After scaffolding, edit `init.luau` to fill in the actual fields and behaviour. The component registers as soon as the file is written — hot-reload is automatic; no engine restart required. ## How it operates 1. **Registration.** Writing `init.luau` into a `.component/` folder indexes the asset, mints a guid (in the `.meta` sidecar), and surfaces the type to the engine's component registry. Same-frame visible to `entity.component.add`. 2. **Attachment.** `entity(id).component.add(name, data)` (or the batch form `tools.use("entityOps", "addComponents", targets, { [name] = data })`) attaches an instance. The `data` table's fields override the component's declared defaults; omitted fields take the declared default. The `data` values are copied into `public.*` BEFORE `awake()` runs. 3. **Lifecycle.** The hooks run in this order: - `awake()` — same frame as attach, immediately after the data copy. Initialise state, set up native bridges, register with other systems. Other components on the same entity may not have awoken yet. - `start()` — the next frame. Every component on the entity has completed `awake()` by then, so cross-component setup is safe here. - `update(dt)` — same frame as `start()`, then every frame after, for as long as the gameplay clock is running. `fixedUpdate(dt)` runs once per physics step, straight after it, with the step's `dt`, so a frame can run it several times or not at all; `editorUpdate(dt)` runs while the clock is held. Which of them ticks is decided by `engine.mode` AND `engine.paused` together — see **Per-frame hooks and the two axes** below, and `man modes`. - `onDestroy()` — when the component is removed via `component.remove` or when the owning entity is despawned. Release resources, drop native ECS components. For the full list (`onEnable`, `onDisable`, `fixedUpdate`, `editorUpdate`, `onPropertyChanged`, `onAssetReload`, `onModuleReload`, `onBeforeSave`, …) and the timing details, **read `man components` — that is the canonical lifecycle reference. Generic component patterns (declare blocks, public fields, sync, ECS bindings, typed methods) all live there.** 4. **Public surface.** Fields declared in `public` are inspectable, editable in the inspector, and persist with the entity. Methods are declared on that same table with a colon — `typed function public:method(args)` — and every one of them takes the component ref as `self`, so a caller invokes it with a colon too: `entity(id).component.get(name):method(args)`. That is the one calling convention a component ref answers to: the reflection methods `ref:fields()` / `ref:getField(name)` / `ref:setField(name, value)` take the same spelling. A function the chunk declares at file scope (`function helper()`) is the component's own, reachable from its hooks under its bare name; `public` is what the ref carries. 5. **Settings and the Inspector card.** `type.yaml` names the component's settings schema as `settings: { schema: { instance: "init.luau", export: "public" } }`: the `public` table IS the schema, and its values live on each entity the component is on, so `asset.schema(componentRef)` answers the Field descriptors and no values file exists. On an entity the Inspector shows the component as a card whose generic `settings` section edits those fields as typed controls, each edit checked against the schema and written to the live component as one undoable operation. `type.yaml` also names `inspector: { instance: "inspector.luau" }`: a component that ships an `inspector.luau` beside its `init.luau` shapes its card — the file returns `{ sections, replace, order }` (see `assetTypes/README.md`, "`inspector:`"), each section's `build(ctx)` reading `ctx.component` (the live component) and `ctx.selection.id` (the entity). `SceneModule.component/inspector.luau` replaces `settings` with the bound module's declared inputs. 6. **Events.** An `events` block declares typed moments the component fires from inside — `events = { onHit = Event({ dmg = Field.number(0, NoSync) }) }`. The owner fires with `events.onHit:fire({ dmg = 10 })`; outside code subscribes through the proxy's subscribe-only facade, `entity(id).component.get(name).events.onHit:connect(fn)` (`:once` / `:wait` too). Pass `Sync` as the event's second argument to replicate a fire to other peers. Events let one component react to another's moments without polling. Full reference: **`man components`**, Events section. 7. **Hot reload.** Editing `init.luau` reloads the component definition; live instances are reconciled with the new declaration in-place, and each crosses one lifecycle boundary: `onDestroy()` ends the running life, then `awake()` and `start()` construct the one that replaces it, and `update()` resumes on the next frame. `public` and `private` values carry across; module-level `local`s belong to the chunk, so the new life starts with them at their initial values and its `awake`/`start` are what fill them in. Whatever the old life handed elsewhere — a subscription, a shared registration, a spawned entity — is released in `onDestroy`, the call that pairs with the construction about to run. An edit that leaves the source byte-identical crosses no boundary at all. A field carries its value across when something stated it: a key of the `data` table the instance was attached with (a scene record's data is that table), or a write made since. Every other field takes the edited source's declared default, so changing a default reaches every instance that left the field to it. An instance that states its own value for a field whose default the edit changed keeps that value, and the reload logs a `[HotReload]` warning naming the field, the entity, the value kept and both defaults. ## Discovery - `asset.list("component")` — every registered component (engine + world + libraries). - `asset.inspect("<name>")` — identity, scope, public fields, lifecycle methods, source path, and this type README. `detail` carries the component's declared `fields`, `methods`, and `events`, parsed from its source — `tools.use("assets","describe", "<name>")` renders it as markdown, so a component's events are visible without opening its source. - `ls /zero/source/<Name>.component` lists the files the folder holds. - `entity(id).component.list()` — components attached to an entity. ## Per-frame hooks and the two axes `engine.mode` (`"edit"` / `"play"`) and `engine.paused` (the gameplay clock) are independent, and the per-frame hooks read them separately: - `update(dt)` / `fixedUpdate(dt)` tick while **the gameplay clock is running** — whichever mode the engine is in. - `editorUpdate(dt)` ticks while **the clock is held** — because the mode is `edit`, or because play is paused — and also alongside `update` whenever edit is running. Which gives four states, and this table is the contract: | `engine.mode` | `engine.paused` | hooks that tick | |---|---|---| | `edit` | `true` | `editorUpdate` | | `edit` | `false` | `update`, `fixedUpdate`, `editorUpdate` | | `play` | `false` | `update`, `fixedUpdate` | | `play` | `true` | `editorUpdate` | Entering edit sets `paused = true` and entering play sets it back to `false`, so a session that never writes `engine.paused` only ever sees rows 1 and 3 — which is where the shorthand "`update` is the play tick, `editorUpdate` is the edit tick" comes from. It is the two default rows of a four-row table, not the rule. **Row 2 is the one that surprises.** With `engine.paused = false` in edit — set by hand, or by a tool that advances the gameplay clock to sample it, such as a `capture.collage` given a `duration` — `update` and `editorUpdate` both fire, once each, every frame. A component that declares both and routes them to one body therefore runs that body **twice per frame**: ```luau local function drive(dt) ... end function update(dt) drive(dt) end function editorUpdate(dt) drive(dt) end -- twice per frame in row 2 ``` Nothing reports the doubling; it reads as an animation running at twice its intended speed. To get exactly one tick per frame in every row, ask which axis you meant and answer it in the body: ```luau function update(dt) drive(dt) end function editorUpdate(dt) if engine.paused then drive(dt) end end ``` A scene `entrypoint.luau` declaring the same two hook names is dispatched by the scene loader, not by this table: there `update` needs play AND running, `editorUpdate` needs edit, and play-paused ticks neither. Read `man scenes` before carrying a component's rule to an entrypoint. ## Authoring conventions - Annotate public fields with `--!desc` so the inspector + LSP show documentation alongside the field name. - Declare lifecycle hooks (`start`, `update`, `onDestroy`) explicitly rather than relying on engine defaults — readers can see at a glance what runs when. - Keep `update(dt)` cheap — it runs every frame per instance. Move heavy work to `start`, to a `.computeShader`, or behind a job (`man jobs`). - For multi-entity batching, prefer `tools.use("entityOps", "addComponents", targets, components)` over a loop of `entity(id).component.add` — it takes many targets and many components in one call. ## Common pitfalls - **Naming.** The component identity is the folder stem with `.component` stripped (e.g. `<Spinner>.component/` → identity `Spinner`). Don't repeat the suffix in the identity passed to `component.add`. - **`init.lua` vs `init.luau`.** Either is accepted (it's a `one_of_group: "entrypoint"`), but `.luau` is canonical. Mixing both in one folder is invalid. - **`update` in edit mode.** It runs whenever the gameplay clock is running, and entering edit stops that clock — so `update` is idle in a freshly-entered edit session and ticks again the moment anything sets `engine.paused = false`. Use `tools.use("wld", "play")` to test update logic under the mode it ships in; `tools.use("wld", "edit")` to return. See **Per-frame hooks and the two axes** above. - **Renaming.** Renaming the folder changes the identity. References to the component are recorded against the component itself, so renaming or moving it does not break them. ## Related types - `.module` — pure-function library, no per-entity state. - `.service`: a declarative content generator, no per-entity state. - `.preset` — a captured component configuration, replayable into `component.add` without re-typing fields. - `.bundle` — entity hierarchies that may carry component attachments as part of the bundle. ## In the Inspector Fields: its execution order, hooks, and how many methods and events it declares, then the fields its `public` table declares as read-only typed controls holding their defaults, with **Check** and **Open** for its entry file. Instances: a link to every entity carrying it. What its card shows on an entity comes from the component's own `inspector.luau`.

# Joint Connects two bodies with a joint constraint: the hinges, pins, ropes, springs and sliders that mechanisms and structures are made of, from a door, a chain or a ragdoll to a bridge, a truss or a tower that bends, shows its stress and breaks under load. Each end is a rigid body (an entity with `Physics`) or a soft body (an entity with `SoftBody`). The engine solves joints inside its physics step, measures the load each one carries (tension or compression along a member, shear, bending; `Physics.jointReaction` / `Physics.jointReactions` read it) and breaks one when that load passes its `breakForce` / `breakTorque` (`Physics.onJointBreak` reports it), so a structure of members pinned at shared nodes bends, reports where it is overloaded and collapses inside the engine's own step. Joint kinds: `"fixed"`, `"hinge"`, `"ball"`, `"prismatic"`, `"spring"`, `"rope"`, `"generic"`, `"rail"`. Two bodies that join on their own when matching points come within reach (a trailer hitch, train couplers, a docking port, a door catch) take a `Latch` on each point: the step makes the Joint the Latch states and frees it on a release or a break. Public fields: `kind`, `connected`, `localAnchorX/Y/Z`, `remoteAnchorX/Y/Z`, `axisX/Y/Z`, `remoteAxisX/Y/Z` (`remoteAxis`), `collideConnected`, `limited`, `limitMin`, `limitMax` (`minAngle`, `maxAngle`), `swingLimit`, `twistLimit`, `motorMode`, `motorTarget`, `motorVelocity`, `motorStiffness`, `motorDamping`, `motorMaxForce`, `motorModel`, `lockedAxes`, `axisLimits`, `axisMotors`, `stiffness`, `damping`, `restLength`, `maxDistance`, `yieldForce`, `yieldTorque`, `reelSpeed`, `breakForce`, `breakTorque`, `region`, `remoteRegion`, and a rail's `path`, `closed`, `ends`, `curve`, `tolerance`, `friction`. `connected` is the other body: write the entity or its id, and it reads back as the entity; a name written into it is kept as written and found when the joint is built. It is an entity reference, so a Joint a scene's `build.luau` writes between two entities the build spawns (`connected = post` or `connected = post.id`) names the entity the build placed, through every rebuild, save, load and play. ```luau -- scenes/main.scene/build.luau: a plank bridge, each plank hinged to the one before function content() local prev = entity.spawn("bank", { position = { 0, 2, 0 } }) prev.component.add("Physics", { kind = "static" }) prev.component.add("BoxCollider", { half = { 0.5, 0.25, 1 } }) for i = 1, 10 do local plank = entity.spawn("plank" .. i, { position = { i, 2, 0 } }) plank.component.add("Physics", { mass = 2 }) plank.component.add("BoxCollider", { half = { 0.45, 0.05, 1 } }) plank.component.add("Joint", { connected = prev, kind = "hinge", axisZ = 1, axisY = 0, localAnchorX = -0.5, remoteAnchorX = 0.5 }) prev = plank end end ``` Methods: `:setMotor(targetVelocity, maxForce)`, `:onBreak(fn)`, `:isBroken()`, `:breakEvent()`, `:reattach()`, `:state()`, `:reaction()`, `:jointEntityId()`. ## Several joints on one body (trusses, hands, two-handed holds) A body takes any number of joints. The first `Joint` on an entity has no name; add each further one under a `name` of its own, or with `Physics.addJoint`, which names it (`joint2`, `joint3`, ...) and returns it. Each is its own solver joint: its own kind, anchors, limits, motor, break thresholds, reaction, state, break record and removal. A `Joint` on an entity that is no body itself (a marker parented under a beam's end, a hand under an arm) joins the nearest body above it, at that entity's position and orientation, with its anchor and axis measured in the entity's own frame. `connected` may name such an entity too, so two beams are pinned end to end through a marker on each. A joint that cannot be built says why in `:errors()`: an end with no body at or above it (a collider with no `Physics` is static geometry: give it `Physics { kind = "static" }` to join a joint to it), a `connected` id no entity carries, or both ends on one body. ```luau -- a beam pinned at both ends beam.component.add("Joint", { connected = leftPost.id, kind = "hinge", axisZ = 1, axisY = 0, localAnchorX = -2 }) beam.component.add("Joint", { name = "right", connected = rightPost.id, kind = "hinge", axisZ = 1, axisY = 0, localAnchorX = 2 }) -- a hand holding a crate on top of the arm joint the hand already carries local grab = Physics.addJoint(hand, crate, { kind = "fixed", breakForce = 2000 }) Physics.jointReaction(grab) -- this joint's load alone Physics.removeJoint(grab) -- let go; the arm joint stays ``` `Physics.jointState`, `Physics.jointReaction`, `Physics.setJointMotor` and `Physics.removeJoint` take the Joint itself, or an entity and the Joint's name. A break record's `entityId` and `joint` name the entity and the Joint that broke, and `Physics.bodyState(id).joints` lists each joint a body is in the same way. `:reaction()` reads the joint's load (its stress) the way a structure is read: `axial` along the member at this body's end (tension positive, compression negative), `connectedAxial` at the other body's, `shear`, `bending`, `torsion`, a rope's or spring's `tension`, and `load`, the share of `breakForce` / `breakTorque` it stands at. `Physics.jointReactions(joints)` reads a whole structure's joints in one call, and `Physics.listenJointLoads(joints)` keeps each joint's peak between two reads; the physics guide's "Reading a joint's load" covers both, with a stress-colouring recipe. ## Joint frames, limits and motors (doors, ragdoll joints, sliders, 6DOF) Each body carries a joint frame at its anchor, its X axis along `axis` (this body) or `remoteAxis` (the connected body; zero takes `axis`). `linX` / `linY` / `linZ` are travel along the frame's axes and `angX` / `angY` / `angZ` turns about them; zero is where the two frames coincide. The frame's Y and Z are the body's own carried by the shortest turn taking its X onto `axis` (`axis = {0, 1, 0}` puts the frame's Y along the body's -X). An axis reads positive as this body travels along it or turns right-handed about it, relative to the connected body. - **Hinge range**: `limitMin` / `limitMax` in degrees (a prismatic's travel in metres). Writing either turns `limited` on. - **Ball cone**: `swingLimit` is the half-angle in degrees the axis swings inside, `twistLimit` how far it twists either way; negative (the default) leaves each free. - **Any axis**: `axisLimits = { angZ = {-30, 30}, linY = { min = 0, max = 0.5 } }`. - **Motor**: `motorMode = "velocity"` holds `motorVelocity` (rad/s or m/s); `motorMode = "position"` pulls toward `motorTarget` (degrees or metres) with `motorStiffness` / `motorDamping`; neither applies more than `motorMaxForce` (0 uncapped). It drives a hinge's angle, a prismatic's travel, each angle of a ball joint and every free axis of a generic joint; `axisMotors = { angX = { mode = "velocity", velocity = 2, maxForce = 50 } }` drives single axes. `:setMotor(v, maxForce)` and `Physics.setJointMotor` set the same fields. - **Contacts**: `collideConnected = false` stops the two bodies colliding with each other (limbs, links, parts overlapping at the joint). - **Generic**: `kind = "generic"` holds the axes `lockedAxes` names (`{ "linX", "linZ", "angX", "angY", "angZ" }` leaves a slider along `linY`). Every field is live: write it on the running joint and the next step uses it. `Physics.jointState(id)` reads the angle, travel, swing and twist, velocity, `atLimit`, and the force the limit and motor applied. ```luau -- a door that opens 0 to 110 degrees, closed by a capped motor door.component.add("Joint", { connected = frame.id, kind = "hinge", axis = {0, 1, 0}, limitMin = 0, limitMax = 110 }) local joint = door.component.get("Joint") joint.motorMode = "position"; joint.motorTarget = 0; joint.motorMaxForce = 50 -- a shoulder on a cone that does not collide with the torso arm.component.add("Joint", { connected = torso.id, kind = "ball", swingLimit = 70, twistLimit = 30, collideConnected = false }) ``` ```luau entity(id).component.add("Joint", { connected = frameEntityId, kind = "hinge", axis = {0, 1, 0}, }) ``` ## Springs: `stiffness`, `damping`, `restLength` A `"spring"` joint pulls its two anchors toward `restLength` metres apart with `stiffness` (newtons per metre of stretch) and resists the speed its length changes at with `damping`. Left out (the fields read `-1`, the kind's own), `stiffness` is 100 and `damping` 10, and `restLength` is the distance the anchors stood at when the joint was built. Writing `restLength` on the live joint moves where it settles, and writing a negative one keeps the length it rests at. A hinge, ball, prismatic or generic joint moves freely about its axes unless a limit or a motor holds it: its `stiffness` and `damping` default to none (the fields read `-1`, the kind's own). Set on one with no `motorMode`, they are a spring pulling each of its axes (a hinge's angle, a prismatic's travel, each angle of a ball joint, every free axis of a generic joint) back to where its frames align, read per unit of acceleration. A `motorMode = "position"` motor with `motorTarget` pulls toward any other position. ```luau -- a bungee: two bodies held 5 m apart by a soft spring a.component.add("Joint", { connected = b.id, kind = "spring", restLength = 5, stiffness = 200, damping = 20 }) -- a self-closing door: a hinge with a spring back to its closed angle door.component.add("Joint", { connected = frame.id, kind = "hinge", axis = {0, 1, 0}, stiffness = 20, damping = 4 }) ``` A `"rope"` joint is a maximum-distance limit solved inside the physics step: the bodies move freely while the anchors are closer than `maxDistance` (slack rope) and are held from separating beyond it (taut rope). It requires `maxDistance > 0`, and `maxDistance` is live: writing it on the running joint retunes the limit in place. Without a `yieldForce` the rope holds at any force: lengthening it lets the load drop, and shortening it reels any load in at the solver's correction speed (3 m/s), however heavy. A rope given a `yieldForce` winds in at its `reelSpeed`, pulling with at most that force. ## Giving way and holding again: `yieldForce`, `yieldTorque` `yieldForce` (newtons) is the most force a joint holds its travel with, and `yieldTorque` (newton-metres) its angles. While the load needs more, the joint gives way at exactly that force or torque; once the load falls below it, the joint holds again wherever it then stands. It keeps working throughout: only `breakForce` / `breakTorque` break a joint. 0 (the default) holds without bound. - **Rope** (`yieldForce`): pays out. `maxDistance` grows to the length the rope gave way to and reads back as it stands, so the rope holds the load from there once it is light enough. Writing a shorter `maxDistance` winds the load in at `reelSpeed` (metres per second, 1 by default), slowing to arrive, pulling with at most `yieldForce` (a winch with a slip clutch, a tow rope taken up): it gains the full shortening when its load is below the yield, and pays out instead, holding from where it went, when the load is above it. A shock load (a body falling onto the rope) pays out as it brakes. - **Prismatic** (`yieldForce`), **hinge** (`yieldTorque`), **ball** (`yieldTorque`), **generic** (`yieldForce` on its free travels, `yieldTorque` on its free angles): the axes hold still below the yield and slide or turn at it above (a friction slider, a breakaway barrier, a slip clutch on a drum, a stiff hinge). The axes take one of a yield, a motor or a `stiffness` spring; a motor capped by `motorMaxForce` is the yield that drives somewhere. `:state()` (`Physics.jointState`) reads `slipping`, true while the joint gave way over the last step, and a rope's `length`; `:reaction()` reads the force it carries, which stands at the yield while it slips. A rope's payout is stated on its carrying entity as the `joint.length` named value too. A negative yield, or a `reelSpeed` of 0 or less, is refused naming the field: `Physics.addJoint` raises it, and a live write keeps the value the joint holds and reports it in `:errors()`. ```luau -- a winch rope that holds 3000 N: a heavier load pays it out, a lighter one is reeled in local rope = Physics.addJoint(hook, load, { kind = "rope", maxDistance = 4, yieldForce = 3000 }) rope.maxDistance = Physics.jointState(rope).length - 1 -- reel in a metre print(Physics.jointState(rope).slipping, Physics.jointReaction(rope).tension) -- a crash barrier that holds a 20 kN push and slides at it above Physics.addJoint(barrier, post, { kind = "prismatic", axis = {1, 0, 0}, yieldForce = 20000 }) ``` ```luau entity(ballId).component.add("Joint", { connected = hookEntityId, kind = "rope", maxDistance = 8, }) ``` A soft body end is anchored on the body as a whole (its frame, the rigid motion that best fits its particles), or on a region of its particles: `region` for this entity, `remoteRegion` for the connected one, each `{ box = { min, max } }` (every particle between the corners) or `{ nearest = point }` (the one particle nearest the point), in the entity's unit box (-0.5 to 0.5 on each axis) unless `space = "world"`. A region end's anchor is measured from the centre of its particles. Motors, `breakForce` / `breakTorque` and `Physics.jointReaction` work the same at either kind of end, and the joint is removed with either body. ```luau -- a soft punching bag hung by its top particle from a fixed hook bag.component.add("Joint", { connected = hook.id, kind = "ball", region = { nearest = { 0, 0.5, 0 } } }) -- two jellies held face to face, breaking under 200 N a.component.add("Joint", { connected = b.id, kind = "fixed", breakForce = 200, region = { box = { min = { 0.4, -0.5, -0.5 }, max = { 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 } } }, remoteRegion = { box = { min = { -0.5, -0.5, -0.5 }, max = { -0.4, 0.5, 0.5 } } }, }) ``` A hinge's turn can be a part of a `ShaftNetwork`: `{ name = "drum", joint = drumEntity }` couples it to motors, gears, clutches, brakes and other hinges (a winch, a crane's slew, a geared contraption, a propeller on a shaft), the network's torque acting on the joint's body about its axis and, opposite, on the connected body. The `ShaftNetwork` component README has the fields. ## Rails: a point held to a path (tracks, coasters, zip lines, sliding doors) `kind = "rail"` holds the point at this body's anchor (`localAnchor`) to `path` on the connected body: free to move along the path under gravity, contacts, forces and its motor, held across it. A rollercoaster car on its track, a train on its line, a trolley on a zip line, a door on a curved track, a bead on a wire, a camera dolly. - **The path**: `path` is the points it runs through, `{ {x, y, z}, ... }` in the connected entity's local space, so a path on a moving body moves with it (at least 2 points; 3 for a loop). A spline from `modules.spline` is taken as it is, its `closed` with it. `curve = "smooth"` (the default) runs a smooth curve through the points; `"linear"` straight runs between them. - **Ends**: `closed = true` makes the path a loop. An open path's ends are `ends = "capped"` (the default: the point stops at them) or `"open"` (the point runs off, the rail lets go of it, and `state().onPath` reads false with `left` naming the end). `:reattach()` takes a point that ran off back onto the path's nearest point: move the body back to the path first. - **Held**: the point stands on the path to within the solver's precision, through bends and loops at speed; a point found more than `tolerance` metres (default 0.01) off it when a step begins is put back on it. A frictionless rail does no work: a cart keeps its energy round a loop. A soft body (`SoftBody`) is held by the particles `region` names (`{ nearest = point }` for one), through the body's own give: under load they stand off the path by as much as the body stretches there. - **Driven**: `motorMode = "velocity"` holds `motorVelocity` m/s along the path (positive toward its end), `motorMode = "position"` brings the point to `motorTarget` metres along it with `motorStiffness` / `motorDamping`; neither pushes harder than `motorMaxForce` newtons (0 uncapped). `:setMotor(speed, maxForce)` sets a velocity motor. `friction` is a coefficient on the force holding the point to the path. - **Refused**: a path that cannot be held (fewer points than the path needs, two consecutive points together, a point that is no position), a `tolerance` of 0 or less, a negative `friction`, or a field another kind takes (`stiffness`, `damping`, `restLength`, `maxDistance`, `limitMin` / `limitMax`, `swingLimit` / `twistLimit`, `lockedAxes`, `axisLimits`, `axisMotors`, `yieldForce`, `yieldTorque`) is refused by name, as for every joint kind: `Physics.addJoint` raises the reason and takes the Joint off the entity, and a Joint added as a component stands down with `lifecycle` "failed" and the reason as its `disabledReason`. - **Read**: `:state()` (`Physics.jointState`) reads `progress` (metres from the path's start), `speed`, `length`, `closed`, `laps` (times round a loop), `onPath`, `left`, `atEnd` ("start" / "end" while a capped end holds the point), `offset` (metres off the path), `railMotorForce`, `frictionForce`, `tangent`, `normal` and `curvature`. `:reaction()` reads the force holding the point, with `localForce` along the path (x), toward the bend's centre (y) and across (z). `breakForce` releases the rail above that force, with the break event every joint sends. ```luau -- a coaster car on a looping track car.component.add("Joint", { connected = track.id, kind = "rail", path = trackPoints, closed = true, collideConnected = false }) local s = car.component.get("Joint"):state() print(s.progress, s.speed, s.laps) -- a zip line: the trolley's point 1 m above its centre, stopped at the far end Physics.addJoint(trolley, cable, { kind = "rail", path = { {0, 12, 0}, {15, 6, 0}, {30, 3, 0} }, localAnchor = {0, 1, 0}, friction = 0.02 }) -- a sliding door on a curved track, driven open by a capped motor Physics.addJoint(door, frame, { kind = "rail", path = arcPoints, motorMode = "position", motorTarget = 1.2, motorMaxForce = 300 }) ```

# 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.

# 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.settings Resolves four questions about an asset's typed settings, all answered from its type's `type.yaml` — nothing here is found by convention. ```lua local Settings = require("@builtin::assetTypes.assetType.shared.settings") -- or, from inside the assetType runtime: local Settings = require("@builtin::assetTypes.assetType.shared").settings ``` ## Where does a type's schema live? `type.yaml` names it in a `settings:` block: ```yaml settings: values: "settings.yaml" # where an instance's own values live schema: { type: "settings.luau" } # one schema for every asset of this type ``` or, for a type whose settings differ per instance (an importer): ```yaml settings: values: "settings.yaml" schema: { instance: "settings.luau" } ``` or, for a type whose schema is a table its instance's own source declares and whose values live elsewhere (a component: its `public` fields, valued on each entity it is on): ```yaml settings: schema: { instance: "init.luau", export: "public" } ``` Whether an instance may lack its schema file is what the type's `files:` block says of that file. Listed under `files.optional`, it may be absent, and an instance without it declares no settings — the importer type lists it there, since most importers take none. Listed under `files.required`, or not listed at all, it must load, and an instance missing it is a broken declaration and is logged. `schema.type` is required at the folder relative to the TYPE's own `.assetType/` directory (one schema shared by every instance). `schema.instance` is required relative to each INSTANCE's own folder (`init` resolves the instance's own identity; anything else is a sibling module under it). Without `schema.export`, the file is required as a module and its return value IS the schema. With `schema.export`, the file is run in an environment of its own and `export` is read from a returned table carrying it, or else from the globals the file assigned — a component's `public` is such a global. That environment reads through to `_G` and takes every write itself; its own `_G` is itself, its `declare` and `computed` record into it, and its `task` records spawned, deferred and delayed work instead of starting it. Every other global is the real one, so a call the file makes through one runs as it does anywhere. The schema is the declared table's Field descriptors. A schema that resolves to nothing says why through `Settings.schemaProblemOf(ref)`: the file could not be read, compiled or run, or declared no such table. An instance schema is read again when its file, its type's `type.yaml`, or the entry file of any module the asset `require`s changes. `Settings.blockFor(typeName)` returns the raw block; `Settings.schemaForType(typeName)` and `Settings.schemaOfInstance(ref)` resolve the two schema shapes respectively; `Settings.schemaFor(ref)` tries the type-level schema first, falling back to the instance-level one. `ref` naming an assetType asset itself — e.g. `asset.resolve("texture", "assetType")`, rather than an instance of it — reports that type's own declared schema, the same one every instance of it reports. ## Where do an asset's values live? `settings.values` names a file living beside the asset's own content — `Settings.valuesPathOf(ref)` joins it onto the asset's path. `Settings.valuesOf(ref)` / `Settings.writeValues(ref, values)` read and write it; this module only names where it is. A type that declares its schema with no `settings.values` keeps no values in the asset — a component's live on each entity it is on — so `valuesOf` answers nil for it, `asset.create` refuses a `settings` table for it, and `asset.setSettings` refuses a write. `Settings.recordedWrite(path, text)` writes a file the way every values file is written, and an editor uses it for any other file it writes. It writes the whole contents, records the write into the open undo operation when one is open (so undoing it restores what the file held), and raises when the write does not land. ## In what order are a schema's fields declared? Every `Field.*` constructor stamps its descriptor with `declaredOrder`, one more than the last. Luau evaluates a table constructor's entries in the order they are written, so `Settings.orderedNames(schema)` lists a schema's fields — and a struct's subfields — in the order the source writes them. A values file, or a legacy `.metadata` settings block, may hold an older spelling — a renamed field, an older enum member. Every read passes what is stored through the type's `normalizeSettings` (`Settings.normalizeFor`), so it answers in the fields the schema declares today, and writes nothing. The next local edit of that asset rewrites the file in the declared spelling (`Settings.healLegacyIfNeeded`). `asset.setSettings(ref, patch)` writes a partial patch: `Settings.resolvePatch(ref, patch)` normalises it, merges it over the current values and applies the type's derived defaults for the fields it changed, and `Settings.writeValues(ref, values, patch)` applies the corrections, checks the schema and writes the file. ## How is a new asset's settings resolved at creation? `asset.create` calls `Settings.resolveForCreate(typeName, name, destPath, creationOpts, callerSettings, importerSettings)` before running the type's `onCreate`, checks the result against the schema, writes it to the values file, and hands `onCreate` a COPY of it as `opts.settings` (`Settings. cloneValues`) — never the same table the values file gets, so nothing `onCreate` does to its own copy can reach what was stamped. `onCreate` reads settings from `opts.settings` and never writes to it. `asset.create` also seeds the change baseline with the stamped values (`Settings.seedChangeBaseline`), so the values file's own first dispatch reports nothing changed and the payload `onCreate` encoded is the only encode a create runs. The layers, lowest priority first, each overriding the ones before it field by field: 1. The schema's own declared defaults (`Settings.defaultsOf`). 2. The type's own `settingsDefaults(name, opts, asked)` hook, when its `behavior.luau` exports one. `asked` holds what layers 3 to 5 name, so a default can follow a field one of them sets. 3. The Preset Manager's matching row (`Settings.presetLayerFor`). 4. The creating importer's settings for this type. 5. The `settings` table the caller passed to `asset.create`. 6. The type's own `settingsDerivedDefaults(values, explicit, changed)` hook, when its `behavior.luau` exports one — a field whose default follows another field, set only when no layer from 2 to 5 named it. 7. The type's own `settingsCorrections(values, name, opts)` hook, when its `behavior.luau` exports one — applied last, once every other layer has merged. Layers 2 to 5 are each read through the type's `normalizeSettings`, so a layer naming a field in an older spelling sets the field it names today. `asset.create`'s top-level settings alias accepts those older names too (`Settings.acceptedFieldNames`). Layer 7 is `Settings.applyCorrections(typeName, values, explicit, context)`, the one corrections path every settings write takes — this create chain, and `Settings.writeValues` for every later write (`asset.setSettings`, a type's first-encode seed, the legacy heal). `explicit` names the fields the writer asked for: the caller's `settings` table here, the patch for `asset.setSettings`. A correction lands SILENTLY on a field the writer did not name — nobody asked for that value, so overriding it just states a fact. A correction that contradicts a field the writer named REFUSES the write, naming the field, the value asked for, and why it cannot hold — the same as every other place this codebase refuses an explicit request it cannot satisfy (a `Field.checkSchema` violation, a BC7 alignment error) rather than silently rewriting it into something else. So `asset.setSettings(tex, { compression = "rgba16" })` on a mipped texture stores `generateMipmaps = false` beside it, while `asset.setSettings(tex, { compression = "rgba16", generateMipmaps = true })` is refused. `Field.checkSchema` runs once, over the result AFTER the corrections hook has applied — a bad value nothing corrects refuses the creation. ### Four hooks, four different jobs Every hook is an optional export on a type's `behavior.luau`, alongside `onCreate` / `onChange`. **None is ever handed a table to mutate** — each reads what it's given and RETURNS a table of what it wants changed (or nil); `resolveForCreate`, `resolvePatch`, `applyDerivedDefaults` and `applyCorrections` are the only places that write to the values, by merging what a hook returns the same way every other layer merges. - **`normalizeSettings(values) -> values`** maps every older spelling a stored file or a write may carry to the field and member the schema declares now, returning a new table; a table naming both an older field and its replacement keeps the replacement. The companion export **`normalizedSettingNames = { ... }`** lists the older field names it accepts beyond the schema, so a write naming one is not refused as an undeclared field. `texture.assetType`'s maps the fields its earlier schema stored to `colorSpace` + `compression`, and the older `filter` keywords to `linear` / `nearest`. - **`settingsDerivedDefaults(values, explicit, changed) -> partial?`** answers the values of fields whose default follows another field. At creation `changed` holds every field; on a write it holds the fields the write moved. A returned field applies only where `explicit` — the fields the writer named — does not name it. - **`settingsDefaults(name, opts, asked) -> partial?`** supplies a DEFAULT the schema itself has no syntax for — something only knowable at creation time, like a naming convention, a fact read off a payload the caller handed in, or a value that follows a field a higher layer sets (`asked` holds what the Preset Manager, the importer and the caller name, the higher one's value where two name a field). It runs early (layer 2 above), so any later layer — Preset Manager, importer, caller — freely overrides it. `texture.assetType`'s returns the `textureType` the name suggests (a `_normal`-suffixed name is a `normalMap`), `compression = "uastc"` and `maxDimension = 4096`, with `rgba8` for a `textureType` of `sprite` that a higher layer names; for a pre-encoded ZTEX payload it returns the colour space, compression and sampler the payload's own header carries. Either way, an explicit `settings = { ... }` from the caller still wins. - **`settingsCorrections(values, name, opts) -> (partial?, reasons?)`** enforces a CROSS-FIELD CONSTRAINT the schema itself has no syntax for — a fact about one field that depends on another field's resolved value, true regardless of which layer produced that value. It runs last (layer 7 above), over the fully merged `values`, and again on every later write of the values file. Nothing is left unmet in what gets validated and stamped — but a value the caller explicitly asked for is never silently rewritten to satisfy it; `applyCorrections` refuses instead (see above). The optional second return, `{ [field]: reason }`, supplies the "why" for that refusal message; a field with no reason falls back to a generic one. `texture.assetType`'s returns `{ generateMipmaps = false, maxDimension = 8192, colorSpace = "linear" }` whenever the RESOLVED `compression` is high-precision (the encoder stores one verbatim, linear, and refuses a mip chain or a downsample for it outright), paired with a reason naming the compression, and `nil` otherwise. ## What does a declarer declare? `Field.settingsOf(identity, mode)` embeds another declarer's schema as a struct field without restating it. The identity names one of two kinds of declarer, and `Settings.schemaOfDeclarer(identity)` tells them apart by what `identity` resolves to: - **An assetType** (e.g. `"@builtin::assetTypes.texture"`) — embeds the schema every instance of that type carries, resolved via `schemaForType`. This is the type-level shared schema from the section above, not a per-instance one — an assetType has no settings of its own to declare per instance. - **Anything else** (an importer, or any other asset that declares settings of its own) — embeds that asset's own schema, resolved via `schemaOfInstance`. Every schema this module serves has already run its `Field.settingsOf` fields through this resolution — a caller reading `schema.someField.fields` never sees an unresolved `declarer` with no `fields`. Resolution descends into an already-literal struct's `fields` and a list's `element` the same way, so a declarer embedded several fields deep is still reached. A declarer that embeds itself, directly or through another declarer, stops one level short of the loop instead of recursing forever. ## What are the defaults? `Settings.defaultsOf(schema)` reads every field's declared `default` into a plain table — a field declared without one is absent from the result rather than holding a `nil` value.

# AreaLight A rectangular light source on an entity. The rect is centred on the entity's world position, faces along the entity's world rotation applied to `face` (default "Front", the entity-local -Z that `transform.forward` reports and that `entity:lookAt` aims), and spans `width` by `height`. A rect under a carrier moves and turns with it. Its light arrives from a surface rather than a point, so shading falls off gradually across a wall, highlights stretch to the shape of the source, and shadows carry a penumbra that widens with the rect's size and the caster's distance.

# BoxCollider (component) A box collision shape. Works with or without a `Physics` component: on its own it is static collision geometry, and alongside one it moves with the body. ## Sizing `half` is the box's half-extents in the entity's local space, multiplied by the entity's world scale. Leave it unset and the box derives from the entity's model bounds, so a bare `BoxCollider` matches what is rendered at any scale. ```lua entity.find("crate").component.add("BoxCollider", {}) -- fits the mesh entity.find("wall").component.add("BoxCollider", { half = { 2, 4, 0.2 } }) -- authored ``` ## Fields | Field | Meaning | |-------|---------| | `half` | Half-extents. Unset derives from model bounds. | | `isTrigger` | Report overlaps without blocking. | | `friction` | Surface friction. | | `restitution` | Bounciness. | | `rollingResistance` | How strongly the surface resists a body rolling on it: a rolling body slows at this many times gravity on level ground, so a ball rolled at v stops after v^2 / (2 * rollingResistance * 9.81). 0 rolls on. | | `spinningResistance` | The same for a body spinning on the surface about the contact normal. 0 spins on. | | `surface` | The surface the collider is made of, by name: one `Physics.defineSurface` defined gives it its friction, restitution and resistances in place of the fields above, and contacts, contact events and ray and shape casts report the name either way. Empty names none. | | `oneWay` | The direction, in the collider's own frame, bodies pass through it along: a body moving that way goes through, and a body meeting it from the side the direction points to stands on it (a jump-through platform is `{0, 1, 0}`). `Physics.passThrough(entity)` drops a standing body through. Unset blocks from every side. | | `surfaceVelocity` | The velocity, m/s in the collider's own frame, its surface moves at along itself while the collider stays put: friction carries what rests on it (a conveyor belt, a treadmill, an escalator). Write it at runtime to change the speed or direction. Unset holds the surface still. | | `contactTag` | The tag the world's contact filter reads this collider by: `Physics.setContactFilter(tagA, tagB, mode)` makes two tags pass through each other (`"ignore"`), report contacts and push nothing (`"sensor"`) or collide (`"solid"`). Empty names none. | ## Composing A collider on a child entity attaches to the nearest ancestor carrying a `Physics` component, so a body made of several shapes puts each on its own entity and each keeps its own material and trigger flag. Past a few dozen boxes sharing one material, `CompoundCollider` is cheaper: it is a single broadphase volume where separate components are one each.

# 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.