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gbr-games/AUTHORING.md
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feat: draft new game templates with an AI model
`gbrgames draft -name <game> -image <image> [-steam-app ID]
[-first-boot report.json]` has a model write games/<id>/game.yaml and
test.yaml, then checks them like any template and sends problems back
for up to three fix rounds. Ollama (default qwen3.8:27b, OLLAMA_URL) or
Gemini (GEMINI_API_KEY).

The model gets AUTHORING.md (new: the house rules, from how nodes really
run servers and today's bugs: x-generate passwords, no published RCON
ports, containerUser, heap below the limit, env var naming, ready lines),
the inspect-image facts, the first-boot report and the two smallest
templates as examples. With Ollama the answer is forced into the
template schema, tightened for drafts so ports, install config, settings
and their descriptions can't be left out or null.

On top of validation and the image checks, drafts must:
- be complete: player ports, >=3 settings each described, real memory,
  a readyPattern or settleSec
- name settings so they reach the container as variables the image reads
  (ServerPassword -> SERVER_PASSWORD when the image reads SERVER_PASS)
- not leave files first boot saw outside /server (lost on every start)
A first boot showing the image dies within seconds on permission errors
(it needs root) stops the draft before any model call. A missing
readyPattern is filled from first boot's verified suggestion.

Valheim, which we have no template for: lloesche/valheim-server was
rejected as root-only; via SteamCMD (app 896660) qwen3.8:27b on a local
3090 Ti wrote a passing template in two rounds (~1 min). It is about
70% there: it chose "--save-dir /server", which Valheim doesn't have
(-savedir), and missed -crossplay and 2457/udp. The save check is a text
check; booting the draft itself is the next step.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-10-25 03:01:22 -04:00

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5.8 KiB
Markdown

# Writing a game template
House rules for `games/<id>/game.yaml` and `test.yaml`. They apply to people and to the AI builder alike;
the builder reads this file as its instructions. Most rules exist because breaking them broke a real server.
`gbrgames validate` and `gbrgames inspect-image -game <id>` enforce what they can.
## How a server actually runs
Know this before writing anything:
- The node-agent creates one Docker volume per server and mounts it at **both `/server` and `/data`**.
Game files, saves and config live there. Anything written elsewhere is lost when the container is
recreated, which happens on every start.
- The container runs as **`1000:1000`** unless the template sets `containerUser`. Never as root.
- Every key in `defaultConfig` (merged with the owner's changes) reaches the container as an
**environment variable**, named by the agent's rule: insert `_` before an upper-case run that follows a
lower-case letter, then upper-case everything. `ServerName` → `SERVER_NAME`, `MaxPlayers` →
`MAX_PLAYERS`, `RCONPort` → `RCONPORT` (no underscore: no lower-case letter before `P`),
`bIsPvP` → `B_IS_PV_P`.
- If `configFilePath` is set, the same settings are also written to that file in `configFileFormat`
before each start.
- `defaultStartupCommand`, when set, runs as `bash -c "… cd /server && <command>"`; otherwise the
image's own entrypoint runs.
- `installMethod: STEAMCMD` installs `installConfig.appId` into `/server` with anonymous SteamCMD before
the server starts.
- Nodes reach a server's RCON, REST and query ports **over the Docker network**, never through
published ports.
## Rules
### Passwords and secrets
- Admin, RCON and REST passwords: `defaultConfig` value `""`, and the `configSchema` property gets
`"x-generate": {"type": "password"}`. The panel then gives every server its own password.
**Never put a placeholder or default password in a template.** Shared defaults are readable by anyone
from the public game list.
- Join passwords stay `""`, with `"x-savedValue": {"key": "GAME_JOIN_PASSWORD", "label": "Game join password", "secret": true}`.
- No real credentials, tokens or IDs anywhere in this repo. A value a server can't start without (a
player ID, a license token) goes in `test.yaml` under `secrets`, mapped to a CI secret name.
### Ports
- `defaultPorts` lists **only what players connect to** (game and query ports). RCON, REST and admin
ports are **never** published.
- Use `"7777/udp"` or `"8211:8211/udp"`. Every port needs its protocol.
### The container user
- Run `gbrgames inspect-image -game <id>`. If the image is built around its own user (it declares
`USER`, or locks a home folder to a uid other than 1000), set `containerUser` to that `uid:gid`.
Example: ARK's image needs `25000:25000`.
### The startup command
- Read settings under the names the agent gives them (see above). `${RCON_PORT}` when the setting is
`RCONPort` silently ignores the owner's value; it arrives as `RCONPORT`.
- Use `${VAR:-default}` for anything that may be unset.
- If the image installs the game itself on start, make sure a failed install is retried rather than
starting a server that isn't there (see ARK's template).
### Memory
- `requiredMemoryMb` is the container's hard limit. A JVM or engine heap must stay about **1 GB below**
it: Minecraft's `MEMORY` is `3G` for `4096` MB. A heap equal to the limit is killed on start.
### Settings (`defaultConfig` and `configSchema`)
- Take keys and default values from what the server really writes: run
`gbrgames first-boot -game <id>` and read the settings in its report.
- Every key in `defaultConfig` has a `configSchema` property, and the other way round.
- Every property has a `title`, a short `description` for a player, a `type`, a `default` equal to the
`defaultConfig` value, and a `category`: one of `Security & Access`, `Gameplay & Rules`,
`World & Environment`, `System & General`. Mark the few that matter when deploying with
`"showOnDeploy": true`.
- An EULA or other agreement is a boolean with `"x-consent": {"label": "...", "url": "..."}` and
default `false`. Never `true`; the owner accepts it themselves.
- Keys may only use letters, digits, `_`, `-` and `.`.
- Placeholders the panel fills in: `{SERVER_NAME}`, `{PUBLIC_IP}`, `{PUBLIC_HOST}`,
`{PUBLIC_PORT_<port>}`, `{saved:KEY}`. Server names default to `GBRHosting - {SERVER_NAME}`.
### Being ready
- `readyPattern`: a regex that matches the line the server prints once players can join. Take it from a
first boot (its report suggests one), and put that real line in `test.yaml` as `readyExample`;
validation checks the pattern matches it.
- `failPatterns`: lines that mean the server will never come up (e.g. an unaccepted EULA).
- No reliable ready line: leave `readyPattern` out, and the boot test checks the server stays up
(`settleSec` in `test.yaml`, default 120 s).
### `test.yaml`
- `config`: only what the server can't start without in CI (accepting the EULA, for example).
- `secrets`: required values that can't be public, mapped to CI secret names.
- `timeoutSec` covers install plus start; SteamCMD games need 2400 or more.
### Commands and players (`agnosticCommandConfig`)
- Kick, ban, save and broadcast go through RCON or REST using the server's own password key
(`passwordKey` / `rconPasswordKey` pointing at the `x-generate` setting). If a game has neither, mark
the action `"type": "UNSUPPORTED"`; never invent one.
- `playerJoinRegex` / `playerLeaveRegex` capture the player name from real log lines.
## Before opening a PR
```bash
go run ./cmd/gbrgames validate
go run ./cmd/gbrgames inspect-image -game <id>
go run ./cmd/gbrgames first-boot -game <id> # on a machine with Docker and the gbr-boottest network
```
CI then boot-tests the changed game with the node-agent's real deploy code before anything reaches the panel.