# AGENTS.md

This is a StartOS service-package repository — it builds a `.s9pk` for StartOS.

Develop it inside a StartOS packaging workspace created by `start-cli s9pk init-workspace`,
which provides the packaging guide and agent context one level up. If you're reading this in a
bare clone with no workspace, the full guide is at <https://docs.start9.com/packaging>.

**Start every task at the recipe index** — `../start-technologies/projects/start-sdk/docs/src/recipes.md`
(or <https://docs.start9.com/packaging/recipes.html>). It maps an intent ("prompt the user to create
admin credentials", "expose a web UI") to the constructs, the reference pages, and a named production
package to copy. Find the recipe before you read this package's neighbours: a package you reach by
grepping may be non-conformant, and the recipe outranks it.

Freshly scaffolded? Work the
[New Package Checklist](../start-technologies/projects/start-sdk/docs/src/new-package-checklist.md)
(or <https://docs.start9.com/packaging/new-package-checklist.html>) from top to bottom. It is a
guide page, not a file in this repo — read it, don't copy it in.

Keep `README.md` (technical reference for an AI support or administering agent) and
`instructions.md` (end-user docs) in sync with your changes.

**Bugs and feature requests are issues on this repo** (self-hosted Gitea, not GitHub) — file
them as you find them. Don't record work in the repo instead: no `TODO.md`, no `NOTES.md`, no
`PLAN.md`. What you verified, tried, and decided belongs in the commit message and the PR body.

## This repo

- **Station Master is a git submodule (`station-master/`), not vendored source.** It tracks
  [Jesse's own game repo](https://draco.local:53871/Jesse.Markowitz/station-master), self-hosted,
  pinned to a tag. See `UPDATING.md` for how the pin is bumped — the `Dockerfile`, `main.ts`, and
  the manifest should never need to change for an ordinary version bump.
- **Built from source, not a published image.** The `Dockerfile` is entirely this repo's own:
  a `node:*-slim` builder stage runs the submodule's `npm run build:web` to produce the static
  client, then a runtime stage copies only `package.json`, `src/`, and the built `dist/` — no
  `node_modules`, since `src/server/index.ts` has zero runtime dependencies (see the submodule's
  own `TODO.md` for why) and Node's native TypeScript type-stripping means it needs no compile
  step either.
- **The join secret (D14 in the game's `docs/architecture/multiplayer.md`) is this package's one
  piece of state beyond the game data itself.** `startos/fileModels/store.json.ts` holds it,
  seeded on install (`startos/init/generateJoinSecret.ts`) since the server refuses to start
  without one, and rotated by the **Get Join Secret** action
  (`startos/actions/getJoinSecret.ts`) — the same action handles first retrieval and rotation, per
  `recipe-admin-credentials.md`.
- **One volume, one interface, no dependencies.** Everything the server persists —
  `store.json` and every game's own save data — lives on the `data` volume; the single `ui`
  interface carries the browser client, the lobby/intent HTTP API, and the SSE game stream from
  one port, which is what keeps players reachable from different addresses in the same game
  (`docs/architecture/deployment.md` §3 in the game repo).