cometworks SE2 Dev — Space Engineers 2 Development Overview
Applies only to Space Engineers version 2.
Entry point and table of contents for se2-dev-* skills. Read this first to get the
big picture, then open the specific skill the task needs. Does not perform searches or builds
itself — routes you to the skill that does.
SE2 is in early access and its extension surface is still growing. Today only plugins are a full development target; the rest of this page says what exists now and what does not.
Ways to extend the game
| Layer | What it is | Runs as | Status | Skill |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plugin | .NET DLL patching the game with Harmony, loaded by Pulsar | Unsandboxed, full .NET | Available | se2-dev-plugin |
| Mod | Steam Workshop content, loaded by the game | Sandboxed | Evolving; no dedicated skill yet | see Guide.md |
| In-game script | Programmable Block code | — | Not yet in SE2 | — |
Plugins run native code with no sandbox — they can do anything, which is why they are open source and reviewed before release. Client-side-only workshop mods can be registered to Pulsar so its registry lists them; that flow is documented in the plugin skill's Guide.md, not in a separate mod skill.
Where plugins run
SE2 has no dedicated server and no Torch equivalent yet, so every plugin currently targets the game client.
| Game client | |
|---|---|
| Loader | Pulsar (installed via Pulsar-Installer) |
| Registry | PluginHub-SE2 |
| Admin UI | in-game config dialog |
| Skill | se2-dev-plugin |
Pulsar lists and loads plugins from PluginHub-SE2 and compiles them from source on the player's machine, pinned to the GitHub commit the registration names. Server-side plugin hosting (the SE1 Magnetar/Quasar stack) has no SE2 counterpart yet.
Do not carry SE1 assumptions over. The se-dev-* skills describe a different game with a
different API surface; SE1 plugins are not SE2 plugins.
Skill map
Authoring skills (write plugins)
- se2-dev-plugin — Plugin development (Harmony patching, transpilers, preloader, publicizer). Search plugin source downloaded from PluginHub-SE2, and review submissions to it.
Reference skills (read/search the game internals)
- se2-dev-game-code — Search the decompiled C# (and IL) of the game client, plus its textual
Content. Recommended companion for any plugin work.
The se2-dev-game-book handbook — AI-generated summaries of game types organised by
inheritance hierarchy — is private/internal, distributed separately and not part of this
public repository. Use it if it is installed; otherwise fall back to se2-dev-game-code.
Graphify graphs (read on demand)
- GraphifyPrepare.md — how each subskill builds its own per-subskill
graphify-out/. Prepare installs Graphify on Python 3.12 with the fast native Rust Leiden clustering backend and, when that backend is available (Linux/Windows withuv), builds the graph automatically — clustering then takes ~1-2 minutes even for the decompiled game corpus. Where the fast backend cannot be provisioned, Graphify stays optional and only builds on opt-in withSE2_DEV_GRAPHIFY=1(the slow single-core fallback adds ~10-30 minutes on the game corpus; small corpora stay quick).SE2_DEV_GRAPHIFY=0disables it entirely. Also covers the health check that detects an unusable (unclustered) graph and the clean-and-rebuild flow. - GraphifyUsage.md — how to query an existing graph (
query/explain/path/affected), the large-graph load cap, and the query test scripts.
These two docs are fetched on demand: skip them entirely unless the user specifically wants the Graphify graph, so the extra tooling never pollutes context during normal work.
How to pick
- Writing or fixing a plugin? →
se2-dev-plugin+se2-dev-game-code(andse2-dev-game-bookfor orientation). - Reviewing a PluginHub-SE2 submission? →
se2-dev-plugin, following itsReview.md. - Need to understand how the game does X? →
se2-dev-game-codeto search the source,se2-dev-game-bookfor orientation. - Registering a client-side mod to Pulsar? →
se2-dev-plugin, following itsGuide.md.
Most non-trivial tasks pair the authoring skill with a reference skill: write with one, look up the game's internals with the other.
Plugin template
- client2-plugin-template — client plugin. Follow its
READMEafter cloning.
Generic wisdom
- Stop and alert if the free disk space drops below 10GB on any partition you work on.
- Avoid using long timeouts. Be conscious on the wall clock time spent on completing tasks.
- To avoid wasting time, use monitoring scripts to poll for progress frequently, for example every few seconds.
- Do not use inference for monitoring, only read the output and react when relevant events happen.
- Always collect all evidence (logs, core dump, traceback) immediately, since log rotation and core dump cleanup may erase them.
- Operating system temporary folders (like /tmp or %TEMP%) may not be preserved over reboots, do not store anything important there which you may want to retrieve later
- On Linux the /tmp folder may consume memory (tmpfs), therefore do not store large files there.
- Consult a Fable or Astra sub-agent if you need deep planning or facing a difficult question/issue.
Remarks
- Original source of these skills: https://github.com/CometWorks/skills2