| name | se2-dev |
| description | High level overview of Space Engineers 2 related development. Start here to understand the ecosystem (game client, Pulsar, PluginHub-SE2) and to route to the right se2-dev-* skill for plugins, mods, and decompiled code/handbook reference. |
| license | MIT |
| allowed-tools | Read |
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.
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 with uv), 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 with SE2_DEV_GRAPHIFY=1 (the slow single-core fallback adds ~10-30 minutes on the game corpus; small corpora stay quick). SE2_DEV_GRAPHIFY=0 disables 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 (and se2-dev-game-book for orientation).
- Reviewing a PluginHub-SE2 submission? →
se2-dev-plugin, following its Review.md.
- Need to understand how the game does X? →
se2-dev-game-code to search the source, se2-dev-game-book for orientation.
- Registering a client-side mod to Pulsar? →
se2-dev-plugin, following its Guide.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
Remarks
Original source of these skills: https://github.com/CometWorks/skills2
