ReSkate/AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md

Notes for AI coding agents working on ReSkate. People may find them useful too.

ReSkate is a launcher (ReSkateLauncher.exe) and a runtime (ReSkate.dll) loaded into EA's Skate.exe, plus a dedicated server. Internally it is still called DingoSDK: CMake options and targets are DINGOSDK_* and dingosdk_*. STRUCTURE.md says where everything lives and README.md covers using and building it; read STRUCTURE.md before looking for code.

Build

Windows, Visual Studio 2022 (v143), CMake 3.24+, from a Developer PowerShell. Everything is vendored, so the build needs no network or package manager.

cmake --preset vs2022-x64
cmake --build --preset release --parallel 4

Output is in build/vs2022-x64/Release/. One target at a time: cmake --build build/vs2022-x64 --config Release --target <target>, where the targets are dingosdk_runtime (ReSkate.dll), dingosdk_launcher (ReSkateLauncher.exe) and dingosdk_server (ReSkateServer.exe).

Warnings are errors (/W4 /WX). A change is not done until it builds clean.

The Linux dedicated server builds with cmake --preset linux-x64 and cmake --build build/linux --target dingosdk_server. Only the server builds on Linux.

Tests

Tests sit in a Test/ folder beside the code they cover and build as dingosdk_*_tests. Each group is off until its option is on, for example:

cmake --preset vs2022-x64 -DDINGOSDK_BUILD_PLUGIN_TESTS=ON -DDINGOSDK_BUILD_MULTIPLAYER_TESTS=ON
cmake --build --preset release --parallel 4
ctest --test-dir build/vs2022-x64 -C Release

The groups are the DINGOSDK_BUILD_*_TESTS options, defined in CMakeLists.txt, cmake/Apps.cmake (launcher) and cmake/CrashReport.cmake. Tests that read real game data need -DDINGOSDK_TEST_GAME_ROOT=<a Skate folder>. Run the tests for what you changed, and add one when you fix a bug the tests can reach.

Most of ReSkate only really runs inside the game, which an agent usually cannot drive. When a change can only be checked in the game, say so, and say what you did and did not verify.

Rules

• One game build, for good. ReSkate supports exactly one Skate.exe, build 20260929 (pins in supported_build.h). It is not moving to newer Steam builds. Do not add support for another build or code that adapts to one.
• No addresses in feature code. Every game address, offset and patch lives in Engine/Game/Build/20260929/<area>.h and is used as addr::<area>::<name>. A function that is hooked or patched has a <name>_prefix byte array beside it, and the feature checks those bytes before touching it, so wrong bytes are refused rather than patched. Follow an existing header.
• Hooks go through Engine/Core/Hooks (Microsoft Detours): hook_prepare, then hook_enable. Hooks installed while the game is running go inside a HookBatch.
• The SDK offers general APIs, not modes. No C++ that knows one particular game mode, menu or feature that a plugin could provide. Add the general building block to the SDK and build the feature on it as a Luau plugin mod (a mod folder with a reskate-plugin.json). The goal is that nobody has to send a pull request to the SDK to make a mode or mod.
• Plugins are sandboxed; keep them that way. A new reskate.* API goes in Extension/Plugins/plugin_api*.cpp behind a permission in plugin_manifest.cpp, with tests in Extension/Plugins/Test/plugin_tests.cpp, including one showing a plugin without the permission cannot use it. Plugins never get raw game memory, ReSkate's console commands, the microphone or clipboard, or a way to write cosmetics, entitlements or progression.
• Nothing that unlocks what the game sells. Mods and plugin APIs refuse paid store items on purpose. Do not add a way around that.
• No EA content in the repository. No decompiled game code, game binaries or extracted game data. Addresses, byte checks and our own notes about the game are fine.
• Third-party code only in External/, pinned, with its hash in External/manifest.json and its license in External/README.md. Ask before adding a dependency.

Style

• Match the code around you: snake_case, the dingosdk namespace, and comments that say why in plain sentences. Comments about the game record what was found and how.
• Commit subjects name the area, then say what now happens in a plain sentence, for example Launcher: a start map in Settings, GAME, instead of always San Vansterdam.
• Keep a change to what was asked. Leave unrelated cleanups for their own change.