Packages

Packages add shared Tide code and C libraries to a game. Tide bundles five optional packages: two physics integrations, two multiplayer menus and a Steam integration. Each has its own page here, with setup, API examples and current limits.

Bundled packages

The name in the first column is what you pass to tide add or write in tide.packages. The namespace is what you use in Tide code.

Package	Namespace	What it provides	Documentation
`box2d`	`Box2D`	Deterministic 2D rigid bodies, shapes, collisions and queries	Box2D
`box3d`	`Box3D`	Deterministic 3D rigid bodies, shapes, collisions and queries	Box3D
`rooms`	`Rooms`	Play, Host and Join menus, room-code sharing and volume settings	Rooms
`lobby`	`Lobbies`	Pre-match lobbies, ready flags, browsing and quick match, with a menu	Lobby
`steam`	`Steam`	Steam identity, lobbies, matchmaking and match transport for `lobby`	Steam

Choose rooms for a simple Play/Host/Join flow, or lobby when players gather before a match and browse or find games. steam extends lobby for desktop Steam builds and requires the game's own Steamworks library; that library is not bundled with Tide.

To add one, run this in the game's folder:

tide add box2d

That adds box2d to tide.packages. Its code uses the namespace Box2D, so a file can say using Box2D; or name a type in full, such as Box2D.Body. tide add also adds any packages it needs.

Bundled packages compile with games that list them. A game that leaves a package out compiles and ships none of it. Their versions follow your Tide installation: tide upgrade updates them, while tide update updates packages from git. See Using and writing packages for dependency files, pinned commits, local folders, conditional builds and making a package your own.

What is built into the engine?

The ECS, drawing, audio, GUI, math and match networking are engine features. You use them without adding a package.

In particular, Session.Start, Open and Join, room codes and host migration belong to the engine. The rooms package supplies a menu over those features. The lobby package adds pre-match groups and matchmaking. Rigid-body physics comes from box2d or box3d.

Finding a package's docs

For a bundled package, use its page in this section. Its installed source folder also contains a README.md. Run tide version to find the installation folder, then look in src/packages/<name>/.

For a package from git, start with the source listed in your game's tide.packages: open that repository and read its README, documentation and examples. A source with // names a package subfolder within the repository. The file pins a commit, so use documentation from that commit when the repository's latest docs describe a different API. For a local package, start with the folder named by its dependency line.

Editors provide completion and go to definition for packages in the game, so you can inspect the exact declarations you build with. Run tide fetch first if a git package has not been downloaded. Package documentation is supplied by its author; Tide does not currently have a package documentation registry or a command that opens a package's docs.

Writing documentation for your package

When sharing a package, put a README in its folder that names the package and namespace, shows how to add it and gives a minimal usage example. Link any fuller API docs and examples there, and describe dependencies, required C libraries, supported targets and current limits. Keep the docs with the code so users of a pinned commit can find the matching instructions.