Aether

Aether is a Rust game-engine workspace built around a Bevy desktop client and editor, layered 2D character rendering, data-driven content authoring, and an evolving multiplayer backend.

The repository is under active development. The editor, local playtest path, authored-content pipeline, login and handoff flow, and service tooling are usable for development; authoritative world simulation, production auth hardening, and deployment automation are still evolving.

Quick Start

You need a recent stable Rust toolchain, Postgres, Redis, and a desktop environment capable of running Bevy. Windows is an active development target.

git clone https://github.com/AetherOnline/AetherOnline.git
cd AetherOnline

Copy .env.example to .env.local, set the local Postgres and Redis values, then verify the workstation:

cargo run -p xtask -- doctor --format markdown

Start the backend services in separate terminals:

cargo run -p aether-control-plane
cargo run -p aether-login-server
cargo run -p aether-game-server

Run the client and editor:

cargo run

Optional service-control tools:

cargo run -p aether-control-agent
cargo run -p aether-control-panel

The login server applies its SQL migrations during startup, so Postgres must be reachable before it launches.

Workspace At A Glance

Path	Role
src/	Bevy client, editor, runtime, and authoring systems
assets/	Authored scenes, UI, game data, sprites, effects, and preview assets
crates/	Shared protocol, config, networking, domain, observability, and generated-artifact crates
services/	Login, game, control-plane, and control-agent services
tools/control-panel/	Native service-management desktop UI
xtask/	Workspace doctor, quality gates, docs checks, export checks, and generated workflows
docs/wiki/	Maintained engine, authoring, runtime, protocol, and operations documentation

Detailed package ownership and scoped checks live in Workspace Package Roles And Scoped Quality Profiles.

Common Workflows

• Aether Engine Wiki is the documentation entry point.
• Environment Configuration Reference lists every generated AETHER_* setting and default.
• Local Playtest And Standalone Preview covers editor-launched and CLI playtests.
• World Entry Smoke Harness And Soak Telemetry contains the service-stack smoke checklist and failure-capture rules.
• Runtime Profiling, Tracy Captures, And Budget Gates covers performance investigation.
• Game Transport Endpoints And QUIC Exposure covers public endpoints, certificates, and QUIC diagnostics.
• Realtime Registry And Wire Contract explains protocol changes; the generated registry is the packet-by-packet reference.
• Control Plane And Service Ops covers backend ownership and recovery workflows.

Validation

Run the standard quality gate before handing off a broad change:

cargo run -p xtask -- quality-gate

Useful focused checks:

cargo run -p xtask -- docs-check
cargo run -p xtask -- quality-gate --profile editor-client
cargo run -p xtask -- quality-gate --profile services
cargo run -p xtask -- quality-gate --profile protocol-config

Use cargo run -p xtask -- quality-gate --plan to inspect the planned commands. The stricter ci-cleanup and full profiles are appropriate before large integrations. Generated documentation and manifests should be repaired through their registered write commands rather than edited by hand.

Contributing

Keep changes focused, route shared protocol and configuration changes through their owning crates, add validation for authored-format changes, and update the relevant wiki page when a shared workflow or invariant changes. See Generated Artifact Registry And Quality Gate Integration before adding generated outputs.

The repository includes third-party art and derived development assets. Verify each asset pack's license before redistribution.

License

No project-wide license is currently published. Treat the code and bundled assets as all rights reserved unless the project owner provides explicit terms.