Developer Best Practices

The rules that keep multi-mod setups stable. (Oxide equivalent: “Plugin Guidelines” + “Best Practices” + “Permissions”.)

1. Dependencies, not assumptions

greg.mods.list()                 -- {{id, name, version}}
greg.mods.is_loaded("other_mod") -- -> bool
greg.mods.version("other_mod")   -- -> string
greg.mods.declare({{mod = "other_mod", min_version = "1.0.0", required = true}})
local ok, detail = greg.mods.ensure({mod = "other_mod", min_version = "1.0.0"})
greg.mods.check()                -- {{owner, mod, detail}}; empty = ok

C#: [GregDependsOn("gregCore", "1.2.3")] + GregModDeps.Declare / EnsureLoaded / CheckAll. Report missing deps in the log + Hub instead of throwing. There is no Oxide-style permission/group system — gating is per-mod via these declarations and your own settings.

2. Performance

• No per-frame reflection or FindObjectsOfType; cache + throttle (0.1 s / 1 s / 2 s / 30 s).
• No per-frame logging; batch notifications (greg.ui.notify).
• Prefer event-state over polling; prefer automation engines over reimplemented loops.
• Full rules: Developer Harmony IL2CPP, Developer Timers Coroutines.

3. Saves and identity

• Settings → config, state → save/sidecar, bulk → data/ sandbox (Developer Data Storage).
• Address devices via inventory UIDs, never display names (Developer Hardware IDs Inventory).
• Never reuse IDs/GUIDs; one bad entry must never abort a load; test save→load→uninstall→load-vanilla.

4. UI honesty

• Every Hub entry needs a truthful Open/Close affordance (HasOpener/HasCloser); every HUD row maps to a real hotkey (Developer UI Panels HUD).
• Lock input only while open; restore cursor/movement after; ignore toggles during Pause/Escape/Options.

5. Co-op + sandbox discipline

• Local-only; no second transport (Developer Native Coop).
• Lua: no world spawning, no cable ops, no keyboard capture, no escapes from <modId>/data/ — move those to C#.
• require only your folder + @shared; no circular requires.

6. Diagnostics before release

• GregDoctor clean; [DynamicPatcher] shows your patches applied; no [gregCore][HwId] error spam.
• scripts/validate_contracts.py for hook coverage claims; python3 scripts/validate_version.py <VERSION>; dotnet test green.
• .codacy/ local scan (lizard, opengrep, pylint, trivy) before the PR — no duplicate CI run exists.
• Ship with: unique mod ID, min_framework_version, README (events you emit, settings, co-op scope), CHANGELOG entry.