@looop-games/cli 0.1.24 → 0.1.26

package/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -14,6 +14,76 @@ Versions: [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.1.26] - 2026-08-07
+
+### Added
+
+- `looop inspect [<id>]` — runs the dev stack and opens the asset inspector on
+  it, so you can look at and drive one model or sound at a time. Name an asset
+  to open straight onto it; `--no-open` prints the URL instead of launching a
+  browser.
+
+- `looop dev` now prints the inspector's link when your game declares assets (it
+  has an `assets.js`). Not on every boot: a line that always appears is one
+  nobody reads by the third time.
+
+- `LOOOP_ENGINE_DIR=<path>` runs against an engine **checkout** where it lies,
+  installing nothing — `dev`, `test`, `lint` and the automatic model re-bake all
+  resolve the same one, so what runs in the browser and what the gate checks
+  cannot be two different engines. Only useful if you are working on the engine
+  itself: `LOOOP_ENGINE_TARBALL` installs into your project, so trying a
+  work-in-progress engine used to mean deleting your game's working engine and
+  putting it back afterwards. This leaves your project exactly as it was. Point
+  it at an engine bundle (`packages/engine/dist`); a path that is not one fails
+  loudly rather than quietly falling back to the installed copy.
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **`looop publish` no longer ships files your `.gitignore` excludes.** Build
+  output, scratch files and the screenshots a test run leaves behind were being
+  uploaded and served from your public game URL. If your `.gitignore` says a path
+  is not part of the game, publish now agrees with it. (A game folder that isn't
+  a git repo publishes exactly as before.)
+
+- `looop inspect --port <n>` opened the inspector on an asset named after the
+  port number instead of on your game's first asset.
+
+- The dev server no longer injects the game platform layer (the boot gate, the
+  loading curtain, the identity menu) into HTML pages that are not your game.
+  Only `/games/<slug>/` gets it, which is what happens in production — before
+  this, any other page the dev server served came up behind a curtain waiting
+  for an identity it had never asked for.
+
+### Changed
+
+- The automatic model re-bake that `dev`, `test` and `publish` run now finds
+  your models in `assets.js` rather than by scanning `entities/**/entity.json`
+  for `.glb` strings — entities name a model by asset id, so there is no path
+  left in one to scan. It is also the more complete list: a model your game
+  loads from its own code is re-baked now too, where before only a model some
+  entity referenced was.
+
+## [0.1.25] - 2026-08-01
+
+### Fixed
+
+- `looop dev` now rebuilds and restarts the multiplayer room when you edit a
+  file the room depends on — your primitives and their helpers, entity data
+  (`entities/`), components, and `overrides/`. Before, only the page reloaded:
+  the room kept adjudicating with your pre-edit code and pre-edit spawned
+  entities until you killed and relaunched the stack, so a change could look
+  like it did nothing. Room state resets on such an edit (the world reseeds
+  when the page rejoins); if the rebuild fails, the previous room keeps
+  running and the error is printed. This also means a game that gains its
+  first primitive while `dev` is running now gets its own room server
+  immediately, instead of silently staying on the stock one.
+- `looop dev` could keep running your pre-edit code after you changed a file,
+  with no error anywhere — the game just looked like your change did nothing.
+  Import URLs are now stamped so that editing any file renames the URL of every
+  module that (directly or indirectly) imports it, which forces the browser to
+  refetch the changed part of the game on the next reload instead of silently
+  reusing what it had cached.
+
 ## [0.1.24] - 2026-08-01
 
 ### Changed

package/bin/looop.mjs

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ const HELP = `looop — build and run Looop games
 Usage:
   looop create <name>        Bootstrap a new game folder (multiplayer works out of the box)
   looop dev [--port <n>]     Run the full dev stack (game + multiplayer + services)
+  looop inspect [<id>]       Browse and drive your models, sounds and assets on their own
   looop lane <name>          Open an isolated copy of the game to experiment in, safely
   looop test                 Run the game's tests (*.test.mjs) and smokes (*.smoke.mjs)
   looop lint [--fix]         Check the game against the Looop rules (runs inside 'looop test')
@@ -60,6 +61,23 @@ try {
       // Keep the process alive; servers + children hold the loop open.
       break;
     }
+    case 'inspect': {
+      // The same dev stack `looop dev` runs, opened on the inspector. Not a
+      // second server: the inspector is a page under /shared/, which this one
+      // already mounts.
+      const { inspectorUrl, openBrowser, itemArg } = await import('../lib/inspect.mjs');
+      const handle = await dev({ port: flag('port') ? Number(flag('port')) : undefined });
+      const target = inspectorUrl(handle.url, { item: itemArg(rest) });
+      console.log(`\n  🔎 Inspector → ${target}\n`);
+      if (!rest.includes('--no-open')) openBrowser(target);
+      const shutdown = () => {
+        handle.stop();
+        process.exit(0);
+      };
+      process.on('SIGINT', shutdown);
+      process.on('SIGTERM', shutdown);
+      break;
+    }
     case 'lane': {
       const name = rest.find((a) => !a.startsWith('--'));
       if (!name) throw new Error('Name the lane: looop lane <name>  (e.g. looop lane judder)');

package/lib/dev.mjs

@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ import { getToken, getApiBase } from './config.mjs';
 import { resolvePorts, portInUse, killPort, lanIp } from './ports.mjs';
 import { assertNoInertOverride, scanPrimitives } from './primitives.mjs';
 import { buildDevRoomServer, DEV_OVERRIDES_DIR } from './room-server.mjs';
+import { createFileWatcher, createRoomReloader } from './room-reload.mjs';
+import { hasInspectableAssets, inspectorUrl } from './inspect.mjs';
 
 // Resolve the partykit CLI entry from OUR dependencies (the game never
 // declares partykit; it rides @looop-games/cli). partykit's `exports` map hides
@@ -90,7 +92,7 @@ export async function dev({ cwd = process.cwd(), port, noMp = process.env.NO_MP
   // creator is told the actual problem: the server cannot take this file.
   assertNoInertOverride({ projectDir: project.dir, engine });
   const serverPrimitives = scanPrimitives(project.dir);
-  const roomServerCwd = await buildDevRoomServer({ projectDir: project.dir, engine });
+  const { cwd: roomServerCwd, inputs: roomInputs } = await buildDevRoomServer({ projectDir: project.dir, engine });
   const ownServer = roomServerCwd !== engine.roomServerDir;
 
   const stop = () => {
@@ -153,20 +155,115 @@ export async function dev({ cwd = process.cwd(), port, noMp = process.env.NO_MP
       log(`→ multiplayer :${ports.mp}  (our stale server — reclaiming)`);
       await killPort(ports.mp);
     }
-    const pk = spawn(
-      process.execPath,
-      [partykitBin(), 'dev', '--port', String(ports.mp), '--persist', join(tmpdir(), `looop-partykit-${ports.mp}`)],
-      { cwd: roomServerCwd, stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'], detached: true },
-    );
-    pk.stdout.on('data', () => {});
-    pk.stderr.on('data', (d) => {
-      const s = String(d);
-      if (/error/i.test(s)) log(`[partykit] ${s.trim()}`);
-    });
-    children.push(pk);
+    const spawnMp = (cwd) => {
+      const pk = spawn(
+        process.execPath,
+        [partykitBin(), 'dev', '--port', String(ports.mp), '--persist', join(tmpdir(), `looop-partykit-${ports.mp}`)],
+        { cwd, stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'], detached: true },
+      );
+      pk.stdout.on('data', () => {});
+      pk.stderr.on('data', (d) => {
+        const s = String(d);
+        if (/error/i.test(s)) log(`[partykit] ${s.trim()}`);
+      });
+      // A spawn that fails (ENOENT, EMFILE) emits 'error' and never 'exit';
+      // without a listener the event throws and takes the stack down.
+      pk.on('error', (err) => log(`[partykit] failed to start: ${err.message}`));
+      children.push(pk);
+      return pk;
+    };
+    const killMp = async (pk) => {
+      const idx = children.indexOf(pk);
+      if (idx !== -1) children.splice(idx, 1);
+      if (pk.pid == null) return; // never started — nothing to reap, and 'exit' will never fire
+      const exited = new Promise((resolveExit) => {
+        if (pk.exitCode !== null || pk.signalCode !== null) return resolveExit();
+        pk.once('exit', resolveExit);
+        pk.once('error', resolveExit);
+      });
+      try {
+        process.kill(-pk.pid, 'SIGTERM');
+      } catch {
+        try {
+          pk.kill('SIGTERM');
+        } catch {
+          /* gone */
+        }
+      }
+      // partykit is a node wrapper forking workerd; if the tree ignores TERM,
+      // escalate — the port must be free before the replacement binds it.
+      const hardKill = setTimeout(() => {
+        try {
+          process.kill(-pk.pid, 'SIGKILL');
+        } catch {
+          /* gone */
+        }
+      }, 2000);
+      hardKill.unref();
+      await exited;
+      clearTimeout(hardKill);
+      // The parent's exit is not the port's release: workerd is a separate
+      // process in the group and can hold the listening socket a beat longer.
+      // A replacement that binds too early dies on EADDRINUSE — killing a
+      // working room and leaving nothing. Wait until the port is actually free.
+      const deadline = Date.now() + 5000;
+      while ((await portInUse(ports.mp)) && Date.now() < deadline) {
+        await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 100));
+      }
+    };
+    const pk = spawnMp(roomServerCwd);
     log(
       `→ multiplayer :${ports.mp}  (partykit on ${ownServer ? `this game's OWN server — ${serverPrimitives.map((p) => p.type).join(', ')}` : "the engine's room server"}, pid ${pk.pid})`,
     );
+
+    // The room bundle is frozen at build time, so the static watcher's page
+    // reload is only half the contract: an edit to anything the room runs on
+    // (entity data, a room override, a server sim) must also rebuild the room
+    // and restart its child, or the creator playtests against pre-edit
+    // adjudication with everything looking live — a failure `looop test` is
+    // structurally blind to, because it boots fresh stacks.
+    //
+    // The watch set is the bundle's own input list (covers every file the room
+    // actually imports, wherever it lives) plus the room-shaped game trees for
+    // files that don't exist yet — a first primitive, a new entity, a new room
+    // override. overrides/ is deliberately scoped to its room subtree: editing
+    // a purely client-side override must not restart the room and reset its
+    // state mid-playtest.
+    let roomWatcher = null;
+    let roomCwd = roomServerCwd;
+    const reloader = createRoomReloader({
+      build: () => buildDevRoomServer({ projectDir: project.dir, engine }),
+      spawnChild: spawnMp,
+      killChild: killMp,
+      log,
+      onRebuilt: (built) => {
+        roomWatcher?.setFiles(built.inputs);
+        // A rebuild can flip which server the game runs on (first primitive
+        // added, last one removed) — say so, or the startup line misleads for
+        // the rest of the session.
+        if (built.cwd !== roomCwd) {
+          roomCwd = built.cwd;
+          log(
+            `→ multiplayer :${ports.mp}  (now on ${roomCwd === engine.roomServerDir ? "the engine's room server" : "this game's OWN server"})`,
+          );
+        }
+      },
+    });
+    reloader.attach(roomServerCwd, pk);
+    roomWatcher = createFileWatcher({
+      files: roomInputs,
+      dirs: ['entities', 'components', 'overrides/shared/ui/room'].map((d) => join(project.dir, d)),
+      onChange: reloader.onChange,
+    });
+    // stop() (e.g. `looop test` tearing down its stack) must also stop the
+    // reloader: a rebuild in flight would otherwise spawn a replacement room
+    // child AFTER the children list was killed — a leaked detached process.
+    servers.push({
+      close: () => {
+        reloader.stop();
+        roomWatcher.close();
+      },
+    });
   }
 
   // ─── platform services shim ───
@@ -187,6 +284,12 @@ export async function dev({ cwd = process.cwd(), port, noMp = process.env.NO_MP
   log(`✅ ${project.slug} ready. Open:`);
   log(`   ${url}`);
   if (ip) log(`   📱  http://${ip}:${ports.static}/games/${project.slug}/index.html   (phone / LAN)`);
+  // Only when this game declares assets (inspect.mjs). A line printed on every
+  // single boot is a line nobody reads by the third one, and the tool it points
+  // at is then invisible exactly when it would have helped.
+  if (hasInspectableAssets(project.dir)) {
+    log(`   🔍  ${inspectorUrl(url)}   (your models, sounds and assets, one at a time)`);
+  }
   log('────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────');
 
   return { project, engine, ports, url, stop };

package/lib/engine.mjs

@@ -67,8 +67,20 @@ export async function ensureEngine(
     loginFn = login,
     installTarball = npmInstallTarball,
     tarballOverride = process.env.LOOOP_ENGINE_TARBALL,
+    dirOverride = process.env.LOOOP_ENGINE_DIR,
   } = {},
 ) {
+  // Before the pin, before the installed copy, before the network: an explicit
+  // checkout is the most specific thing anyone can ask for.
+  if (dirOverride) {
+    // resolveEngine owns the override for EVERY tool (project.mjs) — this only
+    // announces it, so the banner and the lint can never disagree about which
+    // engine is in play.
+    const e = resolveEngine(projectDir);
+    log(`→ engine      ${e.version} from LOOOP_ENGINE_DIR (${e.dir}) — nothing installed`);
+    return e;
+  }
+
   let pin = readEnginePin(projectDir);
 
   const installed = installedEngine(projectDir);

package/lib/inject.mjs

@@ -5,10 +5,10 @@
 //     (classic scripts, so globals exist before any module runs) + the ONE
 //     platform-layer module tag. New platform features are added to
 //     shared/platform/platform.js FEATURES — never here.
-//   * ?v=<mtime> rewriting on <script src> and JS imports busts Chrome's
+//   * ?v=<stamp> rewriting on <script src> and JS imports busts Chrome's
 //     sticky module cache on edit.
-import { statSync } from 'node:fs';
-import { join, dirname, normalize } from 'node:path';
+import { readFileSync, statSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { dirname } from 'node:path';
 
 // MUST match builder/functions/_shared/serve-identity.ts DEV_IDENTITY.
 export const DEV_IDENTITY = { userId: 'dev-local-user', name: 'Dev', color: '#38bdf8' };
@@ -39,36 +39,137 @@ const JS_IMPORT_RE = /(\b(?:from|import)\s*\(?\s*)(['"])([^'"\n]+?)\2/g;
 // Match <script src="X"> in HTML.
 const HTML_SCRIPT_RE = /(<script\b[^>]*?\bsrc\s*=\s*["'])([^"']+?)(["'])/gi;
 
-// Resolve `relPath` and return `<relPath>?v=<mtime-seconds>` or null.
-// `resolveUrl(urlPath)` maps an absolute URL path through the server's mounts.
-function versionedPath(relPath, { baseDir, resolveUrl, allowBareRelative = false }) {
-  if (/^(https?:)?\/\//.test(relPath) || relPath.startsWith('data:') || relPath.startsWith('blob:')) return null;
-  if (relPath.includes('?') || relPath.includes('#')) return null;
-  if (!/\.(js|mjs)$/.test(relPath)) return null;
-  let target;
-  if (relPath.startsWith('/')) target = resolveUrl(relPath);
-  else if (relPath.startsWith('.')) target = normalize(join(baseDir, relPath));
-  else if (allowBareRelative) target = normalize(join(baseDir, relPath));
-  else return null; // bare module specifier
-  if (!target) return null;
+// A spec that can never name a local file the server would stamp: absolute
+// URLs, data:/blob:, and anything already carrying a query or fragment.
+function isExternalSpec(spec) {
+  return (
+    /^(https?:)?\/\//.test(spec) ||
+    spec.startsWith('data:') ||
+    spec.startsWith('blob:') ||
+    spec.includes('?') ||
+    spec.includes('#')
+  );
+}
+
+// Resolve an import specifier the way the BROWSER does — against the importing
+// module's URL — returning an absolute URL path, or null for bare/external
+// specs. Stamping must live in URL space because that is where module identity
+// lives: an engine file's relative sibling import can be shadowed by the
+// game's overrides mount, so the file the URL serves is not the file that sits
+// next to the importer on disk.
+function resolveSpecToUrl(spec, baseUrl, { allowBareRelative = false } = {}) {
+  if (isExternalSpec(spec)) return null;
+  if (spec.startsWith('/')) return spec;
+  if (!spec.startsWith('.') && !allowBareRelative) return null; // bare module specifier
+  try {
+    return new URL(spec, 'http://x' + baseUrl).pathname;
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
+// The version stamp is the max mtime over the module's TRANSITIVE static
+// import closure, not the file's own mtime. Module identity is the full URL,
+// and a browser may reuse a cached body for an unchanged URL across reloads
+// (Chrome's memory cache does not honor no-store for same-URL subresources).
+// A per-target stamp renames only the edited file's URL — its importers' URLs
+// stay put, so a reloading page reassembles the whole pre-edit graph from
+// cache with zero requests and no error anywhere. Stamping the closure renames
+// every URL on the path from the entry (which a navigation always re-fetches),
+// so no URL-keyed cache can serve stale bytes.
+//
+// The parse cache stores RAW specifiers keyed by file path + mtime; resolution
+// happens per walk, because the same file's specs resolve differently through
+// different mount tables (two servers in one process must not contaminate each
+// other). Boundary: only string-literal static/dynamic imports are seen —
+// import(expr) and new URL(...) are runtime-computed and stay unstamped.
+const parseCache = new Map(); // abs fs path -> { mtimeMs, specs: string[] }
+
+function fileInfo(path) {
+  let st;
   try {
-    const mtime = Math.floor(statSync(target).mtimeMs / 1000);
-    return `${relPath}?v=${mtime}`;
+    st = statSync(path);
   } catch {
     return null;
   }
+  const hit = parseCache.get(path);
+  if (hit && hit.mtimeMs === st.mtimeMs) return hit;
+  const specs = [];
+  if (/\.(js|mjs)$/.test(path)) {
+    let text = null;
+    try {
+      text = readFileSync(path, 'utf8');
+    } catch {
+      /* unreadable: stamp from its own mtime alone */
+    }
+    if (text !== null) {
+      for (const m of text.matchAll(JS_IMPORT_RE)) {
+        if (!isExternalSpec(m[3])) specs.push(m[3]);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  const info = { mtimeMs: st.mtimeMs, specs };
+  parseCache.set(path, info);
+  return info;
+}
+
+// Walk in URL space: each node is a URL path, mapped to bytes through the
+// server's mount table. `memo` (shared across one rewrite pass) short-circuits
+// only entry nodes — a spec repeated in one body — not intermediates.
+function closureStampUrl(urlPath, resolveUrl, memo) {
+  if (memo?.has(urlPath)) return memo.get(urlPath);
+  let max = 0;
+  const seen = new Set();
+  const stack = [urlPath];
+  while (stack.length) {
+    const u = stack.pop();
+    if (seen.has(u)) continue;
+    seen.add(u);
+    const fs = resolveUrl(u);
+    if (!fs) continue;
+    const info = fileInfo(fs);
+    if (!info) continue;
+    if (info.mtimeMs > max) max = info.mtimeMs;
+    for (const spec of info.specs) {
+      const child = resolveSpecToUrl(spec, u);
+      if (child) stack.push(child);
+    }
+  }
+  const stamp = max ? Math.floor(max) : null;
+  memo?.set(urlPath, stamp);
+  return stamp;
+}
+
+// Resolve `relPath` and return `<relPath>?v=<closure-stamp>` or null. Stamped
+// extensions include .json: entity/config data is imported by games, and its
+// URL must rename on edit exactly like a module's.
+//
+// `baseUrl` + `resolveUrl` are REQUIRED for stamping: there is deliberately no
+// disk-space fallback. Resolving a relative spec beside the importer on disk
+// stamps the wrong file whenever a mount shadows it (the overrides mechanism),
+// which silently re-opens the staleness hole. No serving context → no stamp.
+function versionedPath(relPath, { baseUrl, resolveUrl, allowBareRelative = false, memo }) {
+  if (!/\.(js|mjs|json)$/.test(relPath)) return null;
+  if (baseUrl == null || !resolveUrl) return null;
+  const urlTarget = resolveSpecToUrl(relPath, baseUrl, { allowBareRelative });
+  if (!urlTarget) return null;
+  if (!resolveUrl(urlTarget)) return null; // nothing serves it — leave the spec alone
+  const stamp = closureStampUrl(urlTarget, resolveUrl, memo);
+  return stamp === null ? null : `${relPath}?v=${stamp}`;
 }
 
-export function rewriteJsImports(text, { baseDir, resolveUrl }) {
+export function rewriteJsImports(text, { baseUrl, resolveUrl }) {
+  const memo = new Map();
   return text.replace(JS_IMPORT_RE, (whole, prefix, quote, path) => {
-    const v = versionedPath(path, { baseDir, resolveUrl });
+    const v = versionedPath(path, { baseUrl, resolveUrl, memo });
     return `${prefix}${quote}${v ?? path}${quote}`;
   });
 }
 
-export function rewriteHtmlScripts(html, { baseDir, resolveUrl }) {
+export function rewriteHtmlScripts(html, { baseUrl, resolveUrl }) {
+  const memo = new Map();
   return html.replace(HTML_SCRIPT_RE, (whole, prefix, path, suffix) => {
-    const v = versionedPath(path, { baseDir, resolveUrl, allowBareRelative: true });
+    const v = versionedPath(path, { baseUrl, resolveUrl, allowBareRelative: true, memo });
     return `${prefix}${v ?? path}${suffix}`;
   });
 }

package/lib/inspect.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+// `looop inspect` — the dev stack, opened on the asset inspector instead of the
+// game.
+//
+// The inspector is a served page under /shared/, not a separate server: the dev
+// server already mounts the engine's shared tree, so there is nothing new to
+// start and nothing to keep in sync. That also means the inspector still works
+// when the game itself is broken, which is when it is most wanted.
+//
+// It finds the game on its own — the page asks the dev server what it is serving
+// (/__looop/whoami) — so the URL carries no slug.
+
+import { spawn } from 'node:child_process';
+import { existsSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+
+export const INSPECTOR_PATH = '/shared/ui/inspector/';
+
+// Built from the dev server's OWN url rather than an assumed localhost:8000: a
+// lane runs on its own port base and 8000 may belong to somebody else's server,
+// and an inspector opened on the wrong port inspects the wrong game — or none.
+export function inspectorUrl(gameUrl, { item } = {}) {
+  const base = new URL(gameUrl);
+  const q = item ? `?_item=${encodeURIComponent(item)}` : '';
+  return `${base.origin}${INSPECTOR_PATH}${q}`;
+}
+
+// Does this game have anything for the inspector to show?
+//
+// The whole answer is `assets.js`, because the list IS the declaration — nothing
+// walks the folder looking for files any more. So this is the same question as
+// "did anyone declare anything", and it is asked for the dev banner: a line that
+// appears on every boot is a line nobody reads by the third one, and the tool it
+// points at is then invisible exactly when it would have helped.
+//
+// The file's CONTENTS are not read. A registry that declares nothing, or one
+// that throws on import, is a case the inspector page itself reports far better
+// than a banner line could — and reading it here would mean the dev server
+// evaluating game code to decide how to print a URL.
+export function hasInspectableAssets(projectDir) {
+  return !!projectDir && existsSync(join(projectDir, 'assets.js'));
+}
+
+// Flags that take a VALUE, so the value is not mistaken for the asset name.
+// `looop inspect --port 8210` is two argv entries, and reading "the first
+// argument that is not a flag" turns 8210 into the thing to open — on the one
+// command whose entire job is opening the right asset.
+const VALUED_FLAGS = new Set(['--port']);
+
+export function itemArg(rest = []) {
+  for (let i = 0; i < rest.length; i += 1) {
+    const a = rest[i];
+    if (a.startsWith('--')) {
+      if (VALUED_FLAGS.has(a)) i += 1;
+      continue;
+    }
+    return a;
+  }
+  return undefined;
+}
+
+export function openBrowser(url) {
+  const cmd = process.platform === 'darwin' ? 'open' : process.platform === 'win32' ? 'start' : 'xdg-open';
+  try {
+    // Detached and fully ignored: a browser that outlives the CLI, and one that
+    // cannot hold the dev stack's stdio open if it decides to write to it.
+    spawn(cmd, [url], { stdio: 'ignore', detached: true, shell: process.platform === 'win32' }).unref();
+    return true;
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}

package/lib/model-bake.mjs

@@ -57,9 +57,10 @@
 // it twice.
 
 import { createHash } from 'node:crypto';
-import { existsSync, readFileSync, writeFileSync, readdirSync, statSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { existsSync, readFileSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { join, resolve, basename, dirname } from 'node:path';
 import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';
+import { resolveEngine } from './project.mjs';
 
 // Version stamped into artifacts. Bump when the bake OUTPUT changes shape or
 // meaning — it participates in the staleness hash, so old artifacts re-bake.
@@ -805,38 +806,58 @@ export async function bakeModel(glbPath, { dir = process.cwd(), log = console.lo
 }
 
 // ── auto-bake: the staleness sweep dev/test/publish run ──────────────────────
-// The game's entity definitions say which models matter: any string field ending
-// in `.glb` inside entities/**/entity.json is a model reference. Model paths are
-// GAME-ROOT-relative — the same string is the presenter's fetch URL (the page
-// sits at the game root) and the room registry key — so they resolve against the
-// game dir here too. Each referenced GLB whose artifacts are missing or stale
-// re-bakes. A bake failure is a real failure — surfaced with the model named,
-// never swallowed: a stale artifact means the server shoots at a shape the
-// player no longer sees.
-
-export function referencedModels(gameDir) {
+// The game's DECLARATION says which models matter: every `src` in `assets.js`
+// that names a `.glb`. Paths there are GAME-ROOT-relative — the same string is
+// the presenter's fetch URL (the page sits at the game root) — so they resolve
+// against the game dir here too. Each declared GLB whose artifacts are missing
+// or stale re-bakes. A bake failure is a real failure, surfaced with the model
+// named and never swallowed: a stale artifact means the server shoots at a shape
+// the player no longer sees.
+//
+// Entity definitions are NOT scanned. A `rig-hitbox.model` is an asset id, so
+// there is no path in an entity.json left to find — and the declaration is the
+// better list anyway, because it also holds models a game loads from its own
+// code, which the entity scan never saw.
+//
+// Read as TEXT rather than imported, by the engine's own reader
+// (`shared/ui/assets/declared.js`) — the same one the entity lint uses, so the
+// two gates cannot disagree about what a game declares. Its blind spot is a
+// computed `src`, which mirrors the one the entity scan had for a computed model
+// reference.
+
+// The reader is passed IN rather than imported: it lives in the engine tree
+// (which the CLI resolves at run time — in a creator's repo it sits under
+// node_modules), and handing it over keeps this function a pure filter over a
+// parse somebody else did.
+export function referencedModels(gameDir, readDeclaration) {
+  const manifest = join(gameDir, 'assets.js');
+  if (!existsSync(manifest) || typeof readDeclaration !== 'function') return [];
+  let declared;
+  try {
+    declared = readDeclaration(readFileSync(manifest, 'utf8'));
+  } catch {
+    return [];                        // unreadable assets.js fails its own gate
+  }
   const found = new Set();
-  const scan = (dir) => {
-    if (!existsSync(dir)) return;
-    for (const e of readdirSync(dir)) {
-      const p = join(dir, e);
-      const st = statSync(p);
-      if (st.isDirectory()) { if (e !== 'node_modules') scan(p); continue; }
-      if (!/entity\.json$/.test(e)) continue;
-      const walk = (v) => {
-        if (typeof v === 'string') { if (/\.glb$/i.test(v)) found.add(resolve(gameDir, v)); }
-        else if (Array.isArray(v)) v.forEach(walk);
-        else if (v && typeof v === 'object') Object.values(v).forEach(walk);
-      };
-      try { walk(JSON.parse(readFileSync(p, 'utf8'))); } catch { /* a broken entity.json fails its own gate */ }
-    }
-  };
-  scan(join(gameDir, 'entities'));
+  for (const src of declared.sources.values()) {
+    if (/\.glb$/i.test(src)) found.add(resolve(gameDir, src));
+  }
   return [...found].filter(existsSync);
 }
 
+// The engine's declaration reader, or null when there is no engine to read with.
+async function declarationReader(gameDir) {
+  try {
+    const { dir } = resolveEngine(gameDir);
+    const mod = await import(pathToFileURL(join(dir, 'shared', 'ui', 'assets', 'declared.js')).href);
+    return mod.readDeclaration;
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
 export async function ensureBaked({ dir = process.cwd(), log = console.log } = {}) {
-  const models = referencedModels(dir);
+  const models = referencedModels(dir, await declarationReader(dir));
   const baked = [];
   for (const glb of models) {
     if (!isStale(glb)) continue;

package/lib/project.mjs

@@ -32,7 +32,38 @@ export function findProject(startDir = process.cwd()) {
   }
 }
 
+// An engine CHECKOUT, used where it lies — the lane for working on the engine
+// itself against a real game. Dev-only, and env-gated rather than a flag so it
+// cannot be left switched on in a repo.
+//
+// Every tool resolves the engine through here, which is the point: the dev
+// server serving one engine while `looop lint` and the auto-bake sweep check a
+// different one is a false green of the worst kind — the browser runs the new
+// code, the gate passes on the old, and nothing on screen says so.
+//
+// It does NOT fall back to the installed copy when the path is wrong. A silent
+// fallback is how the override became invisible in the first place.
+function engineCheckout(dir) {
+  if (!existsSync(join(dir, 'package.json')) || !existsSync(join(dir, 'shared'))) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `LOOOP_ENGINE_DIR=${dir} is not an engine build.\n` +
+        'Expected a package.json and a shared/ directory in it — point at an engine ' +
+        "bundle (packages/engine/dist after `node packages/engine/build.mjs`), not at the repo root.",
+    );
+  }
+  const pkg = JSON.parse(readFileSync(join(dir, 'package.json'), 'utf8'));
+  return {
+    dir,
+    // A checkout carries no cut version; only a release does.
+    version: pkg.version ?? 'working tree',
+    sharedDir: join(dir, 'shared'),
+    roomServerDir: join(dir, 'room-server'),
+  };
+}
+
 export function resolveEngine(projectDir) {
+  const override = process.env.LOOOP_ENGINE_DIR;
+  if (override) return engineCheckout(resolve(override));
   const dir = join(projectDir, 'node_modules', '@looop-games', 'engine');
   const pkgPath = join(dir, 'package.json');
   if (!existsSync(pkgPath)) {

package/lib/publish.mjs

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 // /api/publish stays behind the builder's Access wall). The endpoint
 // requires the creator token; without one it 401s with a login hint.
 import { createHash } from 'node:crypto';
+import { execFileSync } from 'node:child_process';
 import { readdirSync, readFileSync, statSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { join, relative } from 'node:path';
 import { findProject } from './project.mjs';
@@ -32,6 +33,12 @@ export const PLAY_BASE = 'https://play.looop.games';
 // Never shipped: tooling, VCS, agent workspace, notes + handbook + agent
 // instructions (repo knowledge travels with the repo, not the catalog — a
 // published game must not expose it on a public URL), tests/smokes.
+//
+// This list is the floor, not the whole rule: whatever the game's own
+// .gitignore excludes is dropped as well (gitIgnored below). Name-based lists
+// can only ever cover the names somebody thought of, and the folder that
+// prompted this was `screenshots/` — dev captures a test run had left behind,
+// gitignored by the creator and published to their public URL regardless.
 const SKIP_DIRS = new Set(['node_modules', 'notes', 'handbook', '.git', '.looop', '.claude', '__pycache__']);
 const SKIP_FILES = [
   /^package(-lock)?\.json$/,
@@ -41,8 +48,38 @@ const SKIP_FILES = [
   /^(AGENTS|CLAUDE|GEMINI)\.md$/,
 ];
 
+// What the creator's own .gitignore excludes, out of a list of candidate paths.
+//
+// A gitignored path is the creator saying, in the file they already maintain for
+// exactly this, that it is not part of the game — build output, scratch, and the
+// screenshots a test run left behind. Publishing it puts it on a public URL
+// under their name, which is nobody's intent.
+//
+// One `git check-ignore` call for the whole list rather than one per file, and
+// NUL-delimited so a path with a space or a newline in it survives. A folder
+// that is not a git repo (or a machine with no git) answers nothing and the
+// list goes through untouched — this can only ever REMOVE files, so failing
+// open is the safe direction.
+export function gitIgnored(dir, rels) {
+  if (!rels.length) return new Set();
+  try {
+    const out = execFileSync('git', ['check-ignore', '--stdin', '-z'], {
+      cwd: dir,
+      input: `${rels.join('\0')}\0`,
+      encoding: 'utf8',
+      stdio: ['pipe', 'pipe', 'ignore'],
+    });
+    return new Set(out.split('\0').filter(Boolean));
+  } catch (err) {
+    // Exit 1 means "nothing on the list is ignored" and is not an error; git
+    // still wrote an empty stdout. Anything else (no git, not a repo) lands here
+    // too, and the answer is the same: exclude nothing.
+    return new Set((err?.stdout ?? '').split('\0').filter(Boolean));
+  }
+}
+
 export function collectGameFiles(dir) {
-  const out = new Map(); // relative path → Buffer
+  const found = new Map(); // relative path → absolute path
   const walk = (d) => {
     for (const name of readdirSync(d)) {
       const p = join(d, name);
@@ -52,11 +89,18 @@ export function collectGameFiles(dir) {
         walk(p);
       } else {
         if (name.startsWith('.') || SKIP_FILES.some((re) => re.test(name))) continue;
-        out.set(rel, readFileSync(p));
+        found.set(rel, p);
       }
     }
   };
   walk(dir);
+
+  const ignored = gitIgnored(dir, [...found.keys()]);
+  const out = new Map(); // relative path → Buffer
+  for (const [rel, p] of found) {
+    if (ignored.has(rel)) continue;
+    out.set(rel, readFileSync(p));
+  }
   return out;
 }
 

package/lib/room-reload.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+// Room hot-reload for `looop dev`.
+//
+// The room bundle (room-server.mjs) is frozen at build time and partykit runs
+// it as-is, so an edit to a room-authoritative file — entity data, an override,
+// a server sim, a manifest — reaches the client (page reload) but not the room
+// unless something rebuilds it. This module is that something: a poll watcher
+// over the bundle's actual inputs plus the room-shaped game trees, and a
+// reloader that rebuilds and restarts the partykit child on change.
+//
+// Restarting the child drops the room's in-memory world on purpose: the state
+// was seeded from pre-edit files, and the page reload the static watcher
+// already fires makes the next join reseed from the fresh ones. A rebuild that
+// FAILS must never take the working room down with it — the creator gets the
+// old room and a loud message, not a dead stack.
+import { readdirSync, statSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { extname, join } from 'node:path';
+
+// Extensions that can be a room input when watching a whole dir. Explicit
+// files (bundle metafile inputs) are watched regardless of extension.
+const ROOM_EXTS = new Set(['.js', '.mjs', '.json', '.wasm']);
+
+function snapshot(files, dirs) {
+  const out = new Map();
+  for (const f of files) {
+    try {
+      out.set(f, statSync(f).mtimeMs);
+    } catch {
+      out.set(f, -1); // a vanished input is a change too
+    }
+  }
+  const walk = (dir) => {
+    let names;
+    try {
+      names = readdirSync(dir);
+    } catch {
+      return; // the tree may not exist yet — its first file appearing is a change
+    }
+    for (const name of names) {
+      if (name.startsWith('.') || name === 'node_modules') continue;
+      const p = join(dir, name);
+      let st;
+      try {
+        st = statSync(p);
+      } catch {
+        continue;
+      }
+      if (st.isDirectory()) walk(p);
+      else if (ROOM_EXTS.has(extname(name).toLowerCase())) out.set(p, st.mtimeMs);
+    }
+  };
+  for (const d of dirs) walk(d);
+  return out;
+}
+
+function differs(a, b) {
+  if (a.size !== b.size) return true;
+  for (const [k, v] of a) if (b.get(k) !== v) return true;
+  return false;
+}
+
+export function createFileWatcher({ files = [], dirs = [], intervalMs = 400, onChange = null }) {
+  // Two independent baselines: the explicit file list (which setFiles swaps
+  // between rebuilds) and the dir walk (which setFiles must never touch). One
+  // merged map couldn't tell a dropped input apart from a dir-walk entry.
+  let watchedFiles = [...files];
+  const watchedDirs = [...dirs];
+  let fileSnap = snapshot(watchedFiles, []);
+  let dirSnap = snapshot([], watchedDirs);
+  const oneShots = [];
+  const timer = setInterval(() => {
+    const nextFiles = snapshot(watchedFiles, []);
+    const nextDirs = snapshot([], watchedDirs);
+    if (differs(fileSnap, nextFiles) || differs(dirSnap, nextDirs)) {
+      fileSnap = nextFiles;
+      dirSnap = nextDirs;
+      while (oneShots.length) oneShots.pop()();
+      // Fire-and-forget on purpose, but a rejection out of the handler must
+      // not become an unhandled rejection that takes the dev stack down.
+      try {
+        Promise.resolve(onChange?.()).catch(() => {});
+      } catch {
+        /* handler threw synchronously — the handler owns its own reporting */
+      }
+    }
+  }, intervalMs);
+  timer.unref();
+  return {
+    setFiles(next) {
+      // Swap the file LIST without rebaselining mtimes: an edit that landed
+      // after the last poll (mid-rebuild, before this call) must still diff
+      // on the next tick. Only genuinely new paths get a fresh stat; entries
+      // already tracked keep their last-observed mtime.
+      const merged = new Map();
+      for (const f of next) {
+        if (fileSnap.has(f)) merged.set(f, fileSnap.get(f));
+        else merged.set(f, snapshot([f], []).get(f));
+      }
+      watchedFiles = [...next];
+      fileSnap = merged;
+    },
+    onNextChange(fn) {
+      oneShots.push(fn);
+    },
+    close() {
+      clearInterval(timer);
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+export function createRoomReloader({ build, spawnChild, killChild, log, onRebuilt = null }) {
+  let current = null; // { cwd, child }
+  let running = false;
+  let dirty = false;
+  let stopped = false;
+
+  async function onChange() {
+    if (stopped) return;
+    if (running) {
+      dirty = true;
+      return;
+    }
+    running = true;
+    try {
+      do {
+        dirty = false;
+        let built;
+        try {
+          built = await build();
+        } catch (err) {
+          log(`✗ room rebuild failed — the running room still serves your PREVIOUS code:\n${err.message}`);
+          continue;
+        }
+        // stop() may race any await in here (`looop test` tearing the stack
+        // down, SIGINT): once stopped, spawning would leak a detached room
+        // child forever. The check must repeat AFTER the kill too — killChild
+        // waits for the child's exit and can take seconds (SIGTERM, then the
+        // SIGKILL escalation), which is the widest window a stop() can land in.
+        if (stopped) return;
+        try {
+          await killChild(current.child);
+          if (stopped) return;
+          const child = spawnChild(built.cwd);
+          current = { cwd: built.cwd, child };
+        } catch (err) {
+          log(`✗ room restart failed — fix the cause, then edit any room file to retry:\n${err.message}`);
+          continue;
+        }
+        onRebuilt?.(built);
+        log('→ room server rebuilt and restarted (room state reseeds on the next join)');
+      } while (dirty && !stopped);
+    } finally {
+      running = false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return {
+    attach(cwd, child) {
+      current = { cwd, child };
+    },
+    onChange,
+    stop() {
+      stopped = true;
+    },
+    get current() {
+      return current;
+    },
+  };
+}

package/lib/room-server.mjs

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 // `rooms-runtime.js`, because the publish endpoint is a Worker with no bundler.
 // Same seam, two deliveries.)
 import { existsSync, mkdirSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
-import { dirname, join, relative } from 'node:path';
+import { dirname, isAbsolute, join, relative } from 'node:path';
 import { pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';
 import {
   assertNoOverrideCycle,
@@ -141,8 +141,11 @@ function renderEntry(primitives, entityComponents) {
   ].join('\n');
 }
 
-// → the cwd to run partykit in. The engine's stock room server when the game has
-// no primitives of its own; a freshly-built one when it does.
+// → `{ cwd, inputs }`: the cwd to run partykit in — the engine's stock room
+// server when the game has no primitives of its own, a freshly-built one when
+// it does — plus the absolute paths of every file bundled into it. The room
+// bundle is frozen at build time, so `inputs` is what dev watches to know the
+// running room no longer matches the files on disk.
 //
 // Throws if the primitives dir is malformed (e.g. a hand-written index.js) —
 // dev must not quietly serve a room that is missing the creator's code.
@@ -157,7 +160,7 @@ export async function buildDevRoomServer({ projectDir, engine, esbuildImpl }) {
     // loading. The mount is unconditional (dev.mjs), so the cleanup has to be too.
     rmSync(join(projectDir, DEV_ROOM_SERVER_DIR), { recursive: true, force: true });
     rmSync(join(projectDir, DEV_OVERRIDES_DIR), { recursive: true, force: true });
-    return engine.roomServerDir;
+    return { cwd: engine.roomServerDir, inputs: [] };
   }
   assertNoOverrideCycle(primitives, projectDir, engine.sharedDir);
 
@@ -165,7 +168,7 @@ export async function buildDevRoomServer({ projectDir, engine, esbuildImpl }) {
   const outDir = join(projectDir, DEV_ROOM_SERVER_DIR);
   mkdirSync(outDir, { recursive: true });
 
-  await esbuild.build({
+  const result = await esbuild.build({
     // No entry file on disk: the barrel + subclass are fed straight in, resolved
     // against the game root, so `./overrides/...` means what it says and no
     // machine-specific absolute path can leak into the output.
@@ -184,6 +187,7 @@ export async function buildDevRoomServer({ projectDir, engine, esbuildImpl }) {
     legalComments: 'none',
     conditions: ['workerd', 'worker'],
     loader: { '.wasm': 'binary' },
+    metafile: true,
     absWorkingDir: projectDir,
     plugins: [
       // Shadowing, for the bundler: an override's relative imports fall through
@@ -227,7 +231,13 @@ export async function buildDevRoomServer({ projectDir, engine, esbuildImpl }) {
     rmSync(join(projectDir, DEV_OVERRIDES_DIR), { recursive: true, force: true });
   }
 
-  return outDir;
+  // Metafile inputs are relative to absWorkingDir (the game root); the stdin
+  // entry (keyed by its `sourcefile` name, no file on disk) is excluded.
+  const inputs = Object.keys(result.metafile?.inputs ?? {})
+    .filter((p) => p !== 'looop-room-server.js' && !p.startsWith('<'))
+    .map((p) => (isAbsolute(p) ? p : join(projectDir, p)));
+
+  return { cwd: outDir, inputs };
 }
 
 export { isServerBacked };

package/lib/static-server.mjs

@@ -149,13 +149,19 @@ export function createStaticServer({
 
   function serveHtml(res, fsPath, urlPath, query) {
     let html = readFileSync(fsPath, 'utf8');
-    const baseDir = join(fsPath, '..');
-    html = rewriteHtmlScripts(html, { baseDir, resolveUrl });
+    html = rewriteHtmlScripts(html, { baseUrl: urlPath, resolveUrl });
     // Mirror the production /g/<slug> entry injection — only when the resolved
     // engine actually ships the platform layer (transition shim, same as
     // dev_server.py _engine_has_platform).
-    if (resolveUrl(PLATFORM_URL)) {
-      const m = /^\/games\/([^/]+)\//.exec(urlPath);
+    //
+    // Only a GAME entry is injected, which is what production does: /g/<slug> is
+    // the only page that gets the platform layer there. Injecting it into every
+    // HTML file the dev server happens to serve puts the boot gate, the loading
+    // curtain and the M-key menu on top of pages that are not games and cannot
+    // satisfy them — the shared inspector page (/shared/ui/inspector/) renders
+    // its stage underneath a curtain waiting for an identity it never asked for.
+    const m = /^\/games\/([^/]+)\//.exec(urlPath);
+    if (m && resolveUrl(PLATFORM_URL)) {
       // ?as=<name>: a distinct dev identity for this tab. The room dedups
       // same-account connections even for unverified dev claims, so two tabs
       // as the constant dev identity evict each other — ?as= is how a human
@@ -165,7 +171,7 @@ export function createStaticServer({
       const tabIdentity = as
         ? { userId: `dev-local-${as}`, name: as, color: '#f472b6' }
         : identity;
-      html = injectHeadTags(html, m ? m[1] : null, tabIdentity ? { identity: tabIdentity } : {});
+      html = injectHeadTags(html, m[1], tabIdentity ? { identity: tabIdentity } : {});
     }
     if (injectReload) {
       html = html.includes('</body>') ? html.replace('</body>', RELOAD_CLIENT + '</body>') : html + RELOAD_CLIENT;
@@ -173,11 +179,11 @@ export function createStaticServer({
     sendBody(res, 200, html, MIME['.html']);
   }
 
-  function serveJs(res, fsPath) {
+  function serveJs(res, fsPath, urlPath) {
     const raw = readFileSync(fsPath);
     let body;
     try {
-      body = rewriteJsImports(raw.toString('utf8'), { baseDir: join(fsPath, '..'), resolveUrl });
+      body = rewriteJsImports(raw.toString('utf8'), { baseUrl: urlPath, resolveUrl });
     } catch {
       body = raw;
     }
@@ -244,7 +250,7 @@ export function createStaticServer({
     const ext = extname(fsPath).toLowerCase();
     try {
       if (ext === '.html') return serveHtml(res, fsPath, urlPath, reqUrl.searchParams);
-      if (ext === '.js' || ext === '.mjs') return serveJs(res, fsPath);
+      if (ext === '.js' || ext === '.mjs') return serveJs(res, fsPath, urlPath);
       sendBody(res, 200, readFileSync(fsPath), MIME[ext] ?? 'application/octet-stream');
     } catch {
       res.writeHead(500, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@looop-games/cli",
-  "version": "0.1.24",
+  "version": "0.1.26",
   "description": "Looop game development CLI — dev server, login, and publishing for standalone Looop games.",
   "type": "module",
   "license": "Apache-2.0",