horizon-airdef/docs

Horizon documentation

To play, use the launcher; the project site is playhorizon.dev. These pages are for developers.

Build and run

• Build from source: your own copy of the game, resource preparation, cargo run.
• Native client: options, controls, the dedicated server, horizon-ctl scripting, packaging, architecture.
• Host a server: install horizon-server, prepare the game files, first run, server.toml, the commands, the web panel, backups, services and Docker; what works today and what doesn't yet.
• Hosting a server: design: horizon-server, the design and the plan: install, server.toml, the CLI, the web panel, backups, services, Docker, and the bot benchmark against vanilla.
• Agent control: what AI agents can drive in the launcher and the game, and the design of the control socket, horizon-ctl and MCP.
• Graphics: the Simple and Advanced graphics settings, the graphics benchmark and what it measured.
• Benchmark: Horizon against vanilla 26.3 and vanilla with performance mods, on the same machine, world, path and settings: what is measured, how it is kept fair, how to reproduce it.
• Shader packs: how the renderer draws a frame, the Horizon WGSL shader pack format (stages, uniforms, pack.toml, hot reload), and the plan to translate OptiFine/Iris packs.
• Extras: optional zoom, minimap, FPS and keystroke overlays and auto-reconnect, all off by default.
• Mods: Horizon's own mod system (Rust, sandboxed WebAssembly), how to make and install mods, and what carries over from Java mods.
• Modpacks: porting whole packs (ATM10 and smaller): import, inventory, carry-over, an agent per mod with a harness against the Java original, coverage, and how "10x" is measured.
• Launcher: installs, updates and starts builds; its CLI and MCP server; releasing it.
• Resource packs: everything a 26.3 resource pack can change, whether Horizon honours it, and the proof.
• Opt-in data collection: the consent, exactly what is sent, how it is stored and sent.
• Benchmark report format: the versioned JSON every benchmark writes (game, launcher, tools/perf_bench.py), the local log and, with consent, the upload.
• Menus: the title, world list, create world, multiplayer, options and pause screens share the launcher's design tokens and fonts (crates/horizon-theme), drawn by ui_theme over a live frozen backdrop (game/backdrop.rs, blurred and graded by post.rs). Options → Interface → Menu style switches to vanilla's screens (Classic, kept in horizon.txt; HORIZON_MENU_STYLE=horizon|classic overrides it, and scripted runs default to Classic). Title (webm), worlds, options, pause.

Parity

• Rust rewrite status: completion criteria, how to reproduce the validation, and per-area scope.
• Parity workflow: tools/parity.py, the gate, other machines, merging.
• Area notes: block behaviours and ticking, section meshing.
• Version ports: how a new Minecraft release is detected, diffed against the pinned one and ported, and what stays manual.
• Decompilation and research lab and decompilation status: the local game inspection workspace the harnesses build on.

Architecture: world generation

• World generation: the pipeline from noise to features.
• Noise generation, compiled density functions, structure density, terrain filling.
• Biomes: lookup, temperatures.
• Surfaces: material surfaces, material conditions, rule libraries, vertical anchors, value providers.
• Carving, heightmaps, feature placement.

Architecture: world data and simulation

• World data: chunk storage, palettes, region files.
• Block-state codecs, scheduled ticks.
• Collision geometry: shapes, collision, movement and fluids.
• Face visibility: which model faces the mesher emits.

The earlier Java track (no longer developed)

• Java performance packs, with Vulkan on your Mac, collector comparisons, profiling, process memory and tick state. The Fabric server starter is retired: host a server with horizon-server.