@indiegems/gem-web-sdk

The SDK a browser game uses to run on the Gem Arcade: the signed-in player, their saved progress, leaderboards, currencies and items, rooms and matches, and the server a match runs. One dependency covers both halves of a game — the browser client and its dedicated server.

Everything you need to build against it is in this package. The guides are in docs/, the full API reference is in docs/api/, and both are the same text the Gem Arcade developer site serves at https://gemarcade.com/developer/docs, at the version you installed. Read them here rather than guessing from the type declarations, which carry signatures only.

Start here

1. docs/getting-started.md — the install, the first createGem call, and getting a build in front of a player. The install is written out there and only there.
2. docs/what-a-game-must-do.md — what is left for a game once the SDK has done its part.
3. docs/platform-rules.md — the rules the platform enforces that no signature states. Read it before you debug matchmaking.

Looking something up

| You want | Read | |---|---| | a symbol on the browser side — createGem, gem.me, gem.match, every type | docs/api/api-reference-game.md | | a symbol on the server side — defineServer and what a match's server is handed | docs/api/api-reference-server.md | | saving a player's progress | docs/saving-player-progress.md | | asking the player to sign in | docs/player-sign-in.md | | leaderboards | docs/leaderboards.md | | currencies, items, shops and loot | docs/inventory-and-catalogs.md, docs/game-economy-tutorial.md, docs/trading-and-gifting.md | | Gems, Tickets and achievements | docs/arcade-economy.md, docs/achievements.md, docs/brand-art.md | | daily challenges, async opponents, friends, cross-promotion | docs/daily-challenges.md, docs/async-opponents.md, docs/friends.md, docs/cross-promotion.md | | analytics | docs/analytics.md | | multiplayer — rooms, matches, room shapes | docs/rooms-and-matches.md, docs/room-shapes.md, docs/match-session.md | | a dedicated server for a match | docs/server-bundles.md, docs/dedicated-server-flow.md | | peer-to-peer matches and parties | docs/p2p-and-parties.md | | server-side logic without a game server | docs/serverless-functions.md | | when a deprecated surface stops working | docs/deprecation-policy.md | | what changed between versions, and what to do about it | CHANGELOG.md |

Every guide is one Markdown file, so a search over docs/ finds the page that covers a term.

What is in this package

| Path | What it is | |---|---| | @indiegems/gem-web-sdk/sdk | The one import a game writes, in the browser and on its server alike. | | @indiegems/gem-web-sdk/game, @indiegems/gem-web-sdk/server | The browser half and the server half on their own, for a build that wants only one. | | @indiegems/gem-web-sdk/schema | The wire schema between a game and the Arcade page that hosts it. | | @indiegems/gem-web-sdk/brand/* | The platform's Gems, Tickets and trophy art — see docs/brand-art.md. | | gem-sdk-stamp <build-directory> | Run after your bundler: records which SDK version a build carries, which a published web build has to say. | | docs/ | The guides and the API reference. Not imported by anything, so none of it reaches a player's download. | | docs/api/reference.json | The API reference as data: every exported symbol, its signature and its documentation. | | docs/manifest.json | When each guide last changed, with its sha256. |