Two operator-facing errors, both found by following the documentation exactly against a real deployment while writing the runicgateway.com installation journey. **The shard screen moved and the guide did not.** INSTALL.md §5 and PLAN.md both print the installer's handoff block, which said to paste the four values at `<site>/admin/shard`. Those screens belong to the `uo` module now, and a module owns one path segment wherever it appears (MODULE_SYSTEM.md §2.8), so the page is `/admin/uo/link`. The old path does not 404 — the SPA sends the operator to the dashboard, so the link looks like it worked and the values have nowhere to go. The instruction under the block now names the path, and a note warns anyone whose earlier run printed the old one. API routes are unaffected by the module rule and keep `/api/v1/admin/shard/*`; the note says so, because that is the distinction the next editor will need. Matches installer#22. **The README snapshot's quickstart could not boot.** website's root `.env.example` never listed SECRET_ENC_KEY, and the "set at least" list omitted both it and BOT_INTERNAL_KEY — each of which the server refuses to start without in production, BOT_INTERNAL_KEY even on a deployment running no bot. Synced from website#163, which fixes the file itself and was verified by booting the published image from a clean `cp .env.example .env`. Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Runic Gateway — Documentation
Central documentation for the Runic Gateway platform. The docs here were extracted from the two code repositories (with full commit history preserved) so they live in one place, independent of either codebase.
Layout
website/ docs from the website core (Node/Express + MariaDB + React/Vite)
modules/ docs for installable game modules — one directory per module id
link/ docs from the ServUO bridge (C# plugin + Rust sidecar + Node WS)
android/ docs from the native Android client (Kotlin + Jetpack Compose)
installer/ docs for the installer that deploys a shard's bridge components
ci/ cross-cutting CI/quality notes
Setting up a shard? installer/INSTALL.md is the operator guide, and
the installer is the supported path: one binary deploys the plugin overlay, installs the uo-link
sidecar as a service, and hands you the values the website needs.
website/
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| BACKEND_DESIGN.md | API contract, DB schema, security model |
| ARCHITECTURE.md | The system diagram — how core, an installed module, the sidecar and the clients fit together |
| TEAMS.md | Teams as a platform primitive: roster, forums, notifications, Discord slash commands and voice — design of record |
| HERO_EDITOR.md | Hero canvas editor feature spec |
| THEMING_AND_NAV.md | Admin-configurable theme, brand assets and navigation — build contract |
| MODULE_SYSTEM.md | Making the site game-agnostic: game logic becomes an installable module — design of record |
| MODULE_API.md | The module ↔ core contract: ctx, the register* calls, the client registry and the loader's obligations |
| WIKI_UPGRADE.md | Wiki subsystem upgrade notes |
| SHARD_VISIBILITY.md | Who sees which shard data — the admin-configurable audience framework |
| TRUSTED_DEVICES_MFA.md | TOTP two-factor, trusted devices and recovery codes |
| MODERATION_APPEALS.md | Moderation actions, content reports and the appeals flow |
| SPAWN_ATLAS.md | The bestiary / spawn atlas: what the shard contains, parsed from its own ServUO tree |
| CLILOCS.md | UO's id → name table: converting one from your client so items have names |
| UOFIDDLER.md | Operator runbook — step-by-step extraction from your own UO client (cliloc table, creature art) |
| MARKETPLACE.md | The player-vendor index: how it is gathered, what it costs, how to tune it |
| website-README.md | Snapshot of the website repo's README (setup/run reference) |
| test-plan.md | The website's test strategy and harness |
| API_V2_PLAN.md | Router domain split + CSP hardening. The split is complete; only the CSP enforce step remains |
| API_V2_SKELETON.md | Superseded — the /api/v2 scaffold that was never built. Kept as the record of why the split was done in place instead |
| PROJECT_TREE.md | Auto-generated snapshot of the repo's tracked file layout |
modules/
Documentation for installable game modules aggregates here rather than in each module's repo (MODULE_SYSTEM.md §2.10). The website core knows nothing about any particular game; a module is what makes it a site for one.
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| uo/ | module-uo — the Ultima Online module: what it serves, what it owns, and what an operator needs |
| uo/API.md · uo/SCHEMA.md | module-uo's own route surface and the tables it owns |
| kit-acceptance.md | The Integration Kit acceptance run — building a module by following the kit alone, and what it found |
| rust-dryrun.md | A written, deliberately unimplemented module-rust — the test that the module contract generalises past the game it was extracted from |
link/
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| INTEGRATION.md | How the website integrates with the uo-link sidecar |
| PROTOCOL_2.md | Protocol 2.0 / 2.1 design |
| v3.md | Protocol 3.0 design — shard content/standings streams + the visibility framework |
| v4.md | Protocol 4.0 — guild membership on the wire (guild.roster, guild.leave). The current protocol |
| ADMIN_CONTROLS.md | Staff write-plane (kick/ban/broadcast, page queue) |
| SHARD_PREREQS.md | Shard-side prerequisites for the bridge |
| PLAN.md | uo-link build plan |
| RESEARCH.md | Research notes |
| link-README.md | Snapshot of the link repo's README |
| PROJECT_TREE.md | Auto-generated snapshot of the repo's tracked file layout |
android/
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| PLAN.md | Android client build plan / milestones |
| COVERAGE_PLAN.md | Test-coverage rollout plan |
| APP_LINKS.md | Android App Links / deep-link setup |
| theme-plan.md | Theming plan |
| THEMING_AND_NAV.md | The app's half of admin-configurable theming and navigation — build contract |
| TRUSTED_DEVICES_APP_HANDOFF.md | Trusted-devices app handoff notes |
| PROJECT_TREE.md | Auto-generated snapshot of the repo's tracked file layout |
installer/
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| INSTALL.md | Start here to set up a shard — the installer deploys the plugin overlay and the uo-link sidecar, registers the service, and connects it to the website. Appendix A is the same thing by hand, still supported |
| PLAN.md | Installer design of record — phases, locked decisions, the bundle/compat-matrix model |
| PROJECT_TREE.md | Auto-generated snapshot of the repo's tracked file layout |
ci/
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| SONARQUBE.md | The SonarQube setup: project keys, how analysis runs, and how to read a report |
Provenance
website/*was extracted fromRunicGateway/websiteviagit filter-repo.link/*was extracted fromRunicGateway/linkviagit filter-repo.
Commit history and authorship for each doc are preserved. The two source repos retain a short pointer to this repo in their own READMEs; the authoritative copy of each document now lives here.
License
Runic Gateway's documentation is free: licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later — see LICENSE.md.
Copyright (C) 2026 Runic Gateway
This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY. You may redistribute and/or modify it under the terms of
the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation,
either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
Contributions are welcome — please read CONTRIBUTING.md (note the AI-usage disclosure requirement) and our Code of Conduct.