This file tells AI coding agents how the CFX Developer Tools repo works and how to contribute correctly.

Documentation site: https://tmhsdigital.github.io/CFX-Developer-Tools/ (auto-deployed on push to main)

This is a Cursor IDE plugin for FiveM/RedM (CFX) resource development. It contains:

• .cursor-plugin/plugin.json -- plugin manifest (version, skills, rules)
• skills/ -- 9 SKILL.md files teaching the AI domain-specific CFX knowledge
• rules/ -- 6 .mdc rule files enforcing coding conventions
• snippets/ -- 24 code snippet files (Lua, JS, C#)
• templates/ -- 11 resource starter templates (standalone, ESX, QBCore, Qbox, ox_core, VORP, RSG, JS, C#, NUI Vite, NUI Svelte)
• mcp-server/ -- Python MCP server with 6 tools and JSON data files
• docs/ -- ARCHITECTURE.md, ROADMAP.md, CONTRIBUTING.md, GETTING-STARTED.md, index.md (docs site landing page)
• CHANGELOG.md -- manually maintained release history (not auto-generated)
• mkdocs.yml -- MkDocs Material configuration for the documentation site
• .github/workflows/ -- CI/CD automation

• Single branch: main only. No develop/release branches.
• Conventional commits are required. The release workflow parses them:
  • feat: or feat(scope): -- triggers a minor version bump
  • feat!: or BREAKING CHANGE -- triggers a major version bump
  • Everything else (fix:, chore:, docs:, refactor:, etc.) -- triggers a patch bump
• Commit messages should be concise and describe the "why", not the "what".

Checks:

• JSON validity for plugin.json, mcp.json, native databases, events
• Plugin manifest required fields, kebab-case name, skill/rule file existence
• Content counts in README match actual files on disk (skills, rules, snippets, templates)
• Em dash and en dash detection (use hyphens, not em/en dashes)
• Hardcoded credential patterns
• Deprecated lua54 'yes' directive in templates
• fxmanifest.lua templates have fx_version, games, 'cerulean'
• Python syntax for all MCP server modules

Automatic flow:

1. Reads current version from plugin.json
2. Determines bump type from conventional commit messages since last tag
3. Computes new semver version
4. Updates plugin.json version and README.md version badge
5. Commits with [skip ci] to prevent re-triggering
6. Creates git tag vX.Y.Z
7. Creates GitHub Release with grouped release notes

Has a concurrency guard -- only one release can run at a time to prevent race conditions.

After a successful release, the workflow also syncs the GitHub repository "About" section (description, homepage URL, and topics) via gh repo edit. The description is dynamically generated from live artifact counts (skills, rules, snippets, templates, events, MCP tools).

Do not manually edit the version in plugin.json or the README badge. The release workflow owns both.

Do not manually edit the GitHub repo About section (description, homepage, topics). The release workflow syncs it automatically on every release.

CHANGELOG.md is manually maintained. Update it when making significant changes. The release workflow does not auto-update it.

1. Fetches compiled native JSON from runtime.fivem.net/doc/ (GTA5, RDR3, and CFX platform natives)
2. Transforms via .github/scripts/transform_natives.py into the plugin's flat schema
3. Validates the output (checks required fields, types, counts)
4. If changed, commits and pushes directly to main with chore: prefix

1. Runs .github/scripts/build_docs_index.py to crawl ~80 pages from docs.fivem.net
2. Writes result to mcp-server/data/docs_index.json
3. Validates structure (title, url, section, snippet required)
4. If changed, commits and pushes directly to main with chore: prefix

Builds the MkDocs Material documentation site from the repository's Markdown files and deploys it to GitHub Pages via actions/deploy-pages. The site URL is https://tmhsdigital.github.io/CFX-Developer-Tools/.

Marks issues/PRs as stale after inactivity and closes them after further inactivity.

• The source of truth for the current version is .cursor-plugin/plugin.json.
• The release workflow auto-bumps it and the README badge on every qualifying push to main.
• Never manually change the version unless you know the release workflow won't run (e.g., docs-only changes).

• No em dashes or en dashes -- use hyphens or rewrite. CI will reject them.
• No lua54 'yes' -- it is deprecated. Lua 5.4 is the only CFX runtime. CI will reject this in templates.
• No hardcoded credentials -- CI scans for password/token/api_key patterns.
• fxmanifest.lua must use fx_version 'cerulean' and include games.
• Python code in mcp-server/ must pass py_compile.
• Snippets, templates, and skills should be accurate to the current FiveM/RedM APIs.

1. Create skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter (title, description, globs)
2. Add the path to plugin.json under "skills"
3. Update counts in README.md stats line and skills table
4. Use fix: or feat: commit prefix depending on scope

1. Create rules/<rule-name>.mdc with frontmatter (description, globs, alwaysApply)
2. Add the path to plugin.json under "rules"

1. Add the file to snippets/<language>/ (lua, javascript, csharp)
2. Include a header comment explaining what the snippet does
3. Update counts in README.md stats line and relevant snippet tables
4. CI will fail if README counts don't match actual file counts

1. Create templates/<template-name>/ with at minimum fxmanifest.lua
2. Include working client/server scripts
3. Do not include lua54 'yes'

Do not manually edit mcp-server/data/natives_*.json. The update-natives.yml workflow handles this automatically. If you need to change the transformation logic, edit .github/scripts/transform_natives.py.

• Entry point: mcp-server/server.py
• Tools: mcp-server/tools/ (scaffold.py, natives.py, manifest_gen.py, event_search.py, docs_search.py, detect_framework.py)
• Shared logic: mcp-server/tools/manifest_common.py
• Data: mcp-server/data/ (natives_gta5.json, natives_rdr3.json, events.json, docs_index.json)
• Dependencies: mcp-server/requirements.txt (pinned ranges)

The MCP server is configured in .cursor/mcp.json and starts automatically when Cursor invokes a tool.

• FiveM and RedM only support Lua 5.4 (5.3 removed). The lua54 'yes' directive is deprecated and ignored.
• C# resources compile to a single DLL referenced in both client_scripts and server_scripts.
• Wait(0) in Lua loops is a performance anti-pattern in most cases; use appropriate wait times.
• Server-side event handlers must validate source to prevent spoofing.
• The native databases use a flat JSON array schema with name, hash, params, return_type, description, category, side, deprecated, examples.
• Native data is sourced from runtime.fivem.net/doc/ -- GTA5, RDR3, and CFX platform natives are merged per game file.
• The lookup_native_tool supports keyword search, hash lookup, category browsing, and side filtering.
• Events use { "name", "side", "description", "params", "game", "framework" }. 101 events across cfx, baseevents, chat, esx, qbcore, qbox, oxcore, vorp, rsg frameworks.
• docs_index.json is a searchable index of ~80 FiveM/RedM docs pages, rebuilt monthly by CI. Schema: { "title", "url", "section", "snippet" }.
• The detect_framework_tool scans fxmanifest.lua dependencies (highest weight) and code patterns (exports['es_extended'], QBCore = exports, exports['qbx_core'], require '@ox_core', exports.vorp_core, exports['rsg-core']) to report framework, confidence, and evidence. Supports ESX, QBCore, Qbox, ox_core, VORP, RSG, and standalone.

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0. All contributions fall under this license.