Source document:
docs/bot-contributions.md
Introduction
Bots have always been central to LocalGen. Earlier project versions made bot development much harder than it needed to be:
- bots could only be written in C++
- they had to be compiled into the main binary
- the API surface was effectively hard-coded into the source tree
Version 6 is meant to loosen those constraints and welcome a broader contributor base.
Bot types in v6
Built-in bots
- source lives under
src/bots/ - compiled together with the LocalGen executable
- written in C++
- directly available in Local Game and Web Game modes
External bots
- stand-alone executables
- may be written in any language
- communicate with LocalGen through a network protocol
- can be supervised by the game process once integrated into the external-bot list
How you can contribute
The project welcomes:
- brand-new bots
- improvements to existing bots
- bug fixes and performance optimizations
Contributing a built-in bot
- Read
src/bots/README.md. - Follow the project’s C++ style rules.
- Submit a pull request with:
- tests and/or replay evidence
- a short performance report
Contributing an external bot
- Implement the documented communication protocol.
- Provide a working binary or reliable build script.
- State clearly in your PR:
- dependencies and launch instructions
- supported operating systems and runtime environments
- expected performance characteristics
Community standards for bots
- keep the code clean and documented
- test on different maps and player counts
- avoid placeholder random-move bots
- stay within the game’s practical per-turn performance limits
- remain stable across long matches without obvious memory leaks