SMAPI/docs/technical/smapi.md

← README

This file provides more technical documentation about SMAPI. If you only want to use or create mods, this section isn't relevant to you; see the main README to use or create mods.

This document is about SMAPI itself; see also mod build package and web services.

Contents

• Customisation
  • Configuration file
  • Command-line arguments
  • Compile flags
• Compile from source code
  • Main project
  • Custom Harmony build
• Prepare a release
  • On any platform
  • On Windows
• Release notes

Customisation

Configuration file

You can customise some SMAPI behaviour by editing the smapi-internal/config.json file in your game folder. See documentation in the file for more info.

Command-line arguments

The SMAPI installer recognises three command-line arguments:

argument	purpose
--install	Preselects the install action, skipping the prompt asking what the user wants to do.
--uninstall	Preselects the uninstall action, skipping the prompt asking what the user wants to do.
--game-path "path"	Specifies the full path to the folder containing the Stardew Valley executable, skipping automatic detection and any prompt to choose a path. If the path is not valid, the installer displays an error.

SMAPI itself recognises five arguments, but these are meant for internal use or testing, and might change without warning. On Linux/macOS, command-line arguments won't work; see environment variables below instead.

argument	purpose
--developer-mode --developer-mode-off	Enable or disable features intended for mod developers. Currently this only makes TRACE-level messages appear in the console.
--no-terminal	SMAPI won't log anything to the console. On Linux/macOS only, this will also prevent the launch script from trying to open a terminal window. (Messages will still be written to the log file.)
--use-current-shell	On Linux/macOS only, the launch script won't try to open a terminal window. All console output will be sent to the shell running the launch script.
--mods-path	The path to search for mods, if not the standard Mods folder. This can be a path relative to the game folder (like --mods-path "Mods (test)") or an absolute path.

Environment variables

The above SMAPI arguments may not work on Linux/macOS due to the way the game launcher works. You can set temporary environment variables instead. For example:

SMAPI_MODS_PATH="Mods (multiplayer)" /path/to/StardewValley

environment variable	purpose
SMAPI_DEVELOPER_MODE	Equivalent to --developer-mode and --developer-mode-off above. The value must be true or false.
SMAPI_MODS_PATH	Equivalent to --mods-path above.
SMAPI_NO_TERMINAL	Equivalent to --no-terminal above.
SMAPI_USE_CURRENT_SHELL	Equivalent to --use-current-shell above.

Compile flags

SMAPI uses a small number of conditional compilation constants, which you can set by editing the <DefineConstants> element in SMAPI.csproj. Supported constants:

flag	purpose
SMAPI_FOR_WINDOWS	Whether SMAPI is being compiled for Windows; if not set, the code assumes Linux/macOS. Set automatically in common.targets.
SMAPI_DEPRECATED	Whether to include deprecated code in the build.

Compile from source code

Main project

Using an official SMAPI release is recommended for most users, but you can compile from source directly if needed. Just open the project in an IDE like Visual Studio or Rider, and build the SMAPI project. The project will automatically adjust the build settings for your current OS and Stardew Valley install path.

Rebuilding the solution in debug mode will copy the SMAPI files into your game folder. Starting the SMAPI project with debugging from Visual Studio or Rider should launch SMAPI with the debugger attached, so you can intercept errors and step through the code being executed.

Custom Harmony build

SMAPI uses a custom build of Harmony, which is included in the build folder. To use a different build, just replace 0Harmony.dll in that folder before compiling.

Prepare a release

On any platform

⚠ Ideally we'd have one set of instructions for all platforms. The instructions in this section will produce a fully functional release for all supported platforms, except that the application icon for SMAPI on Windows will disappear due to .NET runtime bug 3828. Until that's fixed, see the on Windows section below to create a build that retains the icon.

First-time setup

1. On Windows only:
   1. Install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
   2. Run sudo apt update in WSL to update the package list.
   3. The rest of the instructions below should be run in WSL.
2. Install the required software:
   1. Install the .NET 5 SDK.
      For Ubuntu-based systems, you can run lsb_release -a to get the Ubuntu version number.
   2. Install Steam.
   3. Launch steam and install the game like usual.
   4. Download and install your preferred IDE. For the latest standalone Rider version:

      wget "<download url here>" -O rider-install.tar.gz
      sudo tar -xzvf rider-install.tar.gz -C /opt
      ln -s "/opt/JetBrains Rider-<version>/bin/rider.sh"
      ./rider.sh
      

3. Clone the SMAPI repo:

   git clone https://github.com/Pathoschild/SMAPI.git
   

Launch the game

1. Run these commands to start Steam:

   export TERM=xterm
   steam
   

2. Launch the game through the Steam UI.

Prepare the release

1. Run build/unix/prepare-install-package.sh VERSION_HERE to create the release package in the root bin folder.

   Make sure you use a semantic version. Recommended format:

   build type	format	example
   dev build	<version>-alpha.<date>	4.0.0-alpha.20251230
   prerelease	<version>-beta.<date>	4.0.0-beta.20251230
   release	<version>	4.0.0

On Windows

First-time setup

1. Set up Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL):
   1. Install WSL.
   2. Run sudo apt update in WSL to update the package list.
   3. The rest of the instructions below should be run in WSL.
2. Install the required software:
   1. Install the .NET 5 SDK.
   2. Install Stardew Valley.
3. Clone the SMAPI repo:

   git clone https://github.com/Pathoschild/SMAPI.git
   

Prepare the release

1. Run build/windows/prepare-install-package.ps1 VERSION_HERE in PowerShell to create the release package folders in the root bin folder.

   Make sure you use a semantic version. Recommended format:

   build type	format	example
   dev build	<version>-alpha.<date>	4.0.0-alpha.20251230
   prerelease	<version>-beta.<date>	4.0.0-beta.20251230
   release	<version>	4.0.0

2. Launch WSL and run this script:

   # edit to match the build created in steps 1
   # In WSL, `/mnt/c/example` accesses `C:\example` on the Windows filesystem.
   version="4.0.0"
   binFolder="/mnt/e/source/_Stardew/SMAPI/bin"
   build/windows/finalize-install-package.sh "$version" "$binFolder"
   

Note: to prepare a test Windows-only build, you can pass --windows-only in the first step and skip the second one.

Release notes

See release notes.