Aetheria/docs/aetheria-perfect-machine-map.md

Aetheria Perfect Machine Map

Date: 2026-06-12

Parked (2026-09-11). This migration was built and then rolled back by commit 7006a6b0. F:\Projects\AetheriaEve preserves that rebuild as a specimen; it is not direction or precedent. Current direction for this repo is aetheria-release-target.md (the demo), with three-gates-scope.md as the full game's run. Read this document as a record of the deferred plan, not as current direction. The cache move alone is now cultcache-migration-target.md.

This is the Proprioception and Imagination pass for turning Aetheria from a Unity project with ancestral cache/network/UI machinery into a coherent GameCult machine: typed CultCache state, CultMesh networking, and Eve CultUI surfaces lowered into Unity without JSON or RethinkDB remaining as live authority.

Objective

Aetheria should persist and replicate game state as typed CultCache documents, publish multiplayer/service state through CultMesh, and render operator/runtime interfaces from Eve CultUI surfaces. The old JSON, RethinkDB, JsonKnownTypes, local CultCache, and legacy UI paths should be migration-only or deleted.

Current Mechanism

• Unity client/runtime lives under Assets/, with gameplay scripts reading and mutating old CultCache data, especially through ActionGameManager.
• Shared domain state is built around DatabaseEntry, GUID identity, MessagePack attributes, Newtonsoft attributes, JsonKnownTypes polymorphism, and static cache references.
• Local persistence is mostly old MessagePack files in GameData/, but JSON backing stores, JSON converters, JsonKnownTypes, and Newtonsoft attributes are still welded into the model.
• Economy.Server uses LiteNetLib and MessagePack messages, while its database path still directly connects to RethinkDB and depends on the old shared cache model.
• A vendored RethinkDB driver lives under Assets/Scripts/ServerShared/NIH/RethinkDb/ and pins old Newtonsoft.
• The old Unity DB inspector is an IMGUI editor window under Assets/Scripts/CultCache/Editor/, tied to Rethink tables and the old cache model.
• Runtime UI is old Unity UI/uGUI prefabs plus MonoBehaviour scripts under Assets/Scripts/UI/ and Assets/Prefabs/UI/.
• Aetheria already has Unity UIElements support available through com.unity.modules.uielements, but no imported Eve Unity lowering package.

Invariants

• Durable game state is typed CultCache state, not JSON documents or ad hoc sidecars.
• Network-visible state is published through CultMesh/CultNet documents, not a RethinkDB changefeed or bespoke status endpoint.
• Record identity belongs to CultCache record keys and typed references, not to mutable domain base classes.
• UI surfaces are provider-owned Eve CultUI documents; Unity is a lowering runtime, not the owner of UI truth.
• Migration code may read old formats, but old stores cannot decide live state after migration.
• The runtime must have one commit path for user action, load/import, server replication, and editor mutation of the same state.

Current Authority Map

• Owner: DatabaseEntry plus old CultCache act as the practical state owner.
• Inputs: Unity gameplay code, editor DB inspector actions, legacy data files, RethinkDB changefeeds, and server messages.
• Outputs: in-memory domain objects, old MessagePack files, optional JSON files, RethinkDB table writes, and UI/editor projections.
• Derived state: UI panels, editor rows, Rethink table names, and serialized payloads pretend to be projections but can still influence write paths.
• Forbidden writers: Rethink changefeed handlers, old JSON backing stores, JsonKnownTypes converters, editor table exports, static cache globals, and server-side DatabaseCache paths.
• Shared paths: manual gameplay edits, editor edits, server updates, file load, file save, and migration all need to converge on one typed commit primitive.
• Deletion line: no new behavior should be added to the old DatabaseEntry, RethinkDB, JsonKnownTypes, or IMGUI DB inspector paths.

Target Authority Map

• Owner: Aetheria.State, a typed document layer backed by modern GameCult.Caching and opened through a CultMesh node.
• Inputs: typed commands, save/import migration records, CultMesh replication, editor mutations, and deterministic simulation facts.
• Outputs: CultCache .cc state files, CultMesh document streams, Eve surface documents, simulation events, and migration reports.
• Derived state: Unity scene objects, HUD panels, editor inspectors, debug views, server dashboards, and compatibility DTOs.
• Forbidden writers: Unity UI components, RethinkDB, legacy JSON stores, DatabaseEntry.ID, global cache statics, and any compatibility reader.
• Shared paths: gameplay input, editor edits, import/deep-load, replication, simulation ticks, and tests all call the same typed state service.
• Deletion line: after migration smokes pass, delete vendored RethinkDB, Newtonsoft/JsonKnownTypes dependencies, old JSON backing stores, and the old cache editor window.

Intended Change

Create a modern Aetheria state runtime that opens a CultMesh node over a typed CultCache file, registers Aetheria document types, and exposes narrow ports for gameplay, editor tools, migration, and UI projection. The state runtime becomes the only live writer. Everything else becomes a consumer, a command source, or a migration reader.

Use modern CultLib surfaces:

• GameCult.Caching for [CultDocument], record keys, indexes, references, schema catalog, and typed persistence.
• GameCult.Caching.MessagePack for the binary CultCache backing format.
• GameCult.Mesh for node/database illusion, durable shard logs, Verse descriptors, authority leases, replication, and peer discovery.
• Eve CultUI for portable UI documents and command envelopes.

UI Direction

Unity should lower Eve surfaces through UI Toolkit, not through the old uGUI CultUI package as the strategic path.

The package should live in the Eve repo as an importable Unity package, for example org.gamecult.eve.unity-uitoolkit. It should consume gamecult.eve.surface.v1 and gamecult.eve.command.v1, lower retained components into UIDocument/VisualElement trees, and publish commands back to the provider through CultMesh/CultNet.

Aetheria should import that Eve package and provide surfaces. It should not own a bespoke Unity lowering. The existing CultLib Unity uGUI package remains useful as prior art for resolver-backed controls and inspector generation, but it is not the new portable UI authority.

First Aetheria surfaces to publish:

• runtime HUD
• inventory
• menu shell
• sector/map view
• typed state inspector
• migration report / quarantine viewer
• server/session status

Migration Phases

1. Baseline

   • Record the current compile/test status for Unity and .NET projects.
   • Keep this map current before cutting code.
   • Count old authority references with rg so deletion has a visible target.

2. Modern state spine

   • Add references to modern GameCult.Caching, GameCult.Caching.MessagePack, and GameCult.Mesh.
   • Create Aetheria.State document definitions using [CultDocument], [MessagePackObject], [CultName], [CultIndex], and typed references.
   • Add a smoke that writes, flushes, reopens, and reads typed state from a CultCache .cc file.

3. Legacy quarantine

   • Move legacy readers into an explicit migration namespace/project.
   • Read old GameData/AetherDB.msgpack and related files without granting them runtime authority.
   • Emit typed CultCache records plus a migration ledger.

4. Runtime cutover

   • Replace ActionGameManager cache bootstrap with the new state runtime.
   • Convert domain references from GUID/base-class patterns to typed record refs.
   • Remove runtime dependency on old CultCache and DatabaseEntry as owners.

5. Mesh host

   • Replace Economy.Server RethinkDB and LiteNetLib database authority with a CultMesh node.
   • Keep any transport bridge only if it delegates to CultMesh and protects a named external compatibility contract.
   • Publish Verse descriptors and state subscriptions through CultMesh.

6. Eve UI

   • Build or import the Eve UI Toolkit lowering package from the Eve repo.
   • Publish Aetheria UI as Eve surfaces.
   • Replace the old IMGUI DB inspector first, because it is closest to state authority.
   • Then replace runtime HUD/menu/inventory/map screens.

7. Purge

   • Delete vendored RethinkDB.
   • Delete JsonKnownTypes.
   • Delete Newtonsoft dependencies and attributes from live code.
   • Delete old JSON backing stores.
   • Delete or quarantine old cache abstractions that no longer protect an invariant.

Verification

• rg "Newtonsoft|JsonObject|JsonProperty|JsonConvert|JsonKnownTypes|RethinkDb|RethinkTable|DatabaseCache" is zero outside migration quarantine and docs.
• rg "DatabaseEntry" Assets Economy.* shows no live runtime ownership path.
• dotnet list package --vulnerable --include-transitive is clean for active maintained projects.
• CultCache smoke proves write, flush, reopen, query, and typed reference resolution.
• CultMesh smoke proves node start, typed put/get, subscription, flush, and reopen.
• Migration smoke proves old data can be read once and converted without old readers remaining on the live runtime path.
• Unity play smoke proves runtime UI reads from Eve surfaces and sends commands through the shared state service.
• UI Toolkit lowering parity compares Aetheria surfaces against the Eve browser renderer for component tree, state bindings, command envelopes, disabled/stale states, and visible error surfaces.

Immediate Cut Line

Do not bump Newtonsoft as the fix. That keeps the wrong organ alive with newer paint on it.

The first implementation cut should create the modern typed state spine and a legacy quarantine. After that, every RethinkDB/Newtonsoft/JsonKnownTypes removal has somewhere clean to land, and every old path can be judged by whether it still owns behavior.