Cortex_Engine/CORTEX_ENGINE_ARCHITECTURE.md

CORTEX ENGINE — Technical Architecture Manifesto

Project: AI-Native, Multiplatform 3D Game Engine Language: C# (.NET 9) Status: LOCKED — All dependencies verified as of June 2026 Created: 2026-06-16

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Cortex Engine is a 3D game engine built from scratch to provide a Unity-like development experience (GameObject/Component paradigm, Inspector, Hierarchy, Scene View) while being deeply integrated with Multimodal Large Language Models (MMLMs). The engine allows an AI to:

• See the engine state via rendered-frame screenshots, virtual cameras, semantic segmentation maps, and profiler screenshots.
• Read the complete ECS world state through native JSON serialization.
• Modify the running engine via declarative JSON commands and, in Development Mode, via hot-reloaded C# scripts.

The architecture prioritizes production maturity over experimental technologies: a Render HAL with a Raylib-cs default backend and an optional Vulkan (Silk.NET.Vulkan) backend, Flecs.NET (C# bindings for the C-based Flecs ECS), SDL3-cs (ppy.SDL3-CS), and Hexa.NET.ImGui with a native backend.

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2. EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURE DECISIONS

2.1 Initial Discussion

The project began with an exploration of NVIDIA's open-source physics and graphics ecosystems (PhysX 5, Newton, Warp, Falcor, Flow) and modern middleware for building a custom engine from scratch. Initial candidates included:

• Graphics: WebGPU (wgpu), Diligent Engine, BGFX, NVIDIA Falcor
• Physics: Jolt Physics, NVIDIA PhysX 5, Box2D v3
• Windowing: SDL3, GLFW
• ECS: Flecs, EnTT, Arch
• UI: Dear ImGui

2.2 First Iteration

The first proposed stack was:

• C# (.NET 9) + NativeAOT
• Silk.NET + wgpu-native (WebGPU)
• SDL3 (via Silk.NET)
• Flecs ECS
• Dear ImGui with custom WebGPU backend
• Jolt Physics
• Roslyn Compiler API for AI hot-reload

2.3 Identified Risks from Internet Research

Research revealed critical issues with the first iteration:

1. NativeAOT + Roslyn conflict: NativeAOT explicitly does not support Assembly.LoadFile() or System.Reflection.Emit. Dynamic C# compilation cannot run inside a NativeAOT binary. This is confirmed by Microsoft Learn documentation.
2. Silk.NET WebGPU bindings: The maintainers stated that the official WebGPU examples in Silk.NET are "very bad" and "smoke tests" — not production-ready.
3. Custom WebGPU ImGui backend: Would require writing ~400 lines of custom rendering code.
4. Flecs vs Friflo tradeoff: Friflo.Engine.ECS is pure managed and faster, but Flecs has mature native C-reflection and built-in JSON serialization that works identically in NativeAOT.

2.4 Final Locked Stack

The final stack was chosen to eliminate experimental dependencies and maximize production maturity:

• C# (.NET 9) with dual-runtime strategy: JIT for development (Roslyn hot-reload), NativeAOT for release.
• SDL3-cs: ppy.SDL3-CS — direct, zero-overhead P/Invoke bindings maintained by the osu! team.
• Render HAL: Engine.Graphics abstraction with pluggable backends.
• Raylib-cs: Raylib-cs 8.0.0 — default, simple OpenGL-based backend for rapid iteration and screenshot capture.
• Vulkan: Silk.NET.Vulkan 2.21.0 — optional high-performance backend retained as a reference implementation.
• MoltenVK: For macOS/iOS compatibility when using the Vulkan backend.
• Flecs.NET: Flecs.NET.Release — C# bindings for Flecs with NativeAOT static-link support.
• ImGui: Hexa.NET.ImGui — ships pre-built SDL3 + Vulkan native backends.
• Jolt Physics: JoltPhysicsSharp — C# bindings for Jolt Physics, .NET 9/10.
• Roslyn Compiler API: For Dev-Mode AI hot-reload.
• SixLabors.ImageSharp: For JPEG encoding of diagnostic textures.

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3. TECHNOLOGICAL STACK (Zero-Contradiction Core)

3.1 Language & Runtime

C# (.NET 9)

The engine uses a dual-runtime strategy:

Mode	Runtime	AI Scripting	Use Case
Development	.NET 9 JIT	✅ Roslyn Compiler API + AssemblyLoadContext hot-reload	Editor, AI co-development, rapid iteration
Release	.NET 9 NativeAOT	❌ JSON commands only	Shipped PC/Mobile/Console/WASM builds

Why this is not a contradiction:

NativeAOT cannot JIT new code or load assemblies dynamically. Therefore, the engine builds in two configurations:

<!-- Development -->
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Debug'">
  <DefineConstants>DEV_MODE</DefineConstants>
</PropertyGroup>

<!-- Release -->
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'ReleaseAOT'">
  <DefineConstants>RELEASE_AOT</DefineConstants>
  <PublishAot>true</PublishAot>
</PropertyGroup>

All Roslyn and AssemblyLoadContext code is wrapped in #if DEV_MODE.

3.2 System Layer

SDL3 via ppy.SDL3-CS

• NuGet: ppy.SDL3-CS 2026.520.0
• Direct P/Invoke bindings, zero overhead
• Cross-platform: Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android
• Handles: window creation, input (keyboard, mouse, touch, gamepad, accelerometer), audio, events
• Used by the osu! framework (2K+ stars), battle-tested

3.3 Graphics HAL

The graphics layer is split into a backend-agnostic Render HAL (Engine.Graphics) and concrete backend implementations.

Core abstraction (Engine.Graphics)

• IRenderContext — backend lifetime, resize, and surface handling.
• IRenderer — renders the ECS world and exposes screenshot capture.
• RenderBackendFactory — a registry/factory pattern; backend assemblies register themselves.
• The app depends only on these interfaces.

Default backend: Raylib-cs

• NuGet: Raylib-cs 8.0.0
• Simple, mature OpenGL-based renderer
• Handles window creation, mesh upload, 3D camera, and PNG screenshots internally
• Owns its GLFW window and input via RaylibWindow + RaylibInputState (no SDL3 dependency)

Optional backend: Vulkan via Silk.NET.Vulkan — DEFERRED

• NuGet: Silk.NET.Vulkan 2.21.0 and Silk.NET.Vulkan.Extensions.KHR 2.21.0
• The Vulkan backend compiles and implements the same IRenderContext / IRenderer HAL interfaces
• Uses Sdl3Window internally for Vulkan surface creation (SDL_Vulkan_CreateSurface)
• Status: deferred to long-term backlog. The backend is kept compilable and architecturally integrated (via IWindow, IRenderContext), but is not actively tested or maintained. The Raylib backend is the primary render path for all current development.
• Reintegration checklist (when picked up):
  1. Test VulkanRenderContext with the new IWindow-based factory signature
  2. Verify SDL_Vulkan_CreateSurface works through IWindow.Handle
  3. Port improved shading (Fresnel, ACES, gamma, hemisphere ambient) to Vulkan GLSL shaders
  4. Verify custom mesh upload (spheres, grids) works via Vulkan vertex/index buffers
  5. Test screenshot capture via ScreenshotCapture with the new frame-deferral logic

Why a HAL + Raylib default?

• Drastically reduces the code the app, AI commands, and camera tools depend on
• Raylib-cs provides a fast, stable path for screenshots, 3D drawing, and windowing without custom shader/pipeline work
• Vulkan remains available as a high-performance, compute-capable backend for future vision pipelines

macOS/iOS path:

• When using the Vulkan backend: MoltenVK 1.4 supports Vulkan 1.4 on macOS, iOS, tvOS, visionOS
• VK_KHR_portability_subset and VK_KHR_portability_enumeration must be enabled
• Loader and MoltenVK libraries must be bundled with the application
• KosmicKrisp (via Mesa 3D) is an emerging alternative for Apple Silicon desktops

3.4 Data Architecture

Flecs.NET

• NuGet: Flecs.NET.Debug (Debug) / Flecs.NET.Release (Release) 4.0.4-build.546
• High-level C# wrapper over the C-based Flecs ECS
• Supports .NET Standard 2.1, .NET 5/6/7/8
• NativeAOT-compatible via static linking: <FlecsStaticLink>true</FlecsStaticLink>
• Native C-reflection: ecs_world_to_json() serializes the entire ECS world
• Used in AAA engines

Why Flecs.NET over pure managed ECS (Friflo, Arch):

• Native C-reflection works without C# System.Reflection — essential for NativeAOT
• Built-in JSON serialization of the entire world
• Production maturity and industry usage
• Component registration across shared libraries/DLLs
• Automatic archetype management and lockless scheduler

3.5 Editor UI

Hexa.NET.ImGui

• NuGet: Hexa.NET.ImGui (and related backend packages)
• Alternative to ImGui.NET that ships pre-built native backends
• Includes SDL3 + Vulkan backend combinations
• MIT licensed
• Higher performance, reduced startup time
• Eliminates the need to write a custom Vulkan renderer for ImGui

Why Hexa.NET.ImGui over ImGui.NET:

• ImGui.NET does not ship a C# Vulkan renderer out of the box
• The official Vulkan backend is imgui_impl_vulkan.cpp (C++), which must be manually compiled and P/Invoked
• Hexa.NET.ImGui bundles the C++ backends as native libraries with C# bindings
• This is the fastest path to a production-ready editor UI

3.6 Physics

JoltPhysicsSharp

• NuGet: JoltPhysicsSharp 2.21.0
• .NET 9/10 bindings for Jolt Physics
• Cross-platform via joltc C wrapper
• Used in Horizon Forbidden West and Death Stranding 2
• Integrated into Godot 4.4

Note: Physics module is not part of the foundational MVP but is included in the final project layout.

3.7 Diagnostic Encoding

SixLabors.ImageSharp

• Pure managed JPEG/PNG encoder
• NativeAOT-compatible
• No native dependencies
• Used to compress Vulkan-rendered RGBA textures into JPEG for MMLM vision input

---

4. DATA STRUCTURE & UNITY-LIKE ABSTRACTION

4.1 Core Principle

The engine exposes a Unity-like API surface (GameObject, AddComponent, GetComponent) while internally storing all data in Flecs components. The GameObject wrapper is never a place for state.

4.2 GameObject Facade

public readonly struct GameObject
{
    public readonly Entity Entity;
    public readonly World World;

    public GameObject(World world, Entity entity)
    {
        World = world;
        Entity = entity;
    }

    public void AddComponent<T>(T component) where T : unmanaged
    {
        Entity.Set(component);
    }

    public ref T GetComponent<T>() where T : unmanaged
    {
        return ref Entity.GetMut<T>();
    }

    public bool HasComponent<T>() where T : unmanaged
    {
        return Entity.Has<T>();
    }

    public void RemoveComponent<T>() where T : unmanaged
    {
        Entity.Remove<T>();
    }
}

4.3 Component Definitions

Components are plain C# structs registered with the Flecs type system:

public struct Transform : IComponent
{
    public Vector3 Position;
    public Quaternion Rotation;
    public Vector3 Scale;
}

public struct MeshRef : IComponent
{
    public ulong MeshId;
}

public struct Camera : IComponent
{
    public Vector3 Position;
    public Vector3 Target;
    public Vector3 Up;
    public float FieldOfView;
    public float AspectRatio;
    public float NearPlane;
    public float FarPlane;
}

public struct Material : IComponent
{
    public Vector3 Albedo;
    public float Roughness;
    public float Metallic;
    public string? TexturePath;
}

public struct Light : IComponent
{
    public Vector3 Direction;
    public Vector3 Color;
    public float Intensity;
}

public struct SemanticClass : IComponent
{
    public byte ClassId; // 0=environment, 1=enemy, 2=player, 3=interactive, 4=trigger
}

4.4 AI Hot-Reloading (Dev Mode)

When the AI generates a C# script, the engine:

1. Receives the script string via the AiGateway.
2. Runs a pre-validation pass (syntax check, banned namespace check, unsafe code check).
3. Feeds the script to Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp (Roslyn).
4. Emits the compiled assembly into a MemoryStream.
5. Loads the assembly into a dedicated AssemblyLoadContext.
6. Extracts systems marked with [Slot("name")] attribute.
7. Calls SystemSlotRegistry.HotSwap() to replace the old system with the new one.
8. Migrates entities using the old component types to the new types.
9. Unloads the old AssemblyLoadContext.

Important caveat: Flecs stores component type metadata in its native C memory. If old C# types are still referenced by Flecs, the old AssemblyLoadContext cannot be fully unloaded. The migration step must remove old components and re-add them as the new types.

4.5 Rendering & Shading

The renderer uses a simple forward-lit pipeline that is implemented by each backend behind the HAL:

• Vertex format: position, color, normal.
• Per-entity: Mesh + Transform + optional Material.
• Per-frame constants: camera position, up to 4 directional lights, ambient color.
• Per-entity constants: MVP matrix, material albedo/roughness/metallic, texture use flag.
• Lighting model: multiple directional lights with ambient + diffuse + Blinn-Phong specular.
• Material: Material.Albedo tints vertex color, Roughness and Metallic control specular falloff and intensity; an optional TexturePath enables albedo texture sampling.
• Vulkan backend: uses a uniform buffer (descriptor set 0) and push constants; textures are Vulkan images with a combined image sampler (descriptor set 1).
• Raylib backend: uses a custom GLSL shader with materialColor, useTexture, roughness, metallic, and light arrays. Textures are loaded via Raylib.LoadTexture and UVs use world-space XZ.
• UV mapping: meshes use world-space XZ as a simple UV mapping for both backends.

4.6 SystemSlotRegistry

public class SystemSlotRegistry
{
    private readonly Dictionary<string, Entity> _slots = new();
    private readonly World _world;

    public void Register(string slotName, Entity systemEntity)
    {
        _slots[slotName] = systemEntity;
    }

    public void HotSwap(string slotName, Entity newSystemEntity)
    {
        if (_slots.TryGetValue(slotName, out var oldSystem))
        {
            oldSystem.Destruct(); // Flecs system destructor
        }

        _slots[slotName] = newSystemEntity;
    }

    public IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string, Entity>> EnumerateSlots()
    {
        return _slots;
    }
}

---

5. MMLM SELF-DIAGNOSTIC CONTEXT LOOP

5.1 Purpose

The DiagnosticsManager captures a multimodal Diagnostic Payload that gives the AI full context:

• Visual context — what the engine is currently rendering
• Structural context — the exact ECS world state
• Code context — current scripts, logs, and stack traces

5.2 Diagnostic Payload Structure

public class DiagnosticPayload
{
    public byte[] VisualJpeg { get; set; }        // Semantic scene screenshot
    public byte[] ProfilerJpeg { get; set; }      // ImGui performance graph
    public string WorldJson { get; set; }           // Flecs ECS state
    public string SystemGraphSvg { get; set; }      // System pipeline diagram
    public string ConsoleLogs { get; set; }         // Recent log tail
    public string StackTrace { get; set; }          // Exception trace if any
    public Dictionary<string, string> SourceFiles { get; set; } // Active scripts
}

5.3 Capture Flow

[1] TRIGGER
    │
    ├─ User clicks "AI Inspect" in the editor
    ├─ Unhandled exception occurs
    └─ Automatic capture on frame-time spike
    │
[2] CAPTURE
    │
    ├─ [2a] Visual Layer (Vulkan)
    │    ├─ Allocate off-screen VkImage (R8G8B8A8_UNORM)
    │    ├─ Encode semantic render pass using SemanticClass component
    │    ├─ Use Vulkan dynamic rendering (vkCmdBeginRendering / vkCmdEndRendering)
    │    ├─ Copy image to host-visible staging buffer (vkCmdCopyImageToBuffer)
    │    ├─ Map memory → Span<byte> RGBA
    │    └─ Encode to JPEG via ImageSharp
    │
    ├─ [2b] Visual Layer (Profiler)
    │    ├─ Render ImGui profiler graph to the same RTT pipeline
    │    └─ Encode to JPEG
    │
    ├─ [2c] Structural Layer (Flecs)
    │    ├─ Call ecs_world_to_json(world, &params)
    │    ├─ Marshal native UTF-8 pointer to managed string
    │    └─ Optionally filter by camera frustum
    │
    ├─ [2d] Structural Layer (System Graph)
    │    ├─ Enumerate SystemSlotRegistry
    │    └─ Generate SVG dependency graph
    │
    └─ [2e] Code & Log Layer
         ├─ Read circular log buffer
         ├─ Capture exception stack trace if present
         └─ Read active scripts from /projects/
    │
[3] PACK
    │
    └─ JSON envelope with base64-encoded JPEGs:
        {
          "visual": "<base64>",
          "profiler": "<base64>",
          "world": { ... flecs json ... },
          "systems": "<svg>",
          "logs": "...",
          "error": "...",
          "sources": { "PlayerController.cs": "..." }
        }
    │
[4] DELIVER
    │
    ├─ Engine.Broker HTTP POST /diagnostics
    │    (External script forwards to MMLM API)
    │
    └─ Future: embedded llama.cpp / ONNX Runtime direct inference

5.4 Timing Budget

Phase	Target Time
Vulkan semantic render pass	2–5 ms (GPU)
Texture readback + JPEG encode	5–10 ms (CPU)
ecs_world_to_json()	1–3 ms (native C)
SVG graph generation	<1 ms
Log collection	<1 ms
Total	~10–20 ms

Non-critical captures can be spread across multiple frames to avoid stuttering.

5.5 Flecs JSON Advantage

ecs_world_to_json() uses Flecs native C-reflection instead of C# System.Reflection. This means:

• ✅ Works in NativeAOT Release Mode
• ✅ No P/Invoke overhead for serialization itself
• ✅ Schema-stable output, perfect for MMLM prompts
• ✅ Works with runtime-registered components

---

6. AI MUTATION GATEWAY

6.1 Purpose

The AiGateway is the only allowed path for the AI to modify the running engine. It prevents memory corruption, invalid state, and unsafe code execution.

6.2 MCP Server (Dev / Release)

The engine can expose its AI commands through two MCP transports:

1. HTTP MCP server (Debug/Release): an in-process ASP.NET Core server using ModelContextProtocol.AspNetCore with SSE on http://localhost:<port>/. Enable with --mcp-port <port>.
2. Stdio MCP server (Debug/Release): a minimal JSON-RPC server that reads from stdin and writes to stdout. Enable with --mcp-stdio. This is the format expected by Claude Desktop and other stdio MCP clients.

Available tools:

• spawn_model — spawn a named entity from a model file.
• set_transform — update entity position, rotation, scale.
• set_material — update entity albedo, roughness, metallic, and texture path.
• delete_entity — delete an entity by name.
• list_entities — list all named entities with a Transform.
• get_world_state — dump the ECS world as JSON (Transform, Camera, Material, Light, Mesh).
• capture_screenshot — capture the current frame, save it as PNG on disk, and return a JSON envelope { "path": "...", "base64": "..." } with the base64-encoded PNG (HTTP/render mode only).

Commands are queued and executed on the main engine thread so the Flecs world is never touched from a background thread.

6.3 Command Pattern (Works in Both Dev and Release)

The AI can also issue declarative JSON commands directly:

{
  "type": "spawn_model",
  "name": "Enemy",
  "modelPath": "Models/enemy.obj",
  "position": [10, 0, 5],
  "rotation": [0, 0, 0, 1],
  "scale": [1, 1, 1]
}

Validation steps:

1. JSON schema validation
2. Type existence check via Flecs reflection
3. Coordinate sanity check (e.g., no NaN, no extreme values)
4. Safe-name check (no .. in model paths)
5. Queue operation for execution at the next frame boundary

6.4 Scripting Validation (Dev Mode Only)

Before Roslyn compilation:

1. Syntax pre-check: Parse as C# syntax tree.
2. Banned symbols check: Disallow unsafe, Marshal, File, Process, Thread, Assembly, Reflection.Emit.
3. Namespace whitelist: Allow only Engine.*, System, System.Numerics, Flecs.NET.
4. Reference validation: Ensure all referenced types exist in the engine API surface.
5. Sandboxed compilation: Compile into isolated AssemblyLoadContext.

6.5 Release Mode Limitation

In Release (NativeAOT), the MCP server and ASP.NET Core are excluded. The AI cannot compile new C# code. It can only send JSON commands via AiCommandProcessor. This is a deliberate security and stability choice.

---

7. LOGICAL PROJECT LAYOUT

/home/emil/Desktop/Cortex_Engine
├── AGENTS.md                              # This file
├── CORTEX_ENGINE_ARCHITECTURE.md          # Mirror / detailed specification
├── src/
│   ├── Engine.Core/
│   │   ├── EngineApp.cs                  # Entry point, main loop
│   │   ├── Sdl3Window.cs                 # SDL3 window wrapper
│   │   ├── Timing.cs                     # DeltaTime, fixed timestep
│   │   ├── InputMapping.cs               # Keyboard, mouse, gamepad input
    │   │   ├── ICameraController.cs          # Camera controller interface
    │   │   ├── FreeFlyCameraController.cs    # WASD + mouse look camera
    │   │   ├── IScreenshotProvider.cs        # Async screenshot capture interface
│   │   └── Components/                   # Transform, Camera, Light, Material, Mesh
│   │
│   ├── Engine.Data/
│   │   ├── GameObject.cs                 # Thin struct facade
│   │   ├── ComponentTypes.cs             # Transform, MeshRef, Camera, SemanticClass
│   │   ├── WorldContext.cs               # Flecs world initialization
│   │   └── SystemSlotRegistry.cs         # Named system hot-swap registry
│   │
│   ├── Engine.Graphics/
│   │   ├── IRenderContext.cs             # Backend context abstraction
│   │   ├── IRenderer.cs                  # ECS world renderer abstraction
│   │   ├── RenderBackendFactory.cs       # Backend registry and factory
│   │   └── Loaders/                      # ObjLoader, GltfLoader
│   │
│   ├── Engine.Graphics.Raylib/
│   │   ├── RaylibBackendRegistrar.cs     # Registers the Raylib backend with the factory
│   │   ├── RaylibRenderContext.cs        # Raylib window/surface context
│   │   └── RaylibRenderer.cs             # Raylib ECS mesh renderer + screenshot capture
│   │
│   ├── Engine.Graphics.Vulkan/
│   │   ├── VulkanBackendRegistrar.cs     # Registers the Vulkan backend with the factory
│   │   ├── VulkanRenderContext.cs        # Vulkan instance, device, surface, swapchain
│   │   ├── VulkanRenderer.cs             # Vulkan ECS mesh renderer
│   │   ├── VulkanContext.cs              # Device, instance, queues, command pool
│   │   ├── Swapchain.cs                  # Swapchain + depth buffer
│   │   ├── VulkanPipeline.cs             # Graphics pipeline + descriptor layouts
│   │   ├── ScreenshotCapture.cs          # Vulkan readback → PNG
│   │   ├── UniformBuffer.cs              # Per-frame uniform buffer
│   │   ├── Texture.cs                    # Vulkan texture (image, view, sampler)
│   │   ├── VertexBuffer.cs               # Vertex buffer helpers
│   │   ├── IndexBuffer.cs                # Index buffer helpers
│   │   ├── ShaderLoader.cs               # Embedded SPIR-V loader
│   │   └── Shaders/                      # vertex.vert, fragment.frag, *.spv
│   │
│   ├── Engine.Diagnostics/
│   │   ├── DiagnosticsManager.cs         # Orchestrator
│   │   ├── FlecsJsonExporter.cs          # ecs_world_to_json wrapper
│   │   ├── SystemGraphSvg.cs             # SVG dependency graph generator
│   │   ├── Payload.cs                    # DiagnosticPayload class
│   │   └── LogBuffer.cs                  # Circular console log buffer
│   │
│   ├── Engine.AI/
│   │   ├── AiCommandProcessor.cs         # Parses and executes JSON commands
│   │   ├── AiCommandQueue.cs             # Thread-safe command queue
│   │   ├── Mcp/
│   │   │   ├── EngineMcpTools.cs         # MCP HTTP tool definitions
│   │   │   └── McpEngineServerHost.cs    # In-process MCP HTTP server
│   │   ├── Stdio/
│   │   │   └── McpStdioServer.cs         # Minimal stdio MCP server
│   │   ├── Commands/                     # AI command DTOs
│   │   └── Serialization/                # JSON converters for Vector3/Quaternion
│   │
│   ├── Engine.Editor/
│   │   ├── ImGuiController.cs           # Hexa.NET.ImGui initialization
│   │   ├── HierarchyWindow.cs            # Scene hierarchy panel
│   │   ├── InspectorWindow.cs            # Component inspector
│   │   ├── AiConsoleWindow.cs            # AI Co-Developer panel
│   │   └── ProfilerWindow.cs            # Performance graphs
│   │
│   ├── Engine.Broker/
│   │   └── DiagnosticsHttpServer.cs      # Local HTTP endpoint for AI payloads
│   │
│   └── Engine.Physics/
│       └── PhysicsModule.cs              # JoltPhysicsSharp integration (future)
│
├── projects/                              # AI-generated game scripts
│   └── .gitkeep
├── tests/
│   └── Engine.Tests/
├── shaders/
│   ├── semantic.vert.spv
│   └── semantic.frag.spv
└── tools/
    └── svg-generator/                     # Optional CLI tools

---

8. FOUNDATIONAL MVP — COMPLETED

Step 1: Window + Render HAL + Raylib Backend — DONE

• IWindow / IInputState / Key abstractions in Engine.Core
• Sdl3Window (SDL3) and RaylibWindow (GLFW) both implement IWindow
• RenderBackendFactory — backends register by name, each owns its window
• RaylibRenderer — custom GLSL shader, PBR-like lighting, screenshots
• Vulkan backend compiles but is deferred (see §3.3)

Step 2: Flecs World + Components + Camera Controllers — DONE

• World (Flecs.NET) with Transform, Mesh, Material, Light, Camera components
• FreeFlyCameraController and OrbitCameraController using IInputState + Key enum
• Procedural mesh generation: CreateGridMesh, CreateSphereMesh

Step 3: AI Bridge + MCP Server — DONE

• AiCommandProcessor — 7 commands: spawn_model, set_transform, set_material, delete_entity, list_entities, capture_screenshot, get_world_state
• HTTP MCP server (SSE, --mcp-port) and stdio MCP server (--mcp-stdio)
• Screenshot capture with 10-frame warm-up for stable GPU output

---

9. VERIFIED DEPENDENCY TABLE

Component	Package	Version	.NET	AOT	WASM	Mobile	Status
SDL3	ppy.SDL3-CS	2026.520.0	9/10	✅	✅	✅	Production
Vulkan	Silk.NET.Vulkan	2.21.0	9/10	✅	❌	MoltenVK	Production
ImGui	Hexa.NET.ImGui	latest	9/10	✅	✅	✅	Production
ECS	Flecs.NET.Release	4.0.4-build.546	8/9	✅*	✅	✅	Production
Model loading	SharpGLTF.Core	1.0.6	9/10	✅	✅	✅	Production
AI bridge	ModelContextProtocol	1.4.0	8/9	❌†	✅	✅	Production
Screenshot	SixLabors.ImageSharp	3.1.11	9/10	✅	✅	✅	Production
Physics	JoltPhysicsSharp	2.21.0	9/10	✅	❌	✅	Production
JPEG	SixLabors.ImageSharp	latest	9/10	✅	✅	✅	Production

* Via <FlecsStaticLink>true</FlecsStaticLink>

† MCP server is excluded from ReleaseAOT because it depends on ASP.NET Core. JSON-only AI commands still work in AOT via AiCommandProcessor.

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10. KNOWN RISKS & MITIGATIONS

Risk	Impact	Mitigation
NativeAOT + Roslyn conflict	High	Dual-runtime strategy: JIT for dev, AOT for release
Flecs AssemblyLoadContext leak	Medium	Type migration before unloading old context
MoltenVK limitations	Medium	Use Vulkan 1.3 baseline + portability subset; test on Apple hardware early
Vulkan verbosity	Medium	Build a high-level renderer abstraction; let the AI generate systems, not raw Vulkan
Hexa.NET.ImGui version drift	Low	Pin version; fork if necessary
JoltPhysicsSharp mobile perf	Low	Profile on target devices; use Jolt's SIMD paths

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11. CURRENT ROADMAP (Post-MVP)

Completed

• Modular window/input HAL (IWindow, IInputState, Key enum)
• Raylib backend as primary render path (GLFW window, no SDL3 dependency)
• PBR-like shading: Fresnel (Schlick), hemisphere ambient, ACES tonemapping, gamma correction
• Procedural mesh generation (spheres, grids) with correct memory management
• FreeFly + Orbit camera controllers with inverted-yaw and strafe fixes
• MCP server (HTTP + stdio) with 7 AI commands
• Demo scene with cubes + spheres showcasing different materials

Short-term (next)

• Texture loading in RaylibRenderer (SetMaterialUniforms now loads/binds textures)
• Fix demo.png screenshot timing (moved to main loop with frame warm-up)
• Unit tests (tests/Engine.Tests/ — planned but never created)
• AGENTS.md — created for opencode integration

Medium-term

• Dear ImGui integration (Hexa.NET.ImGui) for editor UI
• Model loading from GLTF/OBJ with textures and materials
• Scene serialization / deserialization
• Multi-light shadow mapping

Long-term (backlog)

• Vulkan backend reintegration — see §3.3 checklist. Compiles but untested. Kept architecturally compatible via IWindow / IRenderContext / IRenderer. Deferred because Raylib covers all current needs with far less complexity.
• Physics (JoltPhysicsSharp)
• AI hot-reload of C# scripts (Roslyn — conflicts with NativeAOT)
• Semantic segmentation maps for MMLM vision input

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12. PROMPT ENGINEERING FOR AI CODING

When generating code with an MMLM for this engine, always include this context header:

You are coding for Cortex Engine, a C# (.NET 9) AI-Native multiplatform 3D game engine.

Stack:
- C# .NET 9 with dual-runtime: JIT (Debug) for Roslyn hot-reload, NativeAOT (ReleaseAOT) for JSON-only AI commands
- SDL3-cs (ppy.SDL3-CS) for windowing and input
- Silk.NET.Vulkan for graphics
- Flecs.NET for ECS
- Hexa.NET.ImGui for editor UI
- JoltPhysicsSharp for physics
- ModelContextProtocol for AI tool integration

Rules:
1. All state lives in ECS components (Transform, Camera, Light, Mesh, Material).
2. All AI mutations go through Engine.AI (AiCommandProcessor / MCP tools).
3. All Dev-Mode AI scripts must be AOT-compatible and avoid unsafe, Reflection.Emit, Assembly.Load, File I/O.
4. All systems are registered in SystemSlotRegistry and tagged with [Slot("name")].
5. Use Roslyn syntax trees for validation before compilation.
6. Prefer Flecs native reflection (ecs_world_to_json) over C# reflection.
7. Keep modules isolated; do not create circular dependencies between Engine.Core, Engine.Graphics, Engine.AI.

Current file context: [insert path here]

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13. NEXT DECISION POINTS

1. Add ImGui editor UI (Hexa.NET.ImGui) for scene hierarchy and inspector.
2. Add physics integration (JoltPhysicsSharp) with rigid bodies and colliders.
3. Implement semantic segmentation render pass for AI vision.
4. Add audio module (NAudio or OpenAL bindings).
5. Add networking / multiplayer foundation.

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14. RUNTIME NOTES & CRITICAL CONTEXT

14.1 Building & Running

export DOTNET_ROOT="$HOME/.dotnet"
export PATH="$DOTNET_ROOT:$PATH"
export DISPLAY=:0
dotnet build CORTEX_ENGINE.sln -c Debug

# Convenience script (handles DOTNET_ROOT/PATH/DISPLAY automatically):
./scripts/run.sh

# Or run directly:
dotnet run --project src/CortexEngine.App/CortexEngine.App.csproj

• RuntimeIdentifier=linux-x64 is required in Debug to use the bundled native libSDL3.so from ppy.SDL3-CS (system libSDL3.so.3.4.2 is ABI-incompatible).
• AOT builds: dotnet build CORTEX_ENGINE.sln -c ReleaseAOT.

14.2 CLI Arguments

• --mcp-port <port> — start the HTTP MCP server on http://localhost:<port>/ (SSE).
• --mcp-stdio — run the headless stdio MCP server for Claude Desktop / other stdio clients.
• --camera-tour — capture screenshots from predefined poses and exit.
• --test-scene — enable a calibration scene with colored cubes at known world positions and run a camera tour. Useful for visually verifying perspective and camera movement.
• Any other positional argument is treated as a model path (.obj, .gltf, .glb).

14.3 Convenience Scripts

Script	Purpose
./scripts/run.sh	Run the engine; passes all arguments to the app (e.g., ./scripts/run.sh --mcp-port 5000).
./scripts/start_mcp_engine.sh <port>	Run the engine with MCP enabled on the given port (default 5000).

14.4 Graphics Backends

Default backend: Raylib-cs

• The app calls RenderBackendFactory.Create("raylib", width, height, enableValidation: false).
• RaylibRenderContext creates a RaylibWindow (GLFW) and RaylibRenderer handles the frame.
• RaylibRenderer uploads Mesh data to GPU via LoadModelFromMesh, sets a custom GLSL 330 core shader with Fresnel, ACES tonemapping, gamma correction, hemisphere ambient, and up to 4 directional lights. Renders the ECS world via DrawModelEx.
• Backface culling is disabled (Rlgl.DisableBackfaceCulling) for compatibility with mixed-winding meshes.
• Screenshots are captured via Raylib.LoadImageFromScreen with a 10-frame warm-up delay.
• Custom mesh CPU data is allocated via NativeMemory.Alloc (matching Raylib's RL_FREE allocator) and kept alive until UnloadModel — freeing early caused broken large meshes (spheres, grids).

Vulkan backend (DEFERRED — not actively tested)

• Compiles and registers via VulkanBackendRegistrar, but is not the active render path.
• Uses Sdl3Window internally for SDL_Vulkan_CreateSurface.
• Pipeline layout uses two descriptor sets: set 0 = per-frame uniform buffer (camera + lights), set 1 = per-entity combined image sampler.
• Push constants: 96 bytes (mat4 mvp + material albedo/roughness/metallic + texture flag + padding).
• Shaders are compiled with glslangValidator:

  /tmp/glslang/bin/glslangValidator -V src/Engine.Graphics.Vulkan/Shaders/vertex.vert -o src/Engine.Graphics.Vulkan/Shaders/vertex.spv
  /tmp/glslang/bin/glslangValidator -V src/Engine.Graphics.Vulkan/Shaders/fragment.frag -o src/Engine.Graphics.Vulkan/Shaders/fragment.spv
  

• See §3.3 for the reintegration checklist.

14.5 Input

• Input is backend-agnostic via IInputState + Key enum (defined in Engine.Core).
• Raylib backend: RaylibInputState polls Raylib's input functions directly (no SDL3).
• Vulkan backend (deferred): Sdl3Window + InputMapping polls SDL3 events.
• FreeFly camera (default): WASD — move, Q/E — down/up, Shift — boost, right-click + mouse — look.
• Orbit camera (toggle with F): right-click + mouse — orbit target (0, 0.5, 0), wheel — zoom, WASD/Q/E/Shift — move target.
• ESC — exit.
• Default camera: (0, 0.75, -30), target (0, 0.5, 0), FOV 15° (vertical), near 0.1, far 100.

14.6 MCP Client Config

Sample Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cortex-engine": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--project",
        "/home/emil/Desktop/Cortex_Engine/src/CortexEngine.App/CortexEngine.App.csproj",
        "--",
        "--mcp-stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DOTNET_ROOT": "/home/emil/.dotnet",
        "PATH": "/home/emil/.dotnet:/usr/bin:/bin"
      }
    }
  }
}

For the HTTP MCP server, use the --mcp-port argument and connect an SSE MCP client.

14.7 Process Cleanup

Background dotnet run processes may leave the apphost running. Kill them with:

ps -C CortexEngine.App -o pid= | xargs -r kill -9

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This document is the canonical architecture reference for Cortex Engine. Any changes to stack, project layout, or core data flow must be reflected here before implementation.