This is the index. Its only job is to route you to the right document. Find your task, open the document it points to, and follow the links inside that document as the work crosses areas. You should not need to read every doc.
| If you’re going to… | Start here | Also relevant |
|---|---|---|
| Understand the codebase — layout, file conventions, then the right sub-page | ARCHITECTURE.md (hub → class-hierarchy / config-formats / combat-and-mining / extensibility) | DESIGN_PATTERNS.md |
| Add or change a keyboard control | CONTROLS.md | UI_FLOW.md |
Change SeekMode / OrbitMode / autopilot or its helpers |
AUTOPILOT_TESTING.md ⚠️ | PHYSICS.md |
| Touch ship movement, drag, rotation, coordinates, collision | PHYSICS.md | ARCHITECTURE.md |
| Change anything a save file depends on | SAVE_SYSTEM.md ⚠️ | ARCHITECTURE.md |
| Add or modify a menu, dialog, or screen transition | UI_FLOW.md | DESIGN_PATTERNS.md |
| Work on frame timing / performance / the perf panel | UI_FLOW.md | PHYSICS.md |
| Add or edit sound / music | SOUND.md | CONFIG_MODULES.md |
| Share config (assets, audio, catalogues) between stories | CONFIG_MODULES.md | ARCHITECTURE.md, SAVE_SYSTEM.md |
| Design or build a new story from scratch | STORY_DESIGN.md | architecture/config-formats.md, CONFIG_MODULES.md |
| Add or change a graphic asset (ship, station, body, outfit, decoration, interior) | GRAPHICS_PIPELINE.md | DESIGN_ATLAS.md for the frozen default-story art |
Work in the config/editor.html vertex editor |
GRAPHICS_EDITOR.md | GRAPHICS_PIPELINE.md |
| Add an entity, screen, role/routine, or ship type | architecture/extensibility.md | architecture/class-hierarchy.md, DESIGN_PATTERNS.md |
| Work on weapons, combat, or asteroid mining | architecture/combat-and-mining.md | CONTROLS.md |
| Generalise a repeated solution into a reusable pattern | DESIGN_PATTERNS.md (hub → 5 cluster pages) | |
| Run tests, restart the game, write a commit message | WORKFLOW.md | |
| Package a standalone Windows build | BUILD.md | |
| Check known bugs / planned features | BACKLOG.md |
Each document owns one area in depth and is the source of truth for it. Open only the one your task needs; follow its internal links as the work crosses areas. ⚠️ marks docs with a regression history whose validation steps are mandatory.