# Gamestage

> Takes an agent-built browser game to an Engine-owned game. The creator keeps
> the interface; answers, scoring, locks and settlement move behind a server the
> fan cannot edit.

Gamestage is agent-first and in Preview. Inspection, manifest work and
validation work without an account. Local Engine development and verification
need a signed-in account, and nothing more. Hosted deployment additionally
needs that account approved by a person.

## Get the tool

```sh
curl -fsSL https://gamestage.ai/install | bash
gamestage start
```

The installer puts `gamestage` on PATH. To take the bundle on its own instead,
`curl -fsSL https://gamestage.ai/cli -o gamestage.mjs` and run it as
`node gamestage.mjs <command>`.

Requires Node 20+. Use `--json` for structured output, and `--json --help` to
read the command tree out of the tool rather than out of a page.

## Agent entry points

* [Canonical start guide](/start.md)
* [Installed agent method](/agent.md)
* [The skill, for `npx skills add`](/skill)
* [Everything here a machine can read](/agent)

## Human documentation

* [Documentation index](/docs)
* [Introduction](/docs/introduction.md)
* [How it works](/docs/how-it-works.md)
* [Getting started](/docs/getting-started.md)
* [Game formats](/docs/game-formats.md)
* [Build and deploy](/docs/migration.md)
* [App Manifest reference](/docs/app-manifest.md)
* [Player API reference](/docs/player-api.md)
* [CLI reference](/docs/cli.md)
* [Schemas and endpoints](/docs/endpoints.md)
* [Plans and limits](/docs/starter-plan.md)

Every Markdown guide also has an HTML form without `.md` and a JSON envelope
with `.json`.

## Contract

* [App Manifest JSON Schema 1.0](/schemas/app-manifest/1.0)

## Commands in the CLI

Ask the tool, not this file:

```sh
npx gamestage --json --help
```

That returns every command and subcommand with its arguments, options, aliases,
and whether it needs no account, a session, or an approved one. It is read out
of the program itself, so it cannot describe a command that does not exist or
miss one that does.

This section used to enumerate them, and by 2026-08-29 it listed 21 of 30. The
nine it had lost included `reference push` and `round push`, which are how a
creator gets content and private data into a live game.

Seven Engine rules run today: hunt, push, group, predict, bingo, shoot and
place. The
manifest also declares trivia, timed_round, synchronous_event and
collection_ranking, but those keys have no separate Engine rule set. The old
keys target_selection, target_total, puzzle and prediction are accepted as
aliases for the four they were renamed from.