Component Schemas

Component Schemas (Under the Hood)

Component Schemas define the structure of ECS components (e.g., Transform, Mesh, Light) in a way that allows different applications (Canvas vs Paint) to communicate even if they are built with different versions of the engine.

Structural Hashing

Every schema is identified by a Structural Hash. This hash is derived from the field names, types, and order defined in the schema.

• Version Independent: Renaming a field or changing a type results in a new hash, preventing silent data corruption.

flowchart LR
    Input[Schema Definition] --> Fields[List of Fields]
    Fields --> Sort[Sort by Name/Index]
    Sort --> Types[Append Type IDs]
    Types --> Hash[Compute SHA-256]
    Hash --> Result[Structural Hash]

    subgraph Example
    A[pos: Vec3] --> B[rot: Quat]
    end

ComponentSchemaRegistry

The ComponentSchemaRegistry is the central authority for managing schemas at runtime.

• Discovery: Allows applications to publish their known schemas to peers.
• Validation: Checks if an incoming EntityCreated message uses a schema that is compatible with the local application.
• Privacy: Schemas can be marked as Public (discoverable) or Private (internal only).