Catalog and recipes

The catalog is a public list of recipes. A recipe says which download of a game works in the browser and how to build it. It is published at https://catalog.renplay.org/index.v3.json and the source is the catalog repository.

Everything about a game that Renplay shows comes from its recipe: title, developer, tags, links, summary, development state and cover. You cannot edit these in Renplay, so every install shows the same things.

How matching works

When you add a game, Renplay compares it with the recipes by, in order of how sure it is:

1. the sha256 of the download,
2. file name and size,
3. a match pattern in the recipe, for developers whose file names follow a pattern, so new versions are recognized before they are listed.

An installed game also links to its recipe by id, archive or save folder. A game with no recipe still installs and plays, without a cover or a title beyond its file name, and Renplay still tries its best to find the save folder.

Status and updates

Each release in a recipe has a status:

Status	Meaning
verified	Plays through without problems
playable	Works, with issues listed in the notes
broken	Does not work, and why

When a newer working release than yours is listed, Renplay says an update exists. Older releases stay in the recipe, because people still have those files.

The catalog refreshes every 6 hours, or press Refresh in Settings → Catalog. You can use your own indexes with RENPLAY_CATALOG_URLS; see Configuration.

Request a game

If a game is missing, does not work, or works but is not listed: open a request. Say which download you used. For a game that fails to install or play, report a broken game the same way.

Write a recipe

1. Download the game’s PC version from its official source, install it in Renplay and play past the first chapter. Check images, music and video, save, load, and resume.
2. In Settings → Catalog, choose the game and press Export recipe. It fills in the id, save folder, engine versions and the archive’s size and checksum.
3. Add the developer, links, tags and nsfw, set status, and add the cover.
4. Save it as recipes/<id>.yaml in the catalog repository, run npm ci && npm run build, and open a pull request.

The full guide, including cover rules (official art, linked and not copied, adult art never in the repository) and when a game needs build.keep, build.exclude or a patch, is in CONTRIBUTING.md of the catalog.

Never game files

Recipes point to the official download. The catalog never hosts a game.

Safe-for-work index

Next to index.v3.json the catalog publishes index.v3.sfw.json without adult games. Renplay reads it when adult games are blocked. See Adult games.