The game API, TweakDB and the world

Everything here works the same in a Node mod and in an overlay app. Every call is asynchronous: you await it, it runs on the game’s own thread between two frames, and the answer comes back a frame or two later.

The game helper

import { game } from 'rednode';

const p = await game.player.position();          // { x, y, z }, V's position
await game.audio.play('ui_menu_onpress');         // a game UI sound
game.on('PlayerPuppet.OnGameAttached', reload);   // the main menu and every save load
const state = await game.state();                 // menu, photo mode, scene, main menu, overlay mode

game.player.position() fails at the main menu, where there is no V. game.instance is the GameInstance value that many game functions take first.

Calling any game function

api reaches every function the game’s scripting can see: global functions, the static functions of a class, and the methods of game objects. It’s typed from the game’s own type data, so an editor completes every class, method and value as you type.

import { api, game } from 'rednode';

const player = await api.GetPlayer(game.instance);              // a global function
const shop = await api.GameInstance.GetTransactionSystem(game.instance); // a static function
const money = await api.MarketSystem.Money();
const eddies = await shop.GetItemQuantity(player, money);       // a method of a game object
await shop.GiveItem(player, money, 100);                         // a change: 100 eddies

This is cut down from the Vitals and Game API mod samples, which read V’s health, level and money and passed their in-game test.

How values look in JavaScript

Rules worth knowing

The game API reference

Every class, struct, enum and global function in the base game (2.31) is in REDnode’s game API reference, with REDnode’s notes on how things behave. It’s built from the game’s own type data, like NativeDB. The same lookup is an MCP tool, so Claude can look things up too.

TweakDB

TweakDB is the game’s database of tuning data: items, weapons, vehicles, characters, perks. A record is one thing, such as Items.Preset_Lexington_Default; a flat is one value in it, such as Items.Preset_Lexington_Default.quality.

Reading

No other mod needed.

import { tweakdb } from 'rednode';

await tweakdb.get('Items.Preset_Lexington_Default.friendlyName'); // a flat's value
await tweakdb.flat('Items.Preset_Lexington_Default.quality');     // the value with its type
const gun = await tweakdb.record('Items.Preset_Lexington_Default', 'WeaponItem');
await gun?.FriendlyName();                                        // a typed method of the record
await tweakdb.records('Vehicle');                                 // every vehicle record's id

In the in-game test, listing all 1,377 vehicle records took 26 ms.

Names. TweakDB ids are hashes, and the game doesn’t keep the names. A path your package passed in is remembered and comes back as that path; any other id comes back as "0x...". tweakdb.learn tells REDnode more names. Both forms work as input everywhere.

Changing

Changes go through TweakXL, the community’s standard for TweakDB edits, so they work beside every other TweakXL mod. List it in your manifest so players without it see what’s missing:

"requires": { "tweakxl": ">=1.10" }

await tweakdb.set('Items.Preset_Lexington_Default.friendlyName', "My Lexington");
await tweakdb.clone('Items.MyMod_Lexington', 'Items.Preset_Lexington_Default');
await tweakdb.set('Items.MyMod_Lexington.quality', 'Quality.Legendary');

Undone when your package stops. REDnode remembers each flat’s value from before your package first changed it, and puts it back when the package stops: switched off, restarted, hot reloaded or crashed. So set your values every time your package starts; switching it off really removes them. Records you clone or create stay until the game closes, since TweakDB can’t remove them.

Objects already in the game, such as an item V carries, may keep values they copied when they were made. Which ones do is not yet confirmed.

For fixed edits that don’t need code, TweakXL’s own .yaml and .tweak files are still the simplest way.

Without the game running

Reading TweakDB with the game closed, through REDbridge, is planned for REDnode but not built. It was waiting for REDbridge’s TweakDB methods, which arrived in REDbridge 0.8.0. REDcode’s TweakDB browser already uses them.

Placing things in the world

world spawns objects, with parts such as a mesh attached, moves them, removes them, and tells you when they appear and disappear. It needs Codeware 1.14 or later; without it, these calls fail and say so. EDGEbuilder, EDGE’s world builder, is built on it.

import { api, world } from 'rednode';

const mesh = await api.$new('entMeshComponent', {
  name: 'my_box',
  mesh: 'base\\environment\\ld_kit\\marker.mesh',
  meshAppearance: 'default',
});
const { id } = await world.spawn({
  template: 'base\\gameplay\\loot\\containers\\common_suitcases\\appearances\\suitcase_small_placeholder.ent',
  position: { x: -1234, y: 987, z: 12 },
  components: [mesh],
});
await world.move(id, { x: -1234, y: 988, z: 12 });
await world.remove(id);

In the in-game test, a box appeared in front of V about a quarter of a second after the click. The World test sample does exactly this.

The game’s files through REDbridge

REDbridge runs WolvenKit’s engine: it lists, searches and extracts the game’s archives, turns game files into JSON and back, and textures into PNG. A package can use it with the bridge permission:

import { kernel } from 'rednode';

const bridge = await kernel.bridge(); // fails until the player allows it, or if REDbridge isn't installed
const found = await bridge.call('archive.search', { query: 'player_ma_tpp', limit: 5 });

REDnode doesn’t ship REDbridge. It uses the copy EDGEdeck (Get REDbridge) or REDcode downloaded. One REDbridge serves every package: it starts on the first call, takes about three seconds to load the game’s archive index, and stops after 10 minutes without calls. The method names are in REDbridge’s docs.

Sound

The plan is on REDnode’s Sound API page.

Not yet

Last reviewed 2026-10-16. Something wrong or missing? Tell us on Discord or open an issue.