DCS World Schema

A YAML schema of the DCS World Lua API, compiled to editor annotations and type definitions, and reference data (units, weapons, airbases, ...) extracted from a DCS install.

Outputs

task build writes to dist/. Released files are attached to each GitHub release, with the packages.

File	Contents	Released
dcs-world-api-schema.json, .yaml	Merged mission scripting schema	yes
dcs-world-api.lua	EmmyLua annotations for LuaLS	yes
dcs-world-selene.yml	Selene standard library (extends lua51)	yes
dcs-world-api.d.ts, dcs-world-api.go, dcs_world_api.py	TypeScript, Go, Python definitions (experimental)	yes
dcs-world-api-<env>-schema.json, .lua, .d.ts	hooks and export environments	yes
dcs-world-entities.schema.json	JSON Schema of the Entity.* reference-data types	yes
schemas/<series>.schema.json	The same, one file per series (editor validation)	no

LuaLS (.vscode/settings.json):

{ "Lua.workspace.library": ["/path/to/dcs-world-api.lua"] }

Selene: put dcs-world-selene.yml next to selene.toml and set std = "dcs-world-selene".

Reference data

latest/ holds the newest DCS version's data (manifest.json names the version); earlier versions are in git history.

dcs-world-reference/latest/
  manifest.json                     # DCS version, extraction time, modules
  api/<env>.json                    # Lua API dump: scripting, hooks, server, export
  api/states.json                   # net.dostring_in states
  api/export.docs.json              # Lo* docs from Scripts/Export.lua
  api/probe.json                    # argument probe (--probe)
  api/actions-probe.json            # AI actions probe (--actions-probe)
  api/actions-probe-followup.json   # follow-up probe (--actions-probe-followup), when run
  <series>/<id>.json                # one record per entity
  airbases/<theatre>/<name>.json
  beacons/<theatre>/<typeName>/<beaconId>.json

Series: aircraft, ground_vehicles, personnel, ships, structures, sensors, radios, datalink, weapons, warheads, stores, racks, gun_ammo, fuzes, attributes, countries, callsigns, formations, tasks, skills, actions, options, threats, liveries, theatres, beacons, navaids, airbases. Each is an Entity.* type in dcs-world-schema/types/entities/. File names are the DCS id made safe for Windows file systems; the record carries the true id. Hand-authored facts are in tools/datamine/overlays.yaml.

A version extracted without its own probe run carries the previous version's probe results forward, marked probedOn: <version> (in api/probe.json, api/actions-probe.json and each actions record).

task validate-data checks latest/ against the entity JSON Schema and resolves cross-references (fields with ref). .vscode/settings.json maps the record files to dist/schemas/ for validation and hover docs in VS Code.

AI tasks

actions and options hold every Mission Editor AI task, en-route task, command and option. From them, task datamine:action-types generates the DcsTask.* types in dcs-world-schema/types/ai/, keyed by DCS's ids (DcsTask.Task.Orbit, DcsTask.Command.SetFrequency). Their id fields are literal types, so { id: 'orbit' } is a type error; DCS ignores or rejects ids in other casings (api/actions-probe.json). Controller.setTask takes DcsTask.AnyTask | DcsTask.AnyEnrouteTask | DcsTask.WrappedAction | ComboTask | ControlledTask | Mission.

Refreshing

Needs Windows with WSL, a DCS install and a Saved Games profile you have logged in with. Runs DCS headless through dcs-headless in an isolated DCS.datamine profile; a DCS process it did not start is left alone and the run stops.

task datamine                                   # dump _G, the Lua APIs and each terrain; extract, validate, install
task datamine -- --force                        # re-extract an existing version
task datamine -- --probe                        # also run the Lua API argument probe
task datamine -- --actions-probe                # also run the live AI actions probe
task datamine -- --actions-probe-followup       # also run its follow-up plan
task datamine -- --install-dir DIR --auth-from DIR
task datamine:extract -- --install-dir DIR      # re-extract from the cached dumps in .datamine/
task datamine:probe:plan                        # what --probe would call, without DCS
task datamine:actions-probe:plan                # what --actions-probe would run (-- --followup: the follow-up)

Each DCS pass is cached in .datamine/ per DCS version; a rerun resumes. Nothing is written unless validation passes. --install-dir of datamine:extract defaults to $DCS_INSTALL_DIR. --probe-restarts N and --probe-stall S bound the probes' crash restarts and hang detection.

Packages

task package bundles dcs-world-reference/latest/ into dist/reference/<series>.json, with the reverse-reference, name and lookup indexes the helpers use in dist/reference/_index/, and builds:

Package	Source	Output
npm dcs-world-reference (README)	packages/typescript/	dist/dcs-world-reference-<version>.tgz
Python dcs-world-reference (README)	packages/python/	dist/dcs_world_reference-<version>-py3-none-any.whl, .tar.gz
Lua 5.1 / DCS (README)	packages/lua/	dist/dcs-world-reference-lua-<version>-dcs<dcs version>.zip
Go dcsref (README)	packages/go/	generated files in packages/go/, committed on release tags
SQLite	tools/package/sqlite.py	dist/dcs-world-reference-<version>-dcs<dcs version>.sqlite

Records are keyed by id (clsid for stores). The package version is VERSION; the DCS version is in each package's metadata. Every output but the Go module is attached to each GitHub release (the Go module is fetched with go get at the release tag); nothing is published to npm, PyPI or LuaRocks. Install a release file with npm install <file>.tgz or pip install <file>.whl. For DCS, unzip the Lua zip into Saved Games/DCS/Scripts/ and load it with dofile: from a mission, dofile([[C:\Users\<you>\Saved Games\DCS\Scripts\dcs_world_reference\init.lua]]) (no lfs there); from a hook, dofile(lfs.writedir() .. "Scripts/dcs_world_reference/init.lua"). Recipes: docs/cookbook.md.

Building

Requires Python 3.12, uv and Task; task package and task ci also need Node >= 20.10, Go >= 1.24 and lua5.1 (Lua tests are skipped without it).

task setup     # install uv if missing, sync dependencies
task build     # dist/
task package   # reference-data packages
task ci        # every check CI runs
task --list    # all tasks

Layout

Path	Contents
dcs-world-schema/globals/	Mission scripting globals; hooks/, export/ generated from the API dump
dcs-world-schema/types/	Types; entities/ reference-data types (Entity.*)
dcs-world-schema/types/ai/	DcsTask.*: AI tasks, commands and options, generated from actions/options
dcs-world-schema/types/ids/	DcsId.*: DCS's ids (unit, weapon and sensor types, airbases, attributes, ...) for completion, generated from the series
dcs-world-schema/types/dcs-database/	DcsDb.*: DCS's internal database tables (db.Units, weapons_table, launcher, ...), inferred from a _G dump, not exported to dist/; for reference data use Entity.*
dcs_yaml_schema.yaml	Schema of the YAML source files
tools/	Merge, validation and exporters; datamine/ extraction; package/ packaging
packages/	Reference-data packages
dcs-world-reference/latest/	The newest DCS version's data, one JSON file per record, by series; earlier versions are in git history
.../aircraft/, ground_vehicles/, ships/, structures/	Units: stations, sensors, radios, attributes
.../weapons/, stores/, warheads/	Weapons, the stores that carry them (by CLSID) and their warheads
.../airbases/<theatre>/, beacons/<theatre>/	Airbases (runways, parking stands, ATC frequencies and callsigns) and beacons per map
.../actions/, options/	AI tasks, commands and options; source of DcsTask.*
.../api/	API dumps of each Lua environment and the probe results
.../manifest.json	DCS version, counts and provenance

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Credits

Disposition descriptions and parameters by @WirtLegs (#11).

License

The schema, tooling and packages are MIT. The data in dcs-world-reference/ is extracted from a DCS World install; DCS World and its content are the property of Eagle Dynamics SA and the respective module developers. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Eagle Dynamics.