SMAPI Best Practices

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill for Stardew Valley SMAPI C# mod work where maintainability, compatibility, robustness, or proven architecture patterns matter:

• Designing a new SMAPI mod architecture.
• Implementing or reviewing ModEntry, events, config, content edits, i18n, commands, APIs, integrations, multiplayer, or migrations.
• Refactoring an existing mod toward cleaner lifecycle handling and service/manager separation.
• Diagnosing recurring runtime errors, noisy logs, asset reload issues, config migration bugs, or multiplayer/split-screen issues.
• Deciding whether behavior belongs in SMAPI APIs, content APIs, services, optional integrations, reflection, or Harmony patches.

This skill complements stardew-valley-smapi. Use stardew-valley-smapi for general setup, manifest/release workflow, Android compatibility, and broad SMAPI debugging. Use this skill for implementation quality and best-practice review.

Do not use this skill for general Stardew Valley gameplay advice, non-SMAPI C# code, art, writing, or pure Content Patcher content unless SMAPI architecture or integration is involved.

Core Workflow