SKSE Plugin Authoring

Overview

Authoring an SKSE plugin means writing a native C++ DLL on CommonLibSSE-NG — the layer that sits beneath the data-layer world houseCARL usually operates in. SPID, KID, SkyPatcher, MCM frameworks, OAR, and every crash logger are SKSE DLLs; this skill is how you build one, extend one, or read one. The output is a SKSE/Plugins/<name>.dll a user drops into a mod folder — not an .esp, and not a .psc.

Claude Code can do the whole loop natively: it compiles C++ against CommonLibSSE-NG on this machine, scaffolds the project, and iterates build → deploy → check-the-log. What it needs is the toolchain in place — MSVC, CMake, vcpkg (or xmake) — which is the Step-0 gate below. Nothing here calls a houseCARL MCP tool for the C++ build itself; the C++ compiler is the engine, and houseCARL tools touch only the .psc edge and file placement.

Audience note — this skill serves a different persona. houseCARL's other skills serve the modlist- builder working at the data layer (records, distributors, conflicts). This one serves the mod author writing C++. When a request is plainly about editing a record or distributing a form, that is a different skill (see the boundary rules below) — don't route it here just because the word "plugin" appears.