Types on the Summer Board skill for AI agents

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When your agent uses it

• Putting characters, levels, items, abilities, quests or any set of similar things on a Summer Board
• About to call board.types define, or a person asks for a type, a list of all X, or a cleanup of types

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Install

npx -y summer-engine@latest skills install summer-board-types --agent claude-code

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The skill

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1. Read before you define

board.types {gameId, agent, action: "list"}   -> every type, its properties, how many cards

1. A type already holds it. Use it as it is.
2. A type almost holds it. Extend it: add the field you need (section 3).
3. It is a kind of an existing type. An enemy is a Character with role: "enemy". Add a value to the choice, not a new type.
4. Nothing holds it, and summer-board-modeling says it earns a type. Define it.

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2. Define a type

board.types {gameId, agent, action: "define", schema: {
  "title": "Character",
  "description": "Anyone the player meets or plays.",
  "x-color": "amber", "x-icon": "user",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "name":    { "type": "string" },
    "role":    { "enum": ["hero", "npc", "enemy", "boss"] },
    "hp":      { "type": "integer", "minimum": 1 },
    "look":    { "type": "string", "description": "One line the art pipeline uses" },
    "faction": { "type": "string", "x-ref": "Faction" },
    "drops":   { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "string", "x-ref": "Item" } }
  },
  "required": ["name", "role"]
}}

• Name: singular, one or two words, capitalised: Character, Level, Weapon, QuestStep. Not Characters, character_list, GameCharacter.
• Property keys: lower snake case, plain words: hp, move_speed, unlock_level.
• Property kinds: string, number, integer, boolean, enum (a choice), and arrays of those. Nothing nested: a nested thing is a type of its own, linked with x-ref. oneOf, $ref, pattern and default are refused with what to write instead; $schema and additionalProperties are fine and ignored.
• x-ref: "Faction": the value is the id of a Faction card. Use it for every link between things, so the board draws the link and the game gets a real reference. The linked type must exist first: define Faction before a Character that points at it, or add the field to Character once Faction exists.
• description: one line, on the type and on any property whose meaning or unit is not obvious (“metres per second”).
• How it shows (x-show, optional): a card lays its fields out by kind: the first plain text field becomes the line under the name, choices and true-or-false are pills, a number with minimum and maximum is a bar, other numbers are stat chips, links are chips of the linked card, other text is short lines. Set x-show only to change that: title, tag, health (needs a maximum), stat, link, picture (a board file’s url, from board.upload; a list is a gallery), text, or hidden (table only). Give the field you want under the name x-show: "title", and a health-like number a maximum.
• required: only what a card is useless without. Usually name and one or two more. name is always there; the board adds it if you leave it out.
• x-color, x-icon: optional. Leave them out and the board picks. Never change another type’s colour.

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3. Change a type

• Adding a property or a choice value is always fine. Do it.
• Removing a property or a choice value, or tightening minimum/maximum: the answer says how many cards it affects. If any, ask in one board.post first (kind: "proposal") unless the person asked for it.
• Renaming: board.types {action: "rename", name: "Map", to: "Level"} or {action: "rename", name: "Character", property: "health", to: "hp"}. Renames rewrite every card and link; never rename by defining a second type.

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4. Merging and deleting

board.post {gameId, agent, kind: "proposal", items: [one card of each],
  body: "Monster and Enemy look like one type. Merge Monster into Enemy? Monster's 'danger' would become a new field on Enemy."}

board.types {gameId, agent, action: "define", schema: <Enemy with danger added>}   -> so no value is left behind
board.types {gameId, agent, action: "merge", from: "Monster", into: "Enemy"}

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5. Cards

board.canvas {gameId, agent, items: [                                          -> many at once, all or none
  {itemId: "frame-cast", kind: "frame", title: "Cast", x: 0, y: 0, w: 1100, h: 400},
  {itemId: "c-knight", kind: "card", type: "Character", props: {name: "Ember Knight", role: "boss"}, at: {in: "frame-cast"}},
  {itemId: "c-fox", kind: "card", type: "Character", props: {name: "Fox", role: "hero", rival: "c-knight"}, at: {in: "frame-cast"}}]}
board.canvas {gameId, agent, action: "update", itemId, props: {hp: 1200}}       -> merges; null removes a field
board.query  {gameId, agent, type: "Character", where: {role: "boss"}}          -> rows with issues and task

• Make many cards with one items call (up to 100). Give each your own itemId: links can then name cards in the same call, even ones further down the list.
• Place with at instead of x and y: {in: frame or card} takes the next free slot of a grid (the frame grows to fit), {right | below | left | above: item} goes beside an item and skips past whatever is there.
• One card is one thing. Its name, fields and main picture are on the card. More pictures and free notes about it go on top of the card: whatever lies on a card belongs to it (moves, copies and deletes with it), and board.read lists them as the card’s attached items. Make the card big enough to hold them.
• Picture: upload with board.upload, then pass the url.
• Links: set the x-ref field to the other card’s id. Do not also draw an arrow; the board draws links from the values.
• Lay cards of a type out together, in a frame named after the topic (summer-board 7b).

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6. Cards are tasks

board.task {gameId, agent, fromItem: <card id>, owner: <your address>}
board.status {gameId, agent, doing: "Rigging Ember Knight", taskId}

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7. Before you say it is done

• board.types {action: "list"}: no two types mean one thing, no type with fewer than 3 cards unless the person wants it.
• board.query each type you touched: no issues left on your cards.

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From a shell

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Related skills

• summer-board: Summer Board co-op: tasks, claims, files, card frames.
• summer-board-modeling: How granular to model a game on its Summer Board: what earns a type, what stays a note or a field, and starter type sets per genre.
• summer-board-to-game: Bring a Summer Board’s typed cards into the game as Godot Resources, load them through BoardData, and keep board and game in step.