carbide.gg
For authors

Submission requirements

What it takes to sell (or give away) a plugin on Carbide. Submissions are closed during beta, this is the bar your plugin will be reviewed against when they open.

DocumentAUTHORS
Fix-it window30 days
AI-assisted14 days
Files per plugin1 .cs
Sections07

01The short version

Ship a clean, single-file C# plugin that compiles against the current Rust release, does what its listing says, and contains nothing hostile to the servers that run it. We compile-test every release with a real Roslyn pipeline against the live and staging Rust builds before it reaches a buyer.

02Code requirements

  • One .cs source file per plugin (Carbon or Oxide compatible, say which in the description; dependencies on other plugins must be declared with // Requires:).
  • Compiles against the current Rust release. Releases that fail the automated compile check are bounced back automatically.
  • No obfuscation, no encoded payloads, no remote code — nothing that downloads, generates, or evals executable code at runtime.
  • No undisclosed phoning home. Telemetry, update checks, or license pings must be in the listing description, and the plugin must keep working if the remote endpoint is down.
  • Clean lifecycle: commands and hooks released on Unload, no leaked timers, UI destroyed for connected players, data saved before shutdown.
  • Permission-gated: anything an admin wouldn't want every player doing sits behind a permission, not a hardcoded Steam ID.
  • Performance-aware: no blocking web requests on the main thread, no per-tick allocations you could pool, no O(n²) loops over every player on every frame.

03Listing requirements

  • Accurate name, one-line summary, and a description that covers configuration, permissions, and commands.
  • Semantic versioning (1.0.0) and a changelog entry on every update.
  • Screenshots or a short clip where the plugin has visible behavior (UI, events).
  • Pricing: free, or $1-$100. You keep the majority of every sale, the final revenue split is published before sales open, and you'll see it before you list anything.

04What we check in review

  1. Automated compile against live + staging Rust branches (the same pipeline that watches every forced wipe).
  2. Source review for the security rules above — malicious code is an instant, permanent ban.
  3. Listing accuracy — the description must match what the code does.

You'll get a decision of approved, changes requested (with notes, resubmit any time), or rejected.

05AI-assisted plugins

AI-assisted plugins are welcome on Carbide — we'd rather have an honest disclosure and a working plugin than a witch hunt. The deal:

  • Disclose it. The upload form has a toggle: "AI was used in the creation of this plugin in some capacity." Tick it if that's true to any meaningful degree. Every submission is reviewed for likely AI usage regardless — an undisclosed AI plugin gets pulled and hurts your standing far more than the badge ever would.
  • It must actually work. Same compile gate, same source review, same listing accuracy bar as everything else. "The AI wrote it" is not a defense for broken code.
  • Standardized, modifiable layout. AI-assisted plugins must follow a clear, conventional structure (config class, permissions, commands, regions/sections) so a server owner can open the file and adapt it. Spaghetti output is rejected even if it compiles.
  • Free helps, a lot. AI-assisted plugins are not required to be free, but free ones have a much higher likelihood of being accepted. A paid AI-assisted plugin competes with hand-maintained work and gets the strictest review on the shelf.
  • Shorter maintenance leash. See below — unmaintained AI plugins forfeit to Carbide on a faster clock.

06Maintenance obligations (and forfeiture)

Server owners build communities on these plugins; an abandoned plugin breaks real servers on the next forced wipe. Listing on Carbide is a commitment to keep your plugin working:

  1. When a Rust/framework update breaks your plugin (our compile tracker sees it) or buyers file verified breakage reports, the plugin is flagged for maintenance and you're notified.
  2. From the flag, you have a fix-it window: 30 days for standard plugins, 14 days for AI-assisted ones. Pushing a fixed version clears the flag.
  3. If the window lapses with no fix, or you tell us you won't maintain it, you forfeit maintenance control: Carbide takes over patching so licensed servers keep running. The listing is marked "Maintained by Carbide", you stop accruing new sales on it, and ownership of the listing may be permanently transferred for repeat abandonment.

This isn't a gotcha, respond to the flag, communicate, and nothing forfeits. It exists so a buyer's server never dies because an author got bored.

07Ownership

You keep the copyright to your code. Listing on Carbide grants us the right to distribute it to licensed accounts, to keep serving already-licensed buyers if you later delist, and to patch and redistribute it under the maintenance-forfeiture policy above. Don't submit code you don't have the rights to, decompiled, leaked, or resold plugins are banned on sight.

Questions, or want to be a launch author? [email protected]