AlexaDorkNet — december-2020-12-18
This is the December 2020.12.18 branch of DorkNet — a self-hostable reimplementation of the Rec Room backend tuned to the wire protocol of the Rec Room 2020.12.18 client build.
⚠️ Not affiliated with Rec Room Inc. or Against Gravity. See DISCLAIMER. DorkNet ships no Rec Room game assets or modified binaries — you supply your own legally-acquired Rec Room 2020.12.18 install.
If you're not sure which DorkNet branch you want, start at the main branch's chart. The launcher on main also auto-detects your install.
What this branch targets
| Client build | Rec Room 2020.12.18 |
Version key (sent as X-DorkNet-Version header) |
december_2020_12_18 |
| Version plugin | DorkNet.Server/Versions/Late2020/Late2020VersionPlugin.cs |
| Schema | One EF Initial migration; SQLite + Postgres both work |
Diverges from march-2020-03-10 by |
~170 files |
Subsystems present on this branch that the March branch doesn't have:
- Chat threads + group DMs (
ChatThreads,ChatThreadMembers) - Clubs surface (
clubs.{apex}/*— announcements, categories, subscriptions) - Playlists (curated + user-created)
- Weekly challenges
- Room keys (purchasable room access)
- Room roles (per-room co-owner / moderator / host grants)
- Leaderboard channel metadata
- Loading-screen tips
Quickstart
1. Install .NET 9 SDK and (optionally) dotnet-ef:
dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef
2. Clone this branch:
git clone --branch december-2020-12-18 https://github.com/DorkSquadRR/DorkNet
cd DorkNet
3. Configure secrets. Drop in DorkNet.Server/appsettings.Local.json
(gitignored) or export environment variables:
| Config key | Env var | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Jwt:Secret |
Jwt__Secret |
yes | ≥64 random chars |
Photon:AppId |
Photon__AppId |
yes | Photon Realtime AppId (free at dashboard.photonengine.com) |
Photon:VoiceAppId |
Photon__VoiceAppId |
no | only if voice chat |
Photon:CloudRegion |
Photon__CloudRegion |
no | defaults to us |
Database:Provider |
Database__Provider |
no | sqlite (default) or postgres |
ConnectionStrings:Default |
ConnectionStrings__Default |
postgres-only | full Npgsql connection string |
ConnectionStrings:Redis |
ConnectionStrings__Redis |
no | enables SignalR backplane |
Domain:Apex |
DORKNET_DOMAIN |
no | defaults to localhost; set for production |
4. Boot:
dotnet run --project DorkNet.Server
First boot creates bin/Debug/net9.0/data/dorknet.db, runs every
LegacyUpgrades pass, seeds canonical rooms / store catalog / club
categories / playlists, and starts listening. You should see
Application started. in the log; curl http://localhost:8080/healthz
returns 200.
For a full Docker / VPS deploy, see main's Advanced setup guide.
Patching your client
.\tools\install-plugin.ps1 `
-RecRoomPath "C:\Path\To\Recroom_Release_Data" `
-PhotonAppId "<your-photon-realtime-app-id>" `
-PhotonVoiceAppId "<your-photon-voice-app-id>"
This installs the BepInEx 6 plugin into the client's BepInEx/plugins/
and writes its config under BepInEx/config/. The plugin rewrites all
*.rec.net URIs to your configured DorkNet apex, swaps the Photon
AppIds, and bypasses TLS verification on the client's HTTPS calls so
self-signed certs work.
Code map
| Folder | Purpose |
|---|---|
DorkNet.Server/ |
ASP.NET Core backend (controllers, services, data, hubs, middleware) |
DorkNet.Models/ |
DTOs shared between server and client mod |
DorkNet.ClientPatch/ |
BepInEx IL2CPP plugin (production patcher) |
DorkNet.ClientMod/ |
MelonLoader port (alternative patcher) |
tools/ |
Installers (install-plugin.ps1, install-melon.ps1, install-legacy-client.ps1, remove-eac.ps1), Cloudflare tunnel templates |
See docs/architecture.md for the full mental model (project layout, request lifecycle, watch-mirror controller pattern, where to start contributing).
Database & migrations
One EF migration (Migrations/<timestamp>_Initial.cs) captures the
schema. SQLite dev DBs apply it via Database.Migrate(); Postgres uses
EnsureCreated() behind a transaction-scoped advisory lock. The
entity model is the single source of truth — to add a column, edit the
entity, boot, done (on SQLite — Postgres prod needs a migration).
Data transforms that can't be schema (seed renames, computed backfills)
go in DorkNet.Server/Data/LegacyUpgrades.cs.
See DorkNet.Server/Data/MIGRATIONS.md
for the full discipline.
Contributing
See main's CONTRIBUTING guide for the project-wide rules.
Branch-specific: schema changes on this branch don't flow to
march-2020-03-10 automatically. If a fix applies to both, cherry-pick
it across. Don't rebase across branches.
License
AGPL-3.0. Hosted forks must publish their source.