play

/play — Run the Game

Overview

Press play. Watch what happens. Report it back.

Steps

1. Check if it's already running

summer_is_running

If running:

The game is already playing. Stop and restart, or leave it?

Wait for the user. Don't unilaterally stop.

If not running, continue.

2. Pre-check for compile errors

Cheapest call. If the script won't compile, play will fail with a noisy error — better to surface that clearly first.

summer_get_script_errors

If errors found:

Won't run yet — there's a script error: <one-line summary>. Want me to /debug it?

Stop here on user's no.

3. Clear and play

summer_clear_console
summer_play

4. Brief wait, then read state

Wait ~2 seconds (so the engine has time to process at least one frame). Then:

summer_get_diagnostics
summer_get_debugger_errors

5. Report

Three outcomes:

Clean: summer_get_diagnostics shows zero errors and zero warnings.

Running. No errors or warnings. Tell me what you see and I'll dig in if needed.

Warnings only:

Running. warnings — <one-line summary of the most important one>. Want me to look at them?

Runtime error:

Crashed: <error class> at <file>:<line> — <message>. Want me to /debug?

6. Don't auto-stop

Leave the game running. The user wants to play it. Stop only on explicit ask.

Common patterns

Situation	Right move
User says "play" with no context	Steps 1–5 above
User says "play and watch it for me"	After step 5, set a timer / poll summer_get_debugger_errors every few seconds for the duration the user specifies
User says "play the boss fight scene"	Open the specific scene first (summer_open_scene "scenes/boss_fight.tscn"), then steps 1–5
Game is already running and user says "play" again	Step 1's check covers it — ask before restarting

Anti-patterns

• Don't auto-stop a running game just because the user said "play". They probably mean "make sure it's playing", not "stop and restart".
• Don't call summer_get_console instead of summer_get_debugger_errors for runtime errors. Console has print() output and warnings; debugger errors has the stack traces.
• Don't report "no errors" before waiting for the engine to actually run a frame. A 0-frame snapshot is meaningless.

Collaborative protocol

This skill mutates engine state (clearing console, starting play). It's a read-side workflow with one safe write (summer_play). No "May I" needed — this is what the user asked for. Do confirm before stopping a running game.

Want a working starter?

No template — works against any Godot/Summer project that has a main scene set in project.godot.

See also

• references/mcp-tools-reference.md — full tool list
• debugging/debug/SKILL.md — what to do when /play surfaces an error