Rive SDK Submodules

Deployments never need these. They are marked update = none, so git clone --recurse-submodules — what Dokploy, Coolify and similar platforms run — skips them. OpenRive runs on the published @rive-app/canvas-advanced; the submodules only matter when you want to build the runtime yourself. Fetch them with bun run rive:init, which also rewrites Rive's own ssh:// submodule URL to https so no SSH key is needed.

OpenRive renders with Rive's own runtime. By default that is the published npm package @rive-app/canvas-advanced; the WASM and its loader are copied into apps/web/public/rive on install so the editor works offline.

Two forks of Rive's repositories are vendored as git submodules so the SDK itself can be read, patched and rebuilt:

Submodule	Fork	Upstream	What it is
vendor/rive-wasm	UpstandPlatform/rive-wasm	rive-app/rive-wasm	The JS/WASM SDK that builds @rive-app/canvas-advanced — the runtime the editor renders with
vendor/rive-runtime	UpstandPlatform/rive-runtime	rive-app/rive-runtime	The low level C++ runtime and renderer that rive-wasm compiles

Both are MIT licensed, as is the fork of each.

Commands

Command	What it does
bun run rive:status	Shows what is checked out, what is built, and which runtime the editor uses
bun run rive:init	Clones/updates the submodules and adds the upstream remotes
bun run rive:update	Fast-forwards each fork onto rive-app's latest, then tells you what to push
bun run rive:build	Builds the WASM runtime from vendor/rive-wasm
bun run rive:sync	Makes the editor render with that build
bun run rive:npm	Goes back to the published npm runtime

They all live in scripts/rive-sdk.ts.

Getting the submodules

A fresh clone does not fetch them. Either clone with them:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/UpstandPlatform/OpenRive

or add them afterwards:

bun run rive:init

Nothing else in OpenRive needs them: without the submodules the editor still renders with the npm runtime.

Updating the SDK

bun run rive:update        # fetch rive-app and fast-forward each fork
git -C vendor/rive-wasm push origin master
git -C vendor/rive-runtime push origin main
git add vendor && git commit -m "chore: update Rive SDK submodules"

rive:update never pushes for you, and stops at a fork that has diverged (because you committed your own changes to it) so you can merge by hand.

The commit each submodule points at is part of this repository's history, so everyone who runs rive:init gets the same SDK.

Rendering with your own build

Building the WASM runtime needs Emscripten and rive-wasm's own submodules:

git -C vendor/rive-wasm submodule update --init --recursive
bun run rive:build         # runs vendor/rive-wasm/js/build.sh
bun run rive:sync          # copies the build into apps/web/public/rive/local

rive:sync writes apps/web/public/rive/runtime.json with "source": "submodule". From then on:

• apps/web/src/lib/runtime.ts loads /rive/local/canvas_advanced.mjs instead of the npm package, so the stage, the preview and the player all use your build,
• offline preview bundles ship your build too,
• bun install leaves it alone (scripts/copy-wasm.ts refuses to overwrite it).

Restart the dev server after syncing. bun run rive:npm deletes the local build and restores the npm runtime.

Everything under apps/web/public/rive/local/ and runtime.json is git-ignored: a custom runtime stays on the machine that built it, and what ships is the submodule commit plus the build instructions.

Where the pieces are

Path	Role
vendor/rive-wasm, vendor/rive-runtime	The forked SDKs (git submodules)
scripts/rive-sdk.ts	The rive:* commands
scripts/copy-wasm.ts	Copies the npm runtime into public/rive on install
apps/web/public/rive/runtime.json	Which build is active
apps/web/src/lib/runtime.ts	Loads the active build in the browser
apps/web/src/lib/server/riveRuntime.ts	Finds the active build for preview bundles

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