OVERVIEW

Gravitas Overview

Gravitas is a deterministic, engine-agnostic physics library for lockstep simulations and games. It uses FixedMathSharp for fixed-point math, SwiftCollections for low-allocation runtime data structures, GridForge for world/grid ownership, and context-owned Gravitas services for physics runtime state.

Project resources: documentation site, API reference, coverage report, and wiki home.

The core runtime rule is simple: there is no process-wide physics world. A simulation happens inside a GravitasWorldContext, and every body, collider, partition, query, coroutine, diagnostic buffer, and clock value belongs to that context.

Quick Read

• Hosts own the outer loop, command ordering, rendering, networking, editor integration, and engine objects.
• Gravitas owns deterministic context-local physics state.
• SolidBody/LSCollider are the 3D path.
• SolidBody2D/LSCollider2D are the 2D path.
• PhysicsRuntimeMode.Both runs 2D and 3D side by side without mixed contacts.
• PhysicsRuntimeMode.Mixed enables explicit 2D/3D contacts, queries, CCD, and diagnostics.
• Chronicler populates host-created runtime shells; it does not construct the object graph.
• Diagnostics are data streams; host adapters translate them outside the core runtime.

flowchart TD
    Host["Host loop"] --> Context["GravitasWorldContext"]
    Context --> Clock["GravitasClock"]
    Context --> World["GridWorld"]
    Context --> Settings["PhysicsSettings + Environment"]
    Context --> ThreeD["3D bodies/colliders/constraints"]
    Context --> TwoD["2D bodies/colliders/constraints"]
    Context --> Mixed["Mixed collision service"]
    Context --> Queries["2D/3D/mixed query services"]
    Context --> Diagnostics["Diagnostics"]
    Agent["IMatterAgent"] --> Context
    Agent --> Transform["FixedTransform"]

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Foundation Libraries

Gravitas is the physics layer of a small deterministic stack. Read the sibling project docs when you need the lower-level contracts behind a Gravitas API.

Library	What Gravitas uses it for	More
FixedMathSharp	Fixed64, deterministic vectors, quaternions, transforms, matrices, bounds, rays, planes, and geometry helpers.	Repository
SwiftCollections	Low-allocation lists, sets, queues, pools, and caller-owned buffers used by hot-path services and query APIs.	Repository
GridForge	Explicit GridWorld ownership, voxel identities, traversal, partition backing, and spatial candidate gathering.	Repository

Reading Path

Need	Read
Wire Gravitas into a host loop	Host Integration
Understand context services, lifecycle, and ownership	Runtime Architecture
Choose between 2D, 3D, Both, and Mixed	2D, 3D, And Runtime Modes
Understand collision at a high level	Collision Pipeline
Work on partitioning and candidate pairs	Collision Broad Phase
Work on collider geometry, meshes, compounds, or narrow phase	Collider Shape Reference
Work on tunneling, sweeps, TOI, or kinematic active sources	Continuous Collision Detection
Work on contacts, materials, warm starts, sleep, or events	Collision Response
Use public queries	Query Services
Work on query reducers, batching, or hit details	Query Reference
Change save/load, replay, or hash behavior	Serialization And Replay
Add or consume diagnostics	Diagnostics
Build host-side debug/log/replay adapters	Diagnostic Adapters

Core Mental Model

The host owns:

• the application loop and deterministic command/input ordering.
• renderers, ECS, engine objects, networking, pooling, and editor tooling.
• the GridWorld when using GravitasWorldContext.Attach(...).
• host objects that implement IMatterAgent.
• serialization shell construction before Chronicler populates state.

Gravitas owns, per context:

• fixed-step timing through GravitasClock.
• settings and physical environment values.
• 3D bodies, colliders, constraints, ragdolls, pairs, response, and queries.
• 2D bodies, colliders, constraints, ragdolls, pairs, response, and queries.
• mixed 2D/3D candidate gathering, pairs, constrained response, CCD, queries, and diagnostics when PhysicsRuntimeMode.Mixed is active.
• GridForge-backed partition payloads and retained partition cleanup.
• lockstep coroutines and lifecycle hooks.
• deterministic replay hashing.
• diagnostic event and debug draw buffers when enabled.

Main Types

Type	Role
GravitasWorldContext	Owns one active GridWorld plus all context-local runtime services.
IMatterAgent	Host boundary for context, fixed transform, hierarchy intent, and interaction state.
SolidBody	3D body state: position, rotation, motion, mass, inertia, grounding, CCD, sleep, visualization publishing, and Chronicler recording.
SolidBody2D	2D body state: X/Z position, scalar yaw, planar motion, scalar inertia, support state, CCD, sleep, visualization publishing, and Chronicler recording.
LSCollider	3D collider identity, shape, bounds, layer/filter state, material, partition state, pairs, and events.
LSCollider2D	2D collider identity, X/Z shape/bounds, layer/filter state, material, partition state, mixed slab state, pairs, and events.
PhysicsRuntimeMode	Validated runtime routing: ThreeD, TwoD, Both, or Mixed.
GravitasPhysicsService	3D body/collider registration, CCD, pair ownership, response islands, sleep, and visualization.
GravitasPhysics2DService	2D body/collider registration, CCD, pair ownership, response islands, planar support, sleep, and visualization.
GravitasMixedCollisionService	Mixed broad phase, pair lifecycle, constrained response, CCD handoff, retained partition cleanup, and diagnostics.
GravitasConstraint3DService	3D joints, ragdolls, linked-collider filtering, motor handoff, replay hashing, and metrics.
GravitasConstraint2DService	2D joints, ragdolls, linked-collider filtering, motor handoff, replay hashing, and metrics.
GravitasQuery3DService	3D raycasts, swept-sphere and convex-source sweeps, cone volumes, and X/Z projected-circle overlaps.
GravitasQuery2DService	2D overlaps, segment raycasts, swept-circle queries, batching, and hit ordering.
GravitasQueryMixedService	Explicit mixed sphere-against-2D and circle-against-3D sweeps.
GravitasDiagnosticSink	Disabled-by-default context diagnostics for events and renderer-neutral debug draw commands.

Typical Flow

1. Create or attach a GravitasWorldContext.
2. Configure the underlying GridWorld with GridForge grids covering the simulation space.
3. Expose host objects through IMatterAgent.Context and IMatterAgent.Transform.
4. Create colliders and bodies.
5. Initialize runtime objects so Gravitas can allocate context-local IDs, calculate runtime shape data, and partition colliders.
6. Apply deterministic commands for the frame.
7. Call context.Simulate() and context.LateSimulate() from the fixed step.
8. Optionally compute context.ComputeReplayHash() for lockstep/replay validation.
9. Call context.Visualize() and context.LateVisualize() from presentation timing.
10. Deactivate objects before pooling/despawn and reset or dispose the context at session boundaries.

Runtime Surface

Area	Supported surface
3D	primitive, mesh, and compound colliders; explicit dynamic/kinematic/static bodies; CCD; constraints; ragdolls; grounding; queries; diagnostics; replay.
2D	circle, capsule, AABB, convex polygon, and compound colliders; planar body dynamics; scalar angular response; grounding/support; CCD; constraints; ragdolls; queries; diagnostics; replay.
Mixed 2D/3D	embedded 2D slabs, mixed broad phase, mixed pairs, constrained response, explicit mixed queries, mixed CCD hooks, dimension-tagged diagnostics, slab debug draw.
Collision	deterministic broad phase, narrow phase, manifolds, response islands, warm starts, materials, sleep/wake, notifications, cleanup.
Queries	closest/all-hit and batch APIs for 3D, 2D, and mixed query families with caller-owned buffers.
Serialization	Chronicler populate-existing-shell state transfer and replay hash conformance.
Diagnostics	deterministic event streams, debug draw commands, typed views, visitors, and host adapter patterns.

Intentional Boundaries

These are deliberate public-runtime boundaries:

• PhysicsRuntimeMode.Both does not create mixed contacts. Use PhysicsRuntimeMode.Mixed for cross-dimensional collision.
• Mixed-dimension joints are not part of the articulated-body model. Use 3D joints with SolidBody and 2D joints with SolidBody2D.
• Concave mesh source sweeps and raw mesh source query APIs are not exposed. Author concave-looking movers as stable convex compound parts.
• Public query services are same-thread per context service and reuse service-owned scratch.
• Renderer, editor, logging, and replay UI integrations live in host adapters, not in src/Gravitas.
• Chronicler loading populates existing shells; it does not create engines, transforms, worlds, bodies, or colliders from data.

Source Map

Area	Source
Context and lifecycle	src/Gravitas/Runtime/GravitasWorldContext.cs, src/Gravitas/Runtime/GravitasClock.cs, src/Gravitas/Runtime/GravitasLifecycleHooks.cs
Host boundary and bodies	src/Gravitas/Core/IMatterAgent.cs, src/Gravitas/Core/3D/SolidBody.cs, src/Gravitas/Core/2D/SolidBody2D.cs
Physics services	src/Gravitas/Core/3D, src/Gravitas/Core/2D, src/Gravitas/Core/Mixed
Colliders	src/Gravitas/Colliders
Collision handling	src/Gravitas/CollisionHandling
Constraints	src/Gravitas/Constraints/3D, src/Gravitas/Constraints/2D
Queries	src/Gravitas/Queries
Serialization and replay	src/Gravitas/Determinism, src/Gravitas/Settings/PhysicsSettingsSaver.cs
Diagnostics	src/Gravitas/Diagnostics
Tests and benchmarks	tests/Gravitas.Tests, tests/Gravitas.Benchmarks