What is Chameleon?

Chameleon is a framework created to allow developers to easily create Minecraft plugins that work
across multiple platforms.

Stability

While still in its development phrase, Chameleon is being actively used by the authors in production.
However, until a stable release is made, the codebase is subject to major and potentially breaking
changes without warning.

When we make a breaking change, we will try our best to change the version so that existing projects
will not be affected until they update to a newer version.

Use of the Chameleon Framework in production environments, or for any other purpose, is entirely at
your own risk.

Supported Platforms

Chameleon supports a variety of platforms.
Do you know of another platform that we could support? Let us know by creating a feature request
issue or sending a message in our official Discord server!

Please note that platforms marked as Unstable often experience breaking API changes that may
impact the functionality of Chameleon. If you experience any issues with any of the platforms,
please create a bug report, so we can address the issue.

In the event that maintaining compatibility with a platform’s API becomes unfeasible or for any
other reason a platform is deemed no longer worth supporting, we reserve the right to discontinue
support for the platform without prior notice.

Discontinued Platform Support

Chameleon attempts to maintain support for a wide range of platforms. However, there are times when
we must discontinue support for certain platforms. The decision to drop support for a platform is
typically made when maintaining support the platform becomes too challenging, or when the platform
becomes obsolete (or has been surpassed).

Below is a list of platforms that Chameleon no longer supports:

Getting started

We’re currently working on Chameleon’s documentation, and it will be available soon.
In the meantime, you can check out our example project here. If you have any questions,
don’t hesitate to ask us in our official Discord server!

Project structure

Chameleon is a modular system that allows you to choose which parts you want to use.
Here are the key modules:

• chameleon-api contains Chameleon’s core API, most things happen here.
• chameleon-annotations contains our annotation-based platform class generator, designed to make
  using Chameleon as easy as possible.
• chameleon-platform-(name) contains the implementation of Chameleon’s API on the named platform.
  You can see a full list of supported platforms here.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us in our
official Discord server.

Annotation-based platform class generator

chameleon-annotations simplifies the process of generating the required classes for each platform
to load and start Chameleon automatically.

To use this feature, add dev.hypera:chameleon-annotations as a compileOnly dependency and an
annotationProcessor (Gradle) or as a provided dependency (Maven). Then, annotate your
ChameleonPlugin class with @Plugin and provide some information about your plugin, that’s it!

Dependencies

Java 11

Chameleon requires Java 11 as a minimum version. This is because Java 8 reached its end-of-life (EOL)
in March 2022, which means that it will no longer receive public updates, leaving it vulnerable to
security risks. Java 11 is the next long-term support (LTS) version, which means it will continue
receiving public updates until at least September 2026 (Azul).

In addition to security reasons, Java 11 brings significant improvements over Java 8, such as better
performance, improved memory management, and new API features. Using Java 11 will help ensure that
Chameleon runs smoothly and efficiently, providing a better use experience.

Gradle

repositories {
    // If using a release:
    mavenCentral()

    // If using a snapshot:
    maven("https://s01.oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/")
}

dependencies {
    // Import Chameleon's Bill of Materials to set the version for every other
    // Chameleon dependency.
    implementation(platform("dev.hypera:chameleon-bom:(VERSION)"))

    // Include Chameleon's API
    implementation("dev.hypera:chameleon-api")

    // Include the Chameleon implementation for each platform you wish to support.
    // Replace (name) with the platform name, and repeat the next line for as many
    // platforms as you wish.
    implementation("dev.hypera:chameleon-platform-(name)")

    // If you wish to use the automatic platform main class generation:
    compileOnly("dev.hypera:chameleon-annotations")
    annotationProcessor("dev.hypera:chameleon-annotations")
}

repositories {
    // If using a release:
    mavenCentral()

    // If using a snapshot:
    maven { url 'https://s01.oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/' }
}

dependencies {
    // Import Chameleon's Bill of Materials to set the version for every other
    // Chameleon dependency.
    implementation platform('dev.hypera:chameleon-bom:(VERSION)')

    // Include Chameleon's API
    implementation 'dev.hypera:chameleon-api'

    // Include the Chameleon implementation for each platform you wish to support.
    // Replace (name) with the platform name, and repeat the next line for as many
    // platforms as you wish.
    implementation 'dev.hypera:chameleon-platform-(name)'

    // If you wish to use the automatic platform main class generation:
    compileOnly 'dev.hypera:chameleon-annotations'
    annotationProcessor 'dev.hypera:chameleon-annotations'
}

Maven