Connect an AI to your game

How it works, in one picture #

There are three pieces, and only the first one is an AI:

The agent edits files; you test the result in the game with /reload, or by restarting your realm for server changes. You stay in charge of every change: a good agent says what it will change, how to test it and how to undo it, before it does anything.

Which AI agents work #

The launcher looks for these on your PC, in this order:

AGENTS.md is the short version "for any AI coding agent": it points to CLAUDE.md and says its rules apply to every tool. Any agent that can read and edit files in a folder can use the kit.

Set it up in the launcher #

1. Open the launcher and go to Settings. The AI (optional) section is at the end of the page. (From your second launch the launcher also offers this once, in an Activate your AI (optional) card: Show me takes you there.)
2. The status line says Claude Code — found (green) or not found on this PC. If it isn't found, press Install Claude Code; it opens the official install page.
3. Press Set up AI workspace. The launcher copies the kit into your data folder and reports what it did, for example "AI workspace ready (12 files copied)".
4. Press Open in Claude Code. A terminal opens in your data folder with Claude Code running. With another agent, press Open terminal here or Open workspace folder and start your agent there.
5. Pick a Starter prompt from the list under the buttons, press Copy prompt, paste it into the agent, and fill in the parts in <angle brackets>.

How it works on the same row opens the website's AI page, which has every prompt with a copy button.

What gets written, and where #

The workspace is your Open Vanilla data folder: %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenVanilla for an installed launcher, or the folder beside the launcher for the portable zip (the OPENVANILLA_DATA_DIR setting overrides both).

Pressing Update AI workspace later is always safe: files you edited or wrote yourself are kept, only the kit's own untouched files are refreshed. The kit refuses to use a drive root or your whole user folder as the workspace, and never writes outside it.

Do it by hand (no launcher) #

If you play from a source checkout, or want the kit somewhere else:

1. Copy CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md and the prompts folder from the repo's agent\ folder into the folder you want the agent to work in.
2. Open a terminal there and start your agent (claude, codex, gemini, ...).
3. First message: Read CLAUDE.md, then tour this folder without changing anything.

The starter prompts #

Every prompt starts with "Read CLAUDE.md." so the agent loads the rules first. The same nine prompts are in the launcher, in the game and on the website.

In the game: the Assistant #

The Assistant addon puts the same prompts inside the game, so you can grab one without alt-tabbing.

• Open it with /assistant (or /ai), or the Assistant button in the Esc menu. /assistant how opens the how-to tab.
• Prompts tab: pick a prompt; its text is selected in the box, press Ctrl+C to copy (the Vanilla client has no clipboard button), then paste into your agent.
• How it works tab: the five steps on this page, short.

The Assistant never talks to an AI or the network. Its footer says so: the AI runs outside the game, in its own window, on your PC.

Rules the kit gives the agent #

These are written into CLAUDE.md, and you should hold the agent to them:

• Your PC only. It works in your Open Vanilla folder and your own server folders. Never on the official realm or any server you don't run.
• Never Blizzard's files. It must not modify, extract, copy or share the Vanilla Client v1.3 game folder (WoW.exe, Data\*.MPQ, WTF\), Interface\FrameXML, Interface\GlueXML or any Blizzard_* addon.
• No secrets. It never reads out, prints or sends passwords, tokens or keys (including the database passwords in mangosd.conf and any password saved in settings.json). You type secrets yourself.
• Backups first. Before changing a file it copies it to Backups\ai-<date-time>\; before changing database tables it exports them (or uses Host → Backup in the launcher).
• Program files are off limits: OpenVanilla.exe, app\, Game\, Server\www\. Updates replace them anyway.
• Don't edit the shipped Vanilla Remastered addons in place. Copy one under a new name, or write a separate addon.
• Small steps. Say what will change, how to test it and how to undo it. Nothing downloaded or run from the internet without explaining it first.

Good things to ask #

Once the workspace is set up you can ask in plain words. Some that work well:

• "My bags addon errors when I open the bank. Here's the error: <paste>. Find the cause and fix it, with a backup."
• "Make an addon that shows my current zone's level range under the minimap."
• "On my solo realm, double the drop rate of cloth and make mounts trainable at level 30. Show me the config changes first."
• "Write a Workshop listing for my addon MyTheme: summary, screenshots I should take, and a changelog." (See Publish to the Workshop.)
• "Explain what Realms\Hosted\custom\mangosd.conf controls, section by section."

For the details an agent needs to write addons that work in this client, see Edit your own game.

Herald Autopilot is not an AI #

Herald Autopilot (the desktop app started with Herald Autopilot.bat, and Let Herald play / /herald in game) can play your character, but it isn't a language model: it drives the realm's own playerbot "self-bot" with rules and a gear simulator. It does not hide from staff (no anti-ban tricks, no fake human delays), and on the official realm autoplay is currently switched off. Learning is opt-in and sends anonymous numbers only. More in Community: Herald.

For realm staff: AI in moderation #

Hosts can optionally let an AI model help sort player reports in Herald. It reads the report and the chat lines and suggests a score and an action; the AI never kicks or bans, humans decide. It's off unless the host sets MOD_AI_URL, MOD_AI_KEY and MOD_AI_MODEL (any OpenAI-compatible endpoint) in Herald's server settings. The key stays on the realm server; players never need one.