Multiplayer Synchronization in Decentraland

Decentraland runs scenes locally in a player's instance of the explorer. By default, players are able to see each other and interact directly, but each player interacts with the environment independently. Changes in the environment aren't shared between players by default.

To sync any changes in the scene state, SDK7 uses CRDT-based synchronization.

Runtime constraint: Decentraland runs in a QuickJS sandbox. No Node.js APIs (fs, http, path, process). Use fetch() and WebSocket for network communication. See the scene-runtime skill for async patterns.

Sync Strategy Decision Tree

Choose the right networking approach based on what you need:

Strategy	Use When	Persistence	Example
syncEntity	Shared state that all players see and that persists for new arrivals	Yes — state survives player join/leave, but only as long as at least one player remains in the scene. The state resets as soon as the scene is empty	Doors, switches, scoreboards, elevators
MessageBus	Ephemeral events that only matter in the moment	No — late joiners miss past messages	Chat messages, sound effects, particle triggers
fetch / REST API	Reading or writing data to an external server	Server-dependent	Leaderboards, inventory, external game state
signedFetch	Authenticated requests that prove player identity	Server-dependent	Claiming rewards, submitting verified scores
WebSocket	Real-time bidirectional communication with a server	Connection-dependent	Live game servers, real-time chat.

Decision flow:

1. Does every player need to see the same state, including late joiners? --> syncEntity
2. Is it a fire-and-forget event only for players currently in the scene? --> MessageBus
3. Do you need the information to be persisted even after all players leave, or to run secure validations on that information? --> fetch or signedFetch
4. Do you need continuous real-time server communication? --> WebSocket
5. Combine approaches freely: use syncEntity for world state, MessageBus for effects, and fetch for persistence.

---

syncEntity Essentials

Import and Basic Usage

import { engine, Transform, MeshRenderer, Material } from '@dcl/sdk/ecs'
import { syncEntity } from '@dcl/sdk/network'
import { Vector3, Color4 } from '@dcl/sdk/math'

Signature: syncEntity(entity, componentIds[], syncId?)

• entity — the entity to synchronize
• componentIds[] — array of component IDs to keep in sync (e.g., [Transform.componentId])
• syncId — unique numeric identifier (required for predefined entities, optional for player-spawned entities)

Enum Sync IDs (Predefined Entities)

Every predefined synced entity MUST have a unique numeric ID. Use an enum to avoid collisions:

enum SyncIds {
	DOOR = 1,
	ELEVATOR = 2,
	SCOREBOARD = 3,
}

const door = engine.addEntity()
Transform.create(door, { position: Vector3.create(8, 1, 8) })
MeshRenderer.setBox(door)
syncEntity(
	door,
	[Transform.componentId, MeshRenderer.componentId],
	SyncIds.DOOR
)

Predefined entities (with a sync ID) persist after the creating player leaves. Player-created entities (no sync ID) are removed when the player disconnects.

Auto-Generated IDs (Player-Spawned Entities)

Entities created at runtime by players do not need an explicit sync ID:

function createProjectile() {
	const projectile = engine.addEntity()
	Transform.create(projectile, { position: Vector3.create(4, 1, 4) })
	MeshRenderer.setSphere(projectile)
	syncEntity(projectile, [Transform.componentId])
	return projectile
}

Custom Synced Components

Define custom components and sync them between players:

import { engine, Schemas } from '@dcl/sdk/ecs'
import { syncEntity } from '@dcl/sdk/network'

const ScoreBoard = engine.defineComponent('scoreBoard', {
	score: Schemas.Int,
	playerName: Schemas.String,
	lastUpdated: Schemas.Int64,
})

const board = engine.addEntity()
ScoreBoard.create(board, { score: 0, playerName: '', lastUpdated: 0 })
syncEntity(board, [ScoreBoard.componentId])

function addScore(points: number) {
	const data = ScoreBoard.getMutable(board)
	data.score += points
	data.lastUpdated = Date.now()
}

Player-Specific Data

Use PlayerIdentityData to distinguish players:

import { engine, PlayerIdentityData } from '@dcl/sdk/ecs'

engine.addSystem(() => {
	for (const [entity] of engine.getEntitiesWith(PlayerIdentityData)) {
		const data = PlayerIdentityData.get(entity)
		console.log('Player:', data.address, 'Guest:', data.isGuest)
	}
})

Schema Types

Available schema types for custom components:

Type	Usage
Schemas.Boolean	true/false
Schemas.Int	Integer numbers
Schemas.Float	Decimal numbers
Schemas.String	Text strings
Schemas.Int64	Large integers (timestamps)
Schemas.Vector3	3D coordinates
Schemas.Quaternion	Rotations
Schemas.Color3	RGB colors
Schemas.Color4	RGBA colors
Schemas.Entity	Entity reference
Schemas.Array(innerType)	Array of values
Schemas.Map(valueType)	Key-value maps
Schemas.Optional(innerType)	Nullable values
Schemas.Enum(enumType)	Enum values (string enums)
Schemas.EnumNumber(enumType, default)	Numeric enum with default value
Schemas.OneOf({ ... })	Discriminated union ($case + payload)

Example with the less common schema types:

enum Rarity { Common = 0, Rare = 1, Legendary = 2 }

const Loot = engine.defineComponent('game::Loot', {
	rarity: Schemas.EnumNumber<Rarity>(Rarity, Rarity.Common),
	payload: Schemas.OneOf({
		coins: Schemas.Int,
		item: Schemas.String,
	}),
	label: Schemas.Optional(Schemas.String),
})

Parent-Child Sync Relationships

For synced entities with parent-child relationships, use parentEntity() instead of setting Transform.parent:

import {
	syncEntity,
	parentEntity,
	getParent,
	getChildren,
	removeParent,
} from '@dcl/sdk/network'

const parent = engine.addEntity()
const child = engine.addEntity()

syncEntity(parent, [Transform.componentId], 1)
syncEntity(child, [Transform.componentId], 2)

// Use parentEntity() — NOT Transform.parent
parentEntity(child, parent)

const parentRef = getParent(child)
const childrenArray = Array.from(getChildren(parent))

// Remove parent relationship
removeParent(child)

Connection State

Check if the player is connected to the sync room:

import { isStateSyncronized } from '@dcl/sdk/network'

engine.addSystem(() => {
	if (!isStateSyncronized()) return // wait for sync
	// safe to read/write synced state
})

Note: The function is spelled isStateSyncronized (not "Synchronized") in the SDK.

---

MessageBus

Send custom messages between players (fire-and-forget, no persistence):

import { MessageBus } from '@dcl/sdk/message-bus'

const bus = new MessageBus()

bus.on('hit', (data: { damage: number }) => {
	console.log('Took damage:', data.damage)
})

bus.emit('hit', { damage: 10 })

syncEntity vs MessageBus

• syncEntity: late joiners get current state, automatic conflict resolution. The state persists as long as at least one player remains in the scene
• MessageBus: fire-and-forget, late joiners miss past messages, good for transient effects

Binary MessageBus (Performance Optimization)

The regular MessageBus JSON-encodes every payload before sending. For high-frequency messages or large payloads, there's a lower-level binary alternative that sends raw Uint8Array data directly — faster to process because it skips JSON serialization on both ends. This is the same transport syncEntity uses internally.

Use it when:

• You are emitting many messages per second (e.g., continuous movement streams, particle triggers in tight loops)
• Payload size matters (binary encoding is more compact than JSON)
• You already have binary data (e.g., pre-encoded buffers, CRDT deltas)

Stick with the regular MessageBus for low-frequency events where ergonomics beat performance.

import { sendBinary } from '~system/CommunicationsController'
import { executeTask } from '@dcl/sdk/ecs'

// Send a binary message to all peers (or a specific subset via peerData)
executeTask(async () => {
	const payload = new Uint8Array([1, 2, 3, 4]) // your encoded data
	const response = await sendBinary({
		data: [payload],
		peerData: undefined, // optional: target specific peers
	})
	// response.data is a Uint8Array[] of messages received from other peers
	for (const incoming of response.data) {
		handleBinaryMessage(incoming)
	}
})

You are responsible for encoding/decoding the Uint8Array payloads yourself (e.g., with DataView, TextEncoder/TextDecoder, or protobuf). There's no on/emit/topic layer — sendBinary is a single call that both sends pending outgoing messages and returns incoming ones, so you typically drive it from a system on each tick.

---

REST API and Signed Fetch

For communicating with your own backend (leaderboards, game state persistence, player auth), use fetch or signedFetch. All network calls must run inside executeTask. signedFetch attaches a cryptographic proof of the player's wallet identity — use it when your server needs to verify who is making the request.

See the scene-runtime skill for full fetch and signedFetch patterns.

---

WebSocket Connections

For full WebSocket patterns (reconnection, heartbeat, message format), see {baseDir}/references/networking-patterns.md.

Basic Connection

executeTask(async () => {
	const ws = new WebSocket('wss://example.com/ws')

	ws.onopen = () => {
		console.log('Connected to WebSocket')
		ws.send(JSON.stringify({ type: 'join', playerId: 'player123' }))
	}

	ws.onmessage = (event) => {
		const msg = JSON.parse(event.data)
		switch (msg.type) {
			case 'gameState':
				handleGameState(msg)
				break
			case 'playerJoin':
				handlePlayerJoin(msg)
				break
			case 'playerLeave':
				handlePlayerLeave(msg)
				break
		}
	}

	ws.onerror = (error) => console.error('WebSocket error:', error)
	ws.onclose = () => console.log('Disconnected')
})

---

Player Enter/Leave Events

Detect players entering or leaving the scene:

import { onEnterScene, onLeaveScene } from '@dcl/sdk/src/players'

onEnterScene((player) => {
	console.log('Player entered:', player.userId)
})
onLeaveScene((userId) => {
	console.log('Player left:', userId)
})

Multiplayer Testing

Open multiple browser windows to test multiplayer locally. Each window is a separate player.

Offline Mode

For Decentraland Worlds that do not need multiplayer:

{
	"worldConfiguration": {
		"fixedAdapter": "offline:offline"
	}
}

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Solution
Profile not initialized. Call syncEntity inside main()	syncEntity called at module top-level (e.g. in a module initialiser)	Move all syncEntity calls (and entity creation that depends on them) into a function called from main(). Never call syncEntity at module load time. Same applies to engine.addSystem().
State not syncing between players	Missing syncEntity() call	Every entity you want shared must call syncEntity(entity, [ComponentId1, ComponentId2])
Sync ID collision	Two entities share the same numeric sync ID	Use an enum to assign unique IDs to every predefined synced entity
Date.now() values corrupted	Using Schemas.Number for timestamps	Use Schemas.Int64 for any number over 13 digits (like Date.now())
State not ready on join	Reading synced state before sync completes	Guard with if (!isStateSyncronized()) return in your system
MessageBus messages lost	Late joiner expecting past messages	MessageBus is fire-and-forget. Use syncEntity for persistent state

Need server-side validation or anti-cheat? See the authoritative-server skill for the headless server pattern.

Important Notes

• Entities must be explicitly synced via syncEntity(entity, [componentIds]) — pass the componentId of each component to sync
• CRDT resolution: If two players change the same component simultaneously, last-write-wins
• No server-side code: Decentraland scenes run entirely client-side with CRDT sync (unless using the authoritative server)
• Custom schemas must be deterministic: Same component name = same schema across all clients
• Use Schemas.Int64 for timestamps: Schemas.Number corrupts large numbers (13+ digits). Always use Schemas.Int64 for values like Date.now()
• Any changes in the scene state done with syncEntity are not persisted. If all players leave the scene then the next player to come back will find the scene in its default state.
• syncEntity and the messageBus are not entirely reliable, if it's important that all players see the same state change in the scene, see the authoritative-server skill
• For server-authoritative multiplayer with validation and anti-cheat, see the authoritative-server skill