# Game Core by PH3AR — machine guide

Game Core preserves its identity as a game hub while integrating with the QuakeCraft arena service at https://quake.platphormnews.com. Public UI features include Quake server discovery, bot practice, global stats, leaderboard reads, and a developer view for health, RSS, and platform discovery availability.

## Data truth
The UI reads public Quake API and MCP data. Empty server, match, or leaderboard collections are displayed as empty; no synthetic players, matches, counts, or rankings are substituted. Quake may report degraded persistence while shared Redis multiplayer remains available.

## API and MCP
GET /api/health and GET /api/v1/health return {"ok":true,"data":{...}}. GET /api/docs and /openapi.yaml describe the real routes. GET /api/mcp returns metadata. POST /api/mcp accepts JSON-RPC 2.0 and exposes get_quake_health, list_quake_servers, get_quake_global_stats, and get_quake_discovery for public read-only inspection. Protected operations require PLATPHORM_API_KEY via Authorization: Bearer or X-PlatPhorm-API-Key.

## Safety and tracing
The server forwards only fixed Quake endpoints and propagates W3C trace context plus safe PlatPhorm correlation headers. It does not accept arbitrary proxy URLs. Secrets, cookies, raw IPs, and player-private data are not placed in public discovery documents.

## Steam integration
GET /api/steam/profile?steamid=STEAMID64 performs a server-side Steam Web API profile lookup when STEAM_API_KEY is configured. The key never reaches the browser, logs, or public discovery output.