Assets

Flint uses a content-addressed asset system with SHA-256 hashing. Every imported file is identified by its content hash, which means identical files are automatically deduplicated and any change to a file produces a new, distinct hash.

Content Addressing

When you import a file, Flint computes its SHA-256 hash and stores it under a content-addressed path:

.flint/assets/<first-2-hex>/<full-hash>.<ext>

This means:

Deduplication — importing the same file twice stores it only once
Change detection — if a source file changes, its hash changes, and the new version is stored separately
Integrity — the hash verifies the file hasn’t been corrupted

Asset Catalog

The asset catalog is a searchable index of all imported assets. Each entry tracks:

Name — a human-friendly identifier (e.g., tavern_chair)
Hash — the SHA-256 content hash
Type — asset type (mesh, texture, material, etc.)
Tags — arbitrary labels for organization and filtering
Source path — where the file was originally imported from

Importing Assets

Use the CLI to import files into the asset store:

# Import a glTF model with name and tags
flint asset import models/chair.glb --name tavern_chair --tags furniture,medieval

# Browse the catalog
flint asset list --type mesh

# Check asset references in a scene
flint asset resolve levels/tavern.scene.toml --strategy strict

glTF/GLB Import

The flint-import crate provides full glTF/GLB support, extracting:

Meshes — vertex positions, normals, texture coordinates, and indices
Materials — PBR properties (base color, roughness, metallic, emissive)
Textures — embedded or referenced image files

Imported meshes are rendered by flint-render with full PBR shading.

Resolution Strategies

When a scene references assets, Flint can resolve them using different strategies:

Strategy	Behavior
`strict`	All referenced assets must exist in the catalog. Missing assets are errors.
`placeholder`	Missing assets are replaced with placeholder geometry. Useful during development.
`ai_generate`	Missing assets are generated via AI providers (Flux, Meshy, ElevenLabs) and stored.
`human_task`	Missing assets produce task files for manual creation by an artist.
`ai_then_human`	Generate with AI first, then produce review tasks for human approval.

The ai_generate, human_task, and ai_then_human strategies are part of the AI Asset Generation pipeline.

Asset Sidecar Files

Each asset in the catalog has a .asset.toml sidecar file storing metadata:

[asset]
name = "tavern_chair"
type = "mesh"
hash = "sha256:a1b2c3..."
source_path = "models/chair.glb"
tags = ["furniture", "medieval"]

Runtime Catalog Resolution

The player can load the asset catalog at startup for name-based asset resolution. When an entity references an asset by name, the resolution chain is:

Look up the name in the AssetCatalog
If found, resolve the content hash
Load from the ContentStore path (.flint/assets/<hash>)
Fall back to file-based loading if not in the catalog

This allows scenes to reference both pre-imported and AI-generated assets by name without hardcoding file paths.

Flint Engine