Client-Owned Entities

In addition to server-owned and delegated entities, naia supports client-created entities that replicate back to the server via the Publicity API.

Client-authoritative entities are opt-in. The shared protocol must call enable_client_authoritative_entities() before clients may spawn, publish, or mutate client-owned replicated entities.

Publicity::Public

A client can create an entity locally and mark it as Public, causing it to replicate to the server:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use naia_bevy_client::{Client, CommandsExt, Publicity};

fn spawn_public_entity(mut commands: Commands, mut client: Client<Main>) {
    commands
        .spawn_empty()
        .enable_replication(&mut client)
        .configure_replication::<Main>(Publicity::Public)
        .insert(MyComponent { value: 42.into() });
}
}

The server receives a SpawnEntityEvent for the entity and can read its components. If other clients share the right room/scope, the server may also replicate that public entity onward to them. This is distinct from authority delegation over a server-spawned entity: here the client is the origin.

Publicity::Private

Publicity::Private means the client-owned entity replicates to the server but is not published to other clients. This is the default for entities created by the client.

Use this for state the server must validate or react to, but that other clients do not need to see directly.

Use cases

• Client-owned projectiles — the client spawns a bullet, marks it public, and the server validates the trajectory.
• Private client intent/state — replicated to the server but not fanned out to other clients.
• Pure UI / local effects — do not enable naia replication at all.

Warning: As with delegated authority, the server must validate all component values received from client-owned public entities. naia replicates what the client sends without validation.