[jonit-dev]

Problem

Every starter kit pinned the engine exactly ("@threenative/core": "0.3.13"). Templates ship inside create-threenative, so the only way a kit ever got a newer engine was a full CLI repack — a lib patch published today reached new projects only after the next CLI release. Owner's ask: "I just want to make sure I don't need to care about updating starter kits or sandbox shit anymore; when a user installs it, it gets the latest."

Change

• Templates ship ">=0.3.13" for @threenative/* (open floor, no ceiling — a 0.4.0 also lands in new projects without a repack), and keep create-threenative exact.
• A game already scaffolded stays frozen by its own pnpm-lock.yaml; only new scaffolds float.
• scripts/version-range.ts owns the specifier form. The pin gate, the release preflight, the release pin writer and the publish-state registry check all read it.
• assertEnginePair now accepts any core at or after the paired release (src/core-pair.ts) instead of exact equality, so a newer engine is no longer a refusal on a correct fresh install. assertMcpShims and the engine's tn_version_handshake still fail closed on a pair that cannot work.
• check-publish-state resolves a range's floor (the release the kit was tested against) instead of handing the registry an unreadable range.

Generated project after this change:

@threenative/core            -> >=0.3.13
@threenative/physics         -> >=0.3.13
@threenative/ui              -> >=0.3.13
@threenative/assets          -> >=0.3.14
@threenative/playtest        -> >=0.3.13
@threenative/runtime-native  -> >=0.3.13
create-threenative           -> 0.2.18   (the tool stays exact)

Sandbox

pnpm sandbox and CI's scaffold-from-tarballs substitute tarballs by package name, so the specifier never reaches the resolver there — sandbox games were already current. New sandbox games inherit the same floors.

Verification

• pnpm typecheck clean.
• 301 focused vitest cases pass: scripts/__tests__/{version-range,check-version-pins,release,check-publish-state,prepare-release,typescript-toolchain}.spec.ts, packages/create-threenative/__tests__/{core-pair,doctor-fix,doctor,engine-catalog-plugin,playtest}.spec.ts.
• tsx scripts/check-version-pins.ts passes.
• Real createProject({ install: false, template: "starter" }) emits the block above.
• pnpm scaffold:pin re-pinned 16 kits; only kit moved, every shared hash is unchanged, i.e. the diff is exactly the manifest.
• Pre-push ci:fast: agents, docs, lint, drift all pass.

Not run here: full pnpm test, playtests, pnpm publish:check (network).

Known ceiling

Within an open floor a bad patch reaches new projects without waiting for a CLI release; the mitigation is npm deprecate on the bad version, which reaches every game. Existing games are protected by their lockfile.

[jonit-dev]

Content is on main as e64ab4a (direct push at owner's request). develop catches up on the next promotion merge.