Official examples

Examples are version-matched recipes to adapt, not modules to import. When the Engine ships a script for the behaviour, use reuse-scripts first.

Find the example

If node_modules/playcanvas/examples/src/examples exists, it is a linked or source checkout: read it locally. The npm package omits examples/, so otherwise fetch from the installed tag:

TAG="v$(node -p "JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('node_modules/playcanvas/package.json')).version")" || exit 1
gh api "repos/playcanvas/engine/git/trees/$TAG?recursive=1" | grep -o '"examples/src/examples/[^"]*\.example\.mjs"'
gh api "repos/playcanvas/engine/contents/examples/src/examples/<category>/<name>.example.mjs?ref=$TAG" \
  --jq .content | base64 --decode

Read the resolved package, not the dependency list; playcanvas is often transitive. An empty list means an invalid tag: stop rather than guess. Use main only when the version has no tag.

Surface	Repository	Ref	Example paths
direct Engine	playcanvas/engine	v<version>	examples/src/examples/<category>/<name>.example.mjs
Web Components	playcanvas/web-components	v<version>	examples/<name>.html
React	playcanvas/developer-site	main	docs/user-manual/react/examples/<name>.mdx

Search the surface's catalog first, then the Engine's. React pages track the latest package; verify each prop against the installed declarations. Fetch example assets, including the Draco, Basis, and Ammo decoders under examples/assets/wasm, from the same ref.

Adapt it

Keep component options, scene setup, materials, shaders, assets, and update logic; drop the example browser's controls and imports. When one example joins several systems, such as layers, depth, camera frame, and sky, get that baseline rendering before customizing it.

Read only the reference matching the code: direct Engine, React, or Web Components.