Bevy navigation

When to use

Load this when agents need a path over walkable space before adding a crate. Movement of the actor after a path exists belongs on bevy-character-movement. Policy for chase, patrol, and retarget belongs on bevy-ai-navigation.

ECS shape

• Components may store a goal Transform target and a path as your own data (a list of positions you define). The ECS page allows plain Component structs. It does not define a nav agent.
• Resources would own a map. None was opened.
• Systems that follow a path you already computed should move on Fixed / FixedMain (bevy::time) and use .chain() when the next waypoint must be visible before motion. Check the docs for a path-computation API before writing one.
• Schedule: do not invent a navigation schedule name.

Coming from Godot

Godot idea	Bevy idiom
Navigation agent	Check the docs for an agent component before writing one.
Baked region	Unverified. Do not copy Godot bake calls
Avoidance	Unverified
Next waypoint	Your component data, then bevy-character-movement

Scope

• Check docs.rs bevy latest (0.20.0 on bevy-master) for a navigation module before naming mesh, link, layer, or cost types.
• add_plugins allows a third-party crate later. No navigation plugin path is named here. Check the assets catalog before choosing one.
• Runtime rebake, stuck recovery, and crowd radius are unverified.

Expert Knowledge Delta

Target: Bevy 0.20+.

Core ECS types: Component, Resource, Query, Commands, Startup, Update, Fixed / FixedMain (bevy::time), .chain(), Plugin, DefaultPlugins, MinimalPlugins. Messages and observers are an ownership slot. See bevy-events-messaging for their APIs. Systems run in parallel unless .chain() orders the ones that conflict.

Who owns state

Piece	Owner	Who may mutate	Schedule
Data on one entity	Component	One system via Query	Update or FixedMain
One value for the whole app	Resource	One system	Startup to insert, then the schedule that reads it
Spawn	Commands	The spawning system	Startup for the initial world; later schedules for runtime spawn
Order that must not race	.chain()	The chained systems only	Same schedule
Plugin boundary	Plugin	build registers systems and resources	Before the app runs

Borrow rule: two systems that both mutably query the same component must be ordered (.chain()) or split so only one writes. Unrelated systems stay parallel. That is the ECS page rule, not a guess at a system-set API.

Decision

If you need	Do this	Do not
Per-entity data	Component + Query	A Godot node script
App-wide config or clock	Resource	Copy the value onto every entity
Stable simulation step	FixedMain and the Fixed clock	Tie simulation to raw frame Update
Startup spawn	Commands in Startup	Spawn from a render system
Cross-system notice that is not shared state	Message or observer slot in bevy-events-messaging	A new event type invented in this file
An API outside the documented set	Check the official docs first	A made-up crate or API

Load references/ecs-ownership.md for the ownership table.

NEVER

• Do not pin /0.20.0/ in docs URLs. WHY: links stay on latest; the 0.20 target is stated once in prose.

• Do not mutably query the same component from two unordered systems. WHY: the schedule runs systems in parallel unless .chain() orders them.

• Do not invent a physics, navigation, networking, or XR crate here. WHY: this skill only names documented Bevy crates and modules.

• No Godot navigation agent, region, or server types. WHY: Bevy code stays idiomatic ECS and uses only documented Bevy APIs.

• No named third-party navigation crate as the chosen solver. WHY: Bevy code stays idiomatic ECS and uses only documented Bevy APIs.

• No invented bake, avoidance, or path-query APIs. WHY: Bevy code stays idiomatic ECS and uses only documented Bevy APIs.

Reference

docs.rs links use the unversioned latest permalink. The library pin on bevy-master stays 0.20.0.

Official Documentation

• Migration guides - Unversioned hop index.
• bevy crate - Unversioned API index. No navigation module was opened.
• Assets - Official asset catalog. No navigation plugin was selected.
• Examples - Example tree on the latest branch.
• ECS - Component, Query, Commands, and .chain().
• bevy::time - Fixed and FixedMain for motion after a path exists.
• Quick Start: plugins - add_plugins without a chosen nav crate.

Related Skills

Prerequisites

• bevy-master - ECS ownership.
• bevy-character-movement - How an actor moves once a waypoint exists.

Complements

• bevy-ai-navigation - Chase, patrol, and retarget policy. Not the mesh.
• godot-navigation-pathfinding - Equivalent Godot skill.

Downstream / consumers

• Genre skills route chase, patrol, and similar policies.

Master

• bevy-master - Bevy router.