SheldonAI

SheldonAI is a chat-based AI assistant for ARK: Survival Ascended. Press F8 in game, type a question the way you'd ask a knowledgeable friend, and Sheldon answers using an AI model and a built-in ARK knowledge base. It knows ARK, it knows what's going on with your own survivor, it remembers things you tell it, and if you're an admin it can run server commands for you just by asking.

A few things you can say:

"Where's the nearest metal?" "What's the best kibble for a Therizino?" "How's my food and weight doing?" "Any wild Rexes over level 100 out there? Mark them on my map." "Spawn a level 200 alpha Raptor in front of me." (admins only)

Important: this mod needs two other things to work

Please read this before installing, especially if you aren't technical.

This mod is only the in-game half of SheldonAI. On its own it does nothing. The F8 window will open, but Sheldon will never answer until you set up two more pieces:

An AI provider. Sheldon's brain is a large language model, the same kind of AI behind ChatGPT. You point it at a provider like Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI, or Google Gemini. Most of them charge a small amount per message, usually a fraction of a cent, but it is a real cost that grows the more you use it. Some have free tiers, and you can run a free model yourself if you have the hardware for it.

The Sheldon Bridge. A small companion program (Python or Docker) that you run on a computer that can reach your ARK server, such as your server box, a home PC, or a cheap cloud server. It connects the mod to your AI and handles all the security.

So the full picture is this mod, plus the Bridge, plus an AI provider. Leave out any one of them and Sheldon won't work. There is a full setup guide on GitHub.

One more thing worth knowing up front: right now SheldonAI is PC only. Console support is something we want to add later, but it is not here yet.

What any player can do

Ask about ARK:

• Creature stats, taming, breeding, and where things spawn (over 1,100 creatures)
• Items, recipes, ingredients, workstations, and engram costs (over 2,000 items)
• Taming food, breeding times, and stats
• Your server's rates, rules, installed mods, and who is online

Ask about your own survivor, read live from the game:

• Your vitals (health, stamina, oxygen, food, water, weight, torpor)
• Where you are, including your GPS coordinates
• What is in your inventory and what you have equipped
• Which engrams you have learned and which you still need
• Where your tribe's tames are
• What just killed you
• The current in-game day and time

Find dinos and mark your map:

• Ask "any high-level Therizinos on the map?" and Sheldon checks its running census of wild creatures to tell you what is out there.
• Say "mark the nearest metal" or "pin every wild Rex over level 100" and Sheldon drops markers on your map. You can clear them again whenever you want.

Have Sheldon remember things:

• Tell it something like "my main base is at the blue obelisk" and ask about it later. Sheldon keeps notes per survivor.

What admins can do

When an admin talks to Sheldon, plain English turns into real server actions, carried out as that admin:

• Spawn creatures, placed where you want them. Ask for "a level 200 female alpha Raptor 30 feet in front of me" and Sheldon uses your position and facing to put it there.
• Set the time of day.
• Give items to players.
• Broadcast a message to everyone online.
• Run any other admin console command, just by describing what you want.

Admins get these powers. Regular players never see them (more on that under Security).

Bring your own AI

SheldonAI works with Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, over 200 models through OpenRouter, and self-hosted models. Switching providers is a couple of lines in the Bridge config. Every provider uses the AI's built-in tool calling rather than prompt tricks, which keeps its actions reliable.

Security that does not rely on the AI

Permissions are enforced in plain code, not by the AI itself. In a regular player's session the admin tools do not even exist, so there is nothing for a clever prompt to unlock. No amount of "prompt injection" gets a normal player admin powers. The full writeup is in the docs.

Make Sheldon your own

• Personality: a single personality file sets Sheldon's voice. Dry and sarcastic, warm and helpful, fully in character as an NPC, whatever fits your server.
• Server lore and rules: add markdown describing your mods, rules, and world, and Sheldon will answer questions about your server, not just vanilla ARK.
• Custom data: add your modded creatures, items, and locations as JSON, and Sheldon searches them right alongside the built-in data.

Permissions

Three tiers come built in: player, admin, and superadmin, mapped automatically from your AllowedCheaterPlayerIDs.txt. Each tier has its own tools, parameter limits, and rate limits. You can also define your own tiers, like VIP, Moderator, or Donator.

How it all fits together

There are two parts. This mod runs in your game, adds the F8 chat panel, sends your questions to the Bridge, and carries out admin actions in the world. The Sheldon Bridge runs alongside your server, talks to your AI, enforces permissions, runs the tools, and streams the answers back into F8. You install the Bridge with pip or Docker. The two talk to each other over a secure connection. There is an architecture writeup in the docs.

Setup, the short version

1. Add SheldonAI to your server's mod list.
2. Install the Sheldon Bridge on a host that can reach your server.
3. Connect an AI provider. Running sheldon-bridge init walks you through it.
4. Add a [SheldonAI] section to GameUserSettings.ini with your Bridge URL and a shared secret.
5. Restart your server.

The full guide is on GitHub.

Open source

SheldonAI is MIT licensed. The mod, the Bridge, and the knowledge base are all on GitHub. Fork it, change it, and send improvements back if you want to.

SheldonAI is still in active development, so expect updates and new abilities over time.