Home

What is Atomic Framework

Atomic is a Garry’s Mod framework that finally brings order to Lua-based addon development. It introduces real modularity, proper dependency handling, isolated namespaces, and a predictable load process - basically all the shit the GMod devs never bothered to implement. Instead of juggling random files and praying nothing collides, you get a clean, controlled environment where packages behave like actual software components.

Which problems it resolves?

1. Dependency managment

   Atomic forces every package to explicitly declare what it depends on. If your package needs another package - Atomic guarantees that by the time your Lua files run, every dependency is already loaded, initialized, and ready to be used without runtime fuckups or nil surprises. No more “it loads before mine”, no more “this addon overwrote something”, no more cryptic errors because the engine loads shit whenever it feels like it.

2. Namespace pollution & collisions

   Atomic stops addons from shitting into the global namespace. No random globals, no silent overwrites, no two addons fighting over the same function name like clowns. Atomic does what the base game never did: ensures clean, safe code boundaries and prevents the accidental chaos caused by GMod’s “load whatever, whenever” philosophy.

See also

• Fast Introduction
• Concept of Package
• Creating Your First Package
• Built-in libraries
• How Atomic Resolves Load Order
• Why Atomic Is a Framework