Source: https://gameye.com/glossary/zero-sdk/

---
title: "Zero-SDK architecture | Gameye"
description: "Zero-SDK architecture is a game server hosting approach where no SDK, plugin, or code changes are required inside the game server binary. The platform manages everything externally."
---

# Zero-SDK architecture

Zero-SDK architecture is a game server hosting approach where no SDK, plugin, or library is required inside the game server binary. The hosting platform manages the server entirely from the outside — starting, stopping, monitoring, and scaling containers without any code running inside them.

## How it works

Your game server is a standard Linux binary packaged in a Docker container. It starts, listens on a port, and accepts player connections. That’s it. The orchestration platform handles everything else: placement, networking, DDoS protection, scaling, failover, and teardown. No callbacks, no heartbeat SDK, no lifecycle hooks in your server code.

## Why it matters

SDK-based platforms (AWS GameLift, Agones) require you to integrate their library into your game server. This means:

- **Engine coupling** — The SDK must be compatible with your engine version. Engine upgrades can break the integration.

- **Build complexity** — The SDK adds a dependency to your server build pipeline.

- **Vendor lock-in** — Your server binary depends on platform-specific code. Switching providers means ripping out the SDK and integrating a new one.

- **Testing overhead** — You need the platform running locally (or mocked) to test your server.

With zero-SDK architecture, your server binary is portable. It runs the same way on your dev machine, in CI, and in production. The integration point is your matchmaker backend (which calls the hosting API), not your game server.

## Trade-offs

Zero-SDK platforms have less visibility into what’s happening inside the container. They can’t track player join/leave events, session state, or game-specific metrics unless the game server reports them through a separate channel (e.g. a webhook or log stream). SDK-based platforms get this data for free through the integrated library.

Building a multiplayer game? Gameye hosts dedicated game servers: ship your server as a Docker container and start one per match with a single API call, in a region near your players.

[See how it works →](https://gameye.com/how-it-works/)

[Back to Glossary](https://gameye.com/glossary/)

## Related terms

- ### Game Server Orchestration

Game server orchestration automates server management — session scheduling, scaling, placement, health monitoring, and failover via a single control layer. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/game-server-orchestration/)
- ### Dedicated Server

A dedicated server is a remote machine that runs your game logic independently of any player's client — the authoritative source of truth for every match. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/dedicated-server/)
- ### Containerisation

Containerisation packages your game server, dependencies, and config into a portable image that runs consistently across local, cloud, or bare-metal infra. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/containerisation/)
- ### Vendor lock-in

Vendor lock-in is the accumulated cost of leaving a hosting provider — the technical and commercial dependencies (SDKs in your binary, single-cloud infrastructure, egress fees, coupled matchmaking) that make switching game server hosts expensive, slow, or risky. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/vendor-lock-in/)