kv3-js

Parse and stringify Valve's KeyValues3 (KV3) format.
Used in CS2, Dota 2, and other Source 2 games for .vmap, .vpcf, .vsnd, and many other file types.

Install

npm registry

npm install kv3-js

Usage

parseKV3(text) — KV3 → JavaScript

const { parseKV3 } = require('kv3-js');

const kv3 = `
<!-- kv3 encoding:text:version{e21c7f3c-8a33-41c5-9977-a76d3a32aa0d} format:generic:version{7412167c-06e9-4698-aff2-e63eb59037e7} -->
{
  name = "my_map"
  version = 1
  enabled = true
  tags = [ "cs2", "vmap" ]
  spawn = { x = 128 y = 256 z = 0 }
  model = resource:"models/props/barrel.vmdl"
}
`;

const { value, header } = parseKV3(kv3);

console.log(value.name);           // "my_map"
console.log(value.tags);           // ["cs2", "vmap"]
console.log(value.spawn.x);        // 128
console.log(value.model);          // { __kv3_resource: "models/props/barrel.vmdl" }
console.log(header?.format);       // "generic"

stringifyKV3(value, options?) — JavaScript → KV3

const { stringifyKV3, KV3Header } = require('kv3-js');

const obj = {
  name: 'my_map',
  version: 1,
  enabled: true,
  tags: ['cs2', 'vmap'],
  spawn: { x: 128, y: 256, z: 0 },
};

const kv3 = stringifyKV3(obj, {
  headerMode: 'custom',
  header: new KV3Header(),
});

console.log(kv3);

Options

Option	Default	Description
headerMode	default	Controls whether to include the default header, omit it, or use a custom header.
header	undefined	Custom header string or header instance used when headerMode is custom.
indent	2	Spaces per indent level.

Header helpers

const { KV3Header } = require('kv3-js');

const header = new KV3Header({ format: 'generic' });
console.log(header.toString());
console.log(header.toJSON());

File helpers

const { parseKV3File, stringifyKV3File } = require('kv3-js');

const { value } = parseKV3File('./example.kv3');
stringifyKV3File('./out.kv3', value, { headerMode: 'omit' });

CLI

npx kv3-js parse ./example.kv3
npx kv3-js stringify ./example.kv3 --out ./out.kv3

Development

npm install
npm test

CI and releases

• CI runs on every push and pull request via GitHub Actions.
• Releases are published automatically when a tag matching v* is pushed.
• The publish workflow publishes to the npm public registry and creates a GitHub Release for the tag.

Flags

KV3 flags survive a parse → stringify round-trip and are exposed as tagged objects:

// Parsed from:  model = resource:"models/hero.vmdl"
// Becomes:
{ __kv3_resource: 'models/hero.vmdl' }

// Stringified back to:
// model = resource:"models/hero.vmdl"

License

MIT