How the registry works
The site accepts Horizon mods. It does not replace the game or the team's official site.
Publishing
The author creates a page, then the version form takes the archive and up to six screenshots. The index, downloads, and auto-update only see published versions. A published version cannot be uploaded again: that number is fixed. Screenshots and one short video can also be added on the mod page. A native mod is kind native-mod: a .hnmod of Rust source. A launcher with native-mod support compiles it into its own game. It is not sandboxed.
What is checked automatically
Paths inside the zip, sizes, symlinks, extra executables, the manifest, and that the id matches the page. A native .hnmod is horizon-native.json plus mixins/<id> files that are only .rs and .toml. That source is not run here. If HORIZON_MOD_CHECK_BIN is set, an external program then runs without a shell for other kinds. If it is not set, the reviewer marks that they only saw the static check. A native mod always waits for a reviewer who has read the source.
Updates
The launcher sends an id and the installed version. The beta channel sees beta and release. The release channel sees release only. The reply contains an absolute file URL.