"Keep PackageReferences clean from day one"

• Standalone Steam export hangs on startup.
• Or you're early in a project and casually adding package dependencies without a plan for publish/export.

A standalone build that still has PackageReferences can hang on startup — it can't reach sbox.game to resolve them. Platform publish and editor play may hide this until you export.

This is a setup discipline issue: dependencies you add in week one become export blockers in month three.

• Prefer project-local code and assets for core gameplay.
• Treat every PackageReference as a publish/export liability — know why it's there.
• Before any standalone export experiment: clean the dependency list (standalone-steam-export).
• Don't disable the whitelist to pull in banned APIs — that blocks platform publish and is a one-way door toward standalone-only (dotnet-build-vs-whitelist).

Exact PackageReference authoring UI / csproj shape: follow current editor docs (needs verification) for your build — the verified gotcha is the startup hang when unresolved refs remain at export.

Editor and sbox.game can resolve package graphs online; a self-contained executable cannot. Keeping references minimal from day one means export is a checklist item, not an archaeology dig.