Teams

The Teams class provides methods for converting between different team formats and generating random teams in Pokemon Showdown.

Team Formats

Pokemon Showdown uses three team formats:

Export Format

Human-readable format for import/export

JSON Format

Structured format using PokemonSet[]

Packed Format

Compressed format for transmission/storage

PokemonSet Interface

The PokemonSet interface represents a single Pokemon’s configuration:

interface PokemonSet {
  name: string;           // Nickname
  species: string;        // Species name (e.g., "Minior-Red")
  item: string;           // Held item
  ability: string;        // Ability name
  moves: string[];        // Array of move names
  nature: string;         // Nature name
  gender: string;         // "M", "F", or ""
  evs: StatsTable;        // Effort Values (0-255)
  ivs: StatsTable;        // Individual Values (0-31)
  level: number;          // Level (1-100, supports up to 9999)
  shiny?: boolean;        // Shiny status
  happiness?: number;     // Happiness value (0-255)
  pokeball?: string;      // Pokeball type
  hpType?: string;        // Hidden Power type
  dynamaxLevel?: number;  // Dynamax level (0-10)
  gigantamax?: boolean;   // Gigantamax capable
  teraType?: string;      // Tera type
}

Methods

pack()

Converts a JSON team to packed format (compressed string).

Teams.pack(team: PokemonSet[] | null): string

team

PokemonSet[] | null

Array of Pokemon sets to pack, or null

return

string

Packed team string, or empty string if team is null

import { Teams } from './sim/teams';

const team = [{
  name: 'Articuno',
  species: 'Articuno',
  item: 'Leftovers',
  ability: 'Pressure',
  moves: ['Ice Beam', 'Hurricane', 'Substitute', 'Roost'],
  nature: 'Modest',
  evs: { hp: 252, atk: 0, def: 0, spa: 252, spd: 4, spe: 0 },
  ivs: { hp: 31, atk: 31, def: 31, spa: 30, spd: 30, spe: 31 },
  level: 100,
  gender: ''
}];

const packed = Teams.pack(team);
console.log(packed);
// Output: Articuno||leftovers|pressure|icebeam,hurricane,substitute,roost|Modest|252,,,252,4,||,,,30,30,|||

unpack()

Converts a packed team string to JSON format.

Teams.unpack(buf: string): PokemonSet[] | null

buf

string

Packed team string to unpack. Can also accept JSON string format.

return

PokemonSet[] | null

Array of Pokemon sets, or null if invalid

import { Teams } from './sim/teams';

const packed = 'Articuno||leftovers|pressure|icebeam,hurricane,substitute,roost|Modest|252,,,252,4,||,,,30,30,|||';
const team = Teams.unpack(packed);

console.log(team[0].species); // "Articuno"
console.log(team[0].ability); // "Pressure"
console.log(team[0].moves);   // ["Ice Beam", "Hurricane", "Substitute", "Roost"]

The unpack() method has a limit of 24 Pokemon per team for simulator compatibility.

export()

Converts a JSON team to human-readable export format.

Teams.export(team: PokemonSet[], options?: ExportOptions): string

team

PokemonSet[]

Array of Pokemon sets to export

options

ExportOptions

Export options

hideStats

boolean

Hide EVs, IVs, and nature from export

removeNicknames

boolean | (nickname: string) => string | null

Remove or transform nicknames. If true, removes all nicknames. If function, transforms each nickname.

return

string

Human-readable team string in export format

import { Teams } from './sim/teams';

const team = [{
  name: 'Articuno',
  species: 'Articuno',
  item: 'Leftovers',
  ability: 'Pressure',
  moves: ['Ice Beam', 'Hurricane', 'Substitute', 'Roost'],
  nature: 'Modest',
  evs: { hp: 252, atk: 0, def: 0, spa: 252, spd: 4, spe: 0 },
  ivs: { hp: 31, atk: 31, def: 31, spa: 30, spd: 30, spe: 31 },
  level: 100,
  gender: ''
}];

const exported = Teams.export(team);
console.log(exported);

exportSet()

Converts a single Pokemon set to export format.

Teams.exportSet(set: PokemonSet, options?: ExportOptions): string

set

PokemonSet

Single Pokemon set to export

options

ExportOptions

Same export options as export()

return

string

Human-readable Pokemon set string

import { Teams } from './sim/teams';

const set = {
  name: 'Frosty',
  species: 'Articuno',
  item: 'Leftovers',
  ability: 'Pressure',
  moves: ['Ice Beam', 'Hurricane'],
  nature: 'Modest',
  evs: { hp: 252, atk: 0, def: 0, spa: 252, spd: 4, spe: 0 },
  ivs: { hp: 31, atk: 31, def: 31, spa: 31, spd: 31, spe: 31 },
  level: 100,
  gender: 'F'
};

const exported = Teams.exportSet(set);
// Output:
// Frosty (Articuno) (F) @ Leftovers  
// Ability: Pressure  
// EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD  
// Modest Nature  
// - Ice Beam  
// - Hurricane  

import()

Converts a team from any string format (export, packed, or JSON) to JSON format.

Teams.import(buffer: string, aggressive?: boolean): PokemonSet[] | null

buffer

string

Team string in any format (export, packed, or JSON)

aggressive

boolean

If true, uses toID() for sanitization instead of Dex.getName(). This converts all names to IDs (lowercase, no spaces).

return

PokemonSet[] | null

Array of Pokemon sets, or null if invalid

import { Teams } from './sim/teams';

const exported = `
Articuno @ Leftovers  
Ability: Pressure  
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD  
Modest Nature  
- Ice Beam  
- Hurricane  
`;

const team = Teams.import(exported);
console.log(team[0].species); // "Articuno"

The import() method automatically detects the format and converts appropriately. It handles export format (newline-separated), packed format (pipe-separated), and JSON format (array).

generate()

Generates a random team for a specific format.

Teams.generate(format: Format | string, options?: PlayerOptions | null): PokemonSet[]

format

Format | string

Format name or Format object (e.g., “gen9randombattle”)

options

PlayerOptions | null

Generation options

seed

PRNGSeed

PRNG seed for reproducible team generation (array of 4 numbers)

return

PokemonSet[]

Generated team as array of Pokemon sets

import { Teams } from './sim/teams';

const team = Teams.generate('gen9randombattle');
console.log(team.length); // 6 (or format-specific team size)
console.log(team[0].species); // Random species

getGenerator()

Gets a team generator instance for a specific format.

Teams.getGenerator(format: Format | string, seed?: PRNG | PRNGSeed | null): TeamGenerator

format

Format | string

Format name or Format object

seed

PRNG | PRNGSeed | null

PRNG instance or seed for reproducible generation

return

TeamGenerator

Team generator instance for the specified format

import { Teams } from './sim/teams';

const generator = Teams.getGenerator('gen9randombattle');
const team = generator.getTeam();

// You can generate multiple teams from the same generator
const team2 = generator.getTeam();

Utility Methods

packName()

Converts a name to packed format (removes special characters, keeps case).

Teams.packName(name: string | undefined | null): string

name

string | undefined | null

Name to pack

return

string

Packed name with only alphanumeric characters

import { Teams } from './sim/teams';

console.log(Teams.packName('Farfetch\'d')); // "Farfetchd"
console.log(Teams.packName('Ho-Oh'));       // "HoOh"
console.log(Teams.packName('Mr. Mime'));    // "MrMime"

Unlike toID(), packName() preserves case. This is important for distinguishing between species names and IDs in packed format.

unpackName()

Attempts to recover a readable name from a packed name.

Teams.unpackName(name: string, dexTable?: { get: (name: string) => AnyObject }): string

name

string

Packed name to unpack

dexTable

{ get: (name: string) => AnyObject }

Dex table (e.g., Dex.species, Dex.items) for accurate name lookup

return

string

Readable name with spaces added

import { Teams, Dex } from './sim';

// With dex table (accurate)
console.log(Teams.unpackName('dragondance', Dex.moves)); // "Dragon Dance"
console.log(Teams.unpackName('leftovers', Dex.items));   // "Leftovers"

// Without dex table (guess)
console.log(Teams.unpackName('HoOh'));        // "Ho Oh"
console.log(Teams.unpackName('MrMime'));      // "Mr Mime"

Usage Examples

Converting Between Formats

import { Teams } from './sim/teams';

// Export to Packed
const packedTeam = 'Articuno||leftovers|pressure|icebeam,hurricane|Modest|252,,,252,4,|||||';
const jsonTeam = Teams.unpack(packedTeam);
const exportedTeam = Teams.export(jsonTeam);

// Export to Packed
const backToPacked = Teams.pack(jsonTeam);

// Import any format
const team1 = Teams.import(packedTeam);
const team2 = Teams.import(exportedTeam);
const team3 = Teams.import('[{"species":"Articuno"}]');

Working with Team Data

import { Teams } from './sim/teams';

const team = Teams.unpack('Articuno||leftovers|pressure|icebeam,hurricane|Modest|252,,,252,4,|||||');

// Modify team
team[0].moves.push('Substitute');
team[0].evs.spe = 252;
team[0].evs.spa = 0;

// Export modified team
const modified = Teams.export(team);
console.log(modified);

Generating Teams for Testing

import { Teams, PRNG } from './sim';

// Generate consistent test teams
const testSeed = [0x12345678, 0x9abcdef0, 0x11111111, 0x22222222];

const team1 = Teams.generate('gen9ou', { seed: testSeed });
const team2 = Teams.generate('gen9ou', { seed: testSeed });

// team1 and team2 are identical
console.log(JSON.stringify(team1) === JSON.stringify(team2)); // true

Battle API

Dex API

Teams API

Protocol Reference

Command-Line Tools

Team Formats

Export Format

JSON Format

Packed Format

PokemonSet Interface

Methods

pack()

unpack()

export()

exportSet()

import()

generate()

getGenerator()

Utility Methods

packName()

unpackName()

Usage Examples

Converting Between Formats

Working with Team Data

Generating Teams for Testing

See Also

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Battle API

Dex API

Teams API

Protocol Reference

Command-Line Tools

​Team Formats

Export Format

JSON Format

Packed Format

​PokemonSet Interface

​Methods

​pack()

​unpack()

​export()

​exportSet()

​import()

​generate()

​getGenerator()

​Utility Methods

​packName()

​unpackName()

​Usage Examples

​Converting Between Formats

​Working with Team Data

​Generating Teams for Testing

​See Also

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Team Formats

PokemonSet Interface

Methods

pack()

unpack()

export()

exportSet()

import()

generate()

getGenerator()

Utility Methods

packName()

unpackName()

Usage Examples

Converting Between Formats

Working with Team Data

Generating Teams for Testing

See Also