README
¶
kibitz
Pull up a chair.
kibitz is croc-style pairing for long-lived, end-to-end-encrypted sessions — chat and a dozen turn-based games instead of file transfer.
- Pair like croc: the host gets a code phrase like
lion-42-maple, plus a share link and QR code. Friends join by clicking or typing. - The relay can't read anything: the phrase seeds a PAKE key exchange; the relay only forwards opaque encrypted frames. Self-host it or use a hosted one — either way it's blind.
- One binary: the relay embeds the whole web client.
kibitz --listen :8080, open a browser, play. - Spectators welcome: sessions hold two players and any number of kibitzers, all in the same encrypted chat.
Status
Twelve games. Chess, backgammon (provably fair commit-reveal dice), checkers, reversi, Connect Four, Gomoku, Hex, Dots & Boxes, Go, Xiangqi, and two games where cheating is cryptographically impossible:
- Battleship — each player commits to every cell of their board before the first shot; every reveal is verified by every participant (spectators included), and both full boards are opened and legality-checked at game end.
- Gin Rummy — dealt by a "mental poker" shuffle: the two players jointly encrypt and shuffle the deck with a commuting cipher, so neither of them (nor the relay) learns the order or the opponent's hand, yet the deck is proven to be a fair, untouched 52 cards when keys are revealed at showdown. Full match play to 100 with lay-off and dealer alternation.
All of it runs without any server ever seeing a thing, because the relay only forwards ciphertext. Games start on demand from the picker and run side by side in one session; rematches swap seats. Eleven of the twelve ship with a "Hard" computer opponent for solo play (Gin is networked-two-player only).
How it works
The relay forwards frames it can never read. The code phrase seeds a PAKE handshake (as in croc); the host wraps a session group key to each joiner; all chat and moves are XChaCha20-Poly1305 envelopes. Games are both-sides-validate: every client runs the same rules engine and checks a position hash on every move — there's no server to cheat past, because the server is blind. Details: docs/THREAT-MODEL.md.
Hosted instance
A public relay runs at https://kibitz-play.fly.dev — open it, start a table, share the phrase. (Remember: the relay is blind either way; you never have to trust it.)
Self-hosting
Grab a release binary (or go install github.com/richardwooding/kibitz/cmd/kibitz@latest) and:
kibitz --listen :8080
Or run the container image:
docker run -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/richardwooding/kibitz
Put TLS in front with your reverse proxy of choice. That's it — the web UI,
relay, and everything else is in the one binary. Useful flags:
--max-sessions (default 1000), --version.
Development
make serve # build the WASM client and run the relay on :8080
make test # go test -race ./...
License
MIT
Directories
¶
| Path | Synopsis |
|---|---|
|
cmd
|
|
|
compress-assets
command
Command compress-assets precompresses the built web client into .br (brotli) and .gz (gzip) siblings, so the relay can serve the smallest encoding each client accepts.
|
Command compress-assets precompresses the built web client into .br (brotli) and .gz (gzip) siblings, so the relay can serve the smallest encoding each client accepts. |
|
kibitz
command
Command kibitz is the relay server.
|
Command kibitz is the relay server. |
|
kibitz-wasm
command
Native stub so `go build ./...` and `go vet ./...` succeed on the host — the real entrypoint is main.go, built only under GOOS=js GOARCH=wasm.
|
Native stub so `go build ./...` and `go vet ./...` succeed on the host — the real entrypoint is main.go, built only under GOOS=js GOARCH=wasm. |
|
internal
|
|
|
bot
Package bot is the solo "Play the computer" opponent.
|
Package bot is the solo "Play the computer" opponent. |
|
dashboard
Package dashboard is a compatibility shim over github.com/richardwooding/parley/dashboard, where the GitHub-OAuth-gated admin dashboard was extracted (kibitz was its first consumer).
|
Package dashboard is a compatibility shim over github.com/richardwooding/parley/dashboard, where the GitHub-OAuth-gated admin dashboard was extracted (kibitz was its first consumer). |
|
proto
Package proto pins kibitz's wire-protocol domain label.
|
Package proto pins kibitz's wire-protocol domain label. |
|
pushfwd
Package pushfwd is a keyless Web Push forwarder.
|
Package pushfwd is a keyless Web Push forwarder. |
|
service
Package service is a compatibility shim: the layered-service mux that used to live here was extracted into github.com/richardwooding/parley/service (kibitz was its first consumer).
|
Package service is a compatibility shim: the layered-service mux that used to live here was extracted into github.com/richardwooding/parley/service (kibitz was its first consumer). |
|
service/backgammon
The backgammon service: engine + fair dice + turn protocol.
|
The backgammon service: engine + fair dice + turn protocol. |
|
service/battleship
The battleship service — kibitz's flagship: hidden ship placement with NO trusted server anywhere.
|
The battleship service — kibitz's flagship: hidden ship placement with NO trusted server anywhere. |
|
service/chat
Package chat is a compatibility shim over github.com/richardwooding/parley/service/chat, where the chat service was extracted (kibitz was its first consumer).
|
Package chat is a compatibility shim over github.com/richardwooding/parley/service/chat, where the chat service was extracted (kibitz was its first consumer). |
|
service/checkers
The checkers service: game.Table lifecycle, on-demand Start, forced-move validation by membership, applyAndHash convention (hash after advance, identical on send and receive paths).
|
The checkers service: game.Table lifecycle, on-demand Start, forced-move validation by membership, applyAndHash convention (hash after advance, identical on send and receive paths). |
|
service/chess
Package chess is the first game service, wrapping corentings/chess for rules.
|
Package chess is the first game service, wrapping corentings/chess for rules. |
|
service/connect4
Connect Four rules — pure logic, no protocol.
|
Connect Four rules — pure logic, no protocol. |
|
service/dots
Dots and Boxes rules — pure logic, no protocol.
|
Dots and Boxes rules — pure logic, no protocol. |
|
service/game
Package game holds the seat/lifecycle logic every two-player game service shares: who sits where, who may start a game, rematch seat-swapping, and forfeit-on-leave.
|
Package game holds the seat/lifecycle logic every two-player game service shares: who sits where, who may start a game, rematch seat-swapping, and forfeit-on-leave. |
|
service/gin
Package gin is the Gin Rummy service: a two-player card game dealt with a dealerless "mental poker" shuffle (internal/mentalpoker) so neither player nor the blind relay ever learns the deck order or the opponent's hand, yet every card is verifiable at showdown.
|
Package gin is the Gin Rummy service: a two-player card game dealt with a dealerless "mental poker" shuffle (internal/mentalpoker) so neither player nor the blind relay ever learns the deck order or the opponent's hand, yet every card is verifiable at showdown. |
|
service/gomoku
Gomoku (five-in-a-row) rules — pure logic, no protocol.
|
Gomoku (five-in-a-row) rules — pure logic, no protocol. |
|
service/gomokup
Package gomokup is "Gomoku Party": five-in-a-row for 2–4 players on one shared board with rotating turns.
|
Package gomokup is "Gomoku Party": five-in-a-row for 2–4 players on one shared board with rotating turns. |
|
service/hex
Hex (the connection game) rules — pure logic, no protocol.
|
Hex (the connection game) rules — pure logic, no protocol. |
|
service/reversi
The reversi service: game.Table lifecycle, on-demand Start, computed passes (never sent), applyAndHash convention.
|
The reversi service: game.Table lifecycle, on-demand Start, computed passes (never sent), applyAndHash convention. |
|
service/weiqi
A capture/liberty-aware 1-ply heuristic bot for the "Hard" seat.
|
A capture/liberty-aware 1-ply heuristic bot for the "Hard" seat. |
|
service/xiangqi
A "Hard" Xiangqi bot: alpha-beta negamax over the engine's own legal-move generation, apply, and check/terminal helpers (engine.go).
|
A "Hard" Xiangqi bot: alpha-beta negamax over the engine's own legal-move generation, apply, and check/terminal helpers (engine.go). |
|
solo
Package solo provides a relay-free, in-memory transport for local "try a game" sessions: N session ends (a host and one or more players) wired to a shared in-memory hub with no WebSocket, PAKE, or crypto.
|
Package solo provides a relay-free, in-memory transport for local "try a game" sessions: N session ends (a host and one or more players) wired to a shared in-memory hub with no WebSocket, PAKE, or crypto. |
|
Package web embeds the built browser client.
|
Package web embeds the built browser client. |
Click to show internal directories.
Click to hide internal directories.