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 |
|---|---|
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cmd
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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.
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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. |
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kibitz
command
Command kibitz is the relay server.
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Command kibitz is the relay server. |
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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.
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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. |
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internal
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bot
Package bot is the solo "Play the computer" opponent.
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Package bot is the solo "Play the computer" opponent. |
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crypto
Package crypto is kibitz's security boundary.
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Package crypto is kibitz's security boundary. |
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dashboard
Package dashboard serves a read-only admin view of the relay's blind-safe internal state, gated by GitHub OAuth and restricted to an allowlisted set of usernames.
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Package dashboard serves a read-only admin view of the relay's blind-safe internal state, gated by GitHub OAuth and restricted to an allowlisted set of usernames. |
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ginrummy
Package ginrummy is a pure-logic rules and scoring library for two-player Gin Rummy, operating on plain card indices (0..51) with no crypto, networking, or service dependencies.
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Package ginrummy is a pure-logic rules and scoring library for two-player Gin Rummy, operating on plain card indices (0..51) with no crypto, networking, or service dependencies. |
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mentalpoker
Package mentalpoker implements the cryptographic core of a dealerless card shuffle ("mental poker"): a commutative cipher that lets two players jointly shuffle and deal a deck so that neither player — nor the blind relay — learns the deck order or the other's hand, yet every card can be revealed and verified at showdown.
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Package mentalpoker implements the cryptographic core of a dealerless card shuffle ("mental poker"): a commutative cipher that lets two players jointly shuffle and deal a deck so that neither player — nor the blind relay — learns the deck order or the other's hand, yet every card can be revealed and verified at showdown. |
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phrase
Package phrase generates croc-style code phrases and derives session IDs from them.
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Package phrase generates croc-style code phrases and derives session IDs from them. |
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pushfwd
Package pushfwd is a keyless Web Push forwarder.
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Package pushfwd is a keyless Web Push forwarder. |
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relay
Package relay implements the kibitz relay server: a blind frame forwarder.
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Package relay implements the kibitz relay server: a blind frame forwarder. |
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service
Package service defines the layered-service abstraction and the mux that routes decrypted envelopes to services.
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Package service defines the layered-service abstraction and the mux that routes decrypted envelopes to services. |
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service/backgammon
The backgammon service: engine + fair dice + turn protocol.
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The backgammon service: engine + fair dice + turn protocol. |
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service/battleship
The battleship service — kibitz's flagship: hidden ship placement with NO trusted server anywhere.
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The battleship service — kibitz's flagship: hidden ship placement with NO trusted server anywhere. |
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service/chat
Package chat is the simplest layered service: broadcast text messages with a bounded history that late joiners receive via the ctl snapshot.
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Package chat is the simplest layered service: broadcast text messages with a bounded history that late joiners receive via the ctl snapshot. |
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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).
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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). |
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service/chess
Package chess is the first game service, wrapping corentings/chess for rules.
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Package chess is the first game service, wrapping corentings/chess for rules. |
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service/connect4
Connect Four rules — pure logic, no protocol.
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Connect Four rules — pure logic, no protocol. |
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service/dots
Dots and Boxes rules — pure logic, no protocol.
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Dots and Boxes rules — pure logic, no protocol. |
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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.
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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. |
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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.
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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. |
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service/gomoku
Gomoku (five-in-a-row) rules — pure logic, no protocol.
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Gomoku (five-in-a-row) rules — pure logic, no protocol. |
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service/gomokup
Package gomokup is "Gomoku Party": five-in-a-row for 2–4 players on one shared board with rotating turns.
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Package gomokup is "Gomoku Party": five-in-a-row for 2–4 players on one shared board with rotating turns. |
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service/hex
Hex (the connection game) rules — pure logic, no protocol.
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Hex (the connection game) rules — pure logic, no protocol. |
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service/reversi
The reversi service: game.Table lifecycle, on-demand Start, computed passes (never sent), applyAndHash convention.
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The reversi service: game.Table lifecycle, on-demand Start, computed passes (never sent), applyAndHash convention. |
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service/weiqi
A capture/liberty-aware 1-ply heuristic bot for the "Hard" seat.
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A capture/liberty-aware 1-ply heuristic bot for the "Hard" seat. |
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service/xiangqi
A "Hard" Xiangqi bot: alpha-beta negamax over the engine's own legal-move generation, apply, and check/terminal helpers (engine.go).
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A "Hard" Xiangqi bot: alpha-beta negamax over the engine's own legal-move generation, apply, and check/terminal helpers (engine.go). |
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session
Package session is the client-side engine: it dials the relay, runs the create/join handshake, performs the PAKE + group-key exchange, and moves encrypted service envelopes.
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Package session is the client-side engine: it dials the relay, runs the create/join handshake, performs the PAKE + group-key exchange, and moves encrypted service envelopes. |
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shipcommit
Package shipcommit implements the Battleship hiding scheme: each player commits to all 100 cells of their board before the first shot, then reveals exactly the cells that get shot.
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Package shipcommit implements the Battleship hiding scheme: each player commits to all 100 cells of their board before the first shot, then reveals exactly the cells that get shot. |
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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.
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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. |
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wire
The inner payload layer: what clients put inside Direct/Broadcast Payload fields.
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The inner payload layer: what clients put inside Direct/Broadcast Payload fields. |
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Package web embeds the built browser client.
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Package web embeds the built browser client. |
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