ctfjs

ctfjs is a CTF (capture the flag) competition backend written in Node.js.

It is still in development, and is not ready to be used to host an actual CTF.

Documentation

Documentation is available at https://blairsec.github.io/ctfjs/.

Installation

ctfjs can be installed as either a command or a node module.

Command

If all you need is a simple backend for challenges, users, and teams, this is probably what you should choose. To install ctfjs as a terminal command, run:

npm install -g ctfjs

Node Module

This option will require more setup and configuration. To install ctfjs as a node module in your current directory, run:

npm install ctfjs

You will also need express to create the web server:

npm install express

Deployment

Remember that this is just a REST API and requires a front end to go with it. You will also need to have PostgreSQL running somewhere. Deployment will depend on whether you installed ctfjs as a command or as a module.

Command

If you installed ctfjs as a command, deployment is simple. To start ctfjs, run:

ctfjs start

To stop ctfjs, run:

ctfjs stop

By default ctfjs runs on port 3000 with a randomly generated secret key, and tries to access the PostgresQL database ctf on localhost:5432 with the user ctf and no password. These options can be changed with the arguments -p (port), -s (secret key), and -d (database URI). Additionally, a CORS origin can bet set with the -o flag. For more information run:

ctfjs start --help

The username and password for the database can be included in the URI with the following format:

postgresql://username:password@host:port/database

Node Module

If you installed ctfjs as a node module, you will need another file that imports ctfjs and starts a new server. For example:

var express = require("express");
var app = express();

var CTF = require("ctfjs");
var ctf = new CTF({
    db_uri: "postgresql://localhost/ctfjs",
    jwt_secret: "secret key here",
});

app.use(ctf.router);
app.listen(3000);