📟 Hacker Lobby

A secure, real-time, multiplayer terminal chat application that connects hackers globally. The application runs entirely within your terminal, utilizing a serverless Cloudflare Workers and D1 database backend on the edge to deliver real-time messaging without latency.

🌍 Global Access & Connecting Globally

Hacker Lobby is designed to connect people globally. When you run the application, it connects to a production server deployed on Cloudflare's serverless edge network. This allows you to chat in real-time with developers and terminal enthusiasts from all around the world.

• Global API Backend URL: https://hacker-lobby-backend.spidozx.workers.dev

📥 Prerequisites: Downloading Node.js and npm

To run the Hacker Lobby client, you need Node.js installed on your system.

When you install Node.js, it automatically installs:

1. npm (Node Package Manager): Used for installing and managing Node.js packages.
2. npx (Node Package Runner): Used to execute Node.js CLI packages directly without manual global installation.

How to Download and Install

🪟 Windows

• Direct Installer: Download the recommended LTS installer from the official Node.js website. Run the downloaded .msi file and follow the installer prompts.
• Terminal (Winget): Open PowerShell or Command Prompt as administrator and run:

  winget install OpenJS.NodeJS

🍎 macOS

• Direct Installer: Download the macOS installer (.pkg) from the official Node.js website and run it.
• Homebrew: Open Terminal and run:

  brew install node

🐧 Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

Open Terminal and run the following commands to install Node.js and npm:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nodejs npm -y

Verifying Your Installation

Once the installation is complete, restart your terminal application (PowerShell, Command Prompt, or bash) and verify the setup:

1. Verify Node.js:

   node -v

2. Verify npm:

   npm -v

3. Verify npx:

   npx -v

🚀 How to Access Hacker Lobby

You can connect to the global chat room instantly using npx. There is no need to clone the repository, download files, or configure local databases.

Simply open your terminal and run:

npx hacker-lobby

This command runs the client and automatically connects to the global production server.

Using a Custom Server URL (Optional)

If you wish to connect to a custom/different backend, you can specify the API_URL environment variable:

• PowerShell (Windows):

  $env:API_URL="https://your-custom-backend.workers.dev"; npx hacker-lobby

• Command Prompt (Windows):

  set API_URL=https://your-custom-backend.workers.dev && npx hacker-lobby

• macOS / Linux / Git Bash:

  API_URL="https://your-custom-backend.workers.dev" npx hacker-lobby

💬 How to Use

Once inside the lobby, you can interact with the global room:

1. Choose an Alias: Type your nickname and press Enter.
2. Lock Your Alias (Optional): If you choose to lock your alias, you will be prompted to create a password. For security, characters are hidden as you type.
3. Chatting: Type your message and press Enter to broadcast it.
4. Commands:
   • Type /exit or /quit to close the application.

✨ Features

• Real-Time Messaging: Built on Server-Sent Events (SSE) for zero-latency multiplayer updates.
• Secure Alias Locking: Register your nickname with a password. Passwords are salted and hashed using SHA-256 for secure database verification.
• Input Masking: Passwords and confirmation queries are hidden on the terminal screen during entry.
• Anti-Spam Rate Limiting: Token-bucket rate limiting prevents message spamming.
• Terminal XSS Protection: Filters ANSI escape sequences to prevent control character injection attacks.