What is this?

I've been playing around w/ making something w just agents, purely out of curiousity, this is that!

Tiny Chess

A simple web-based chess game that you can play with just a link.

We give you a shareable URL and we'll randomly pick your side; the next person gets the other.

Anyone else who opens the link is a spectator.

Players can react with any emoji using the built-in emoji picker.

Local development

Bootstrap

• Go 1.22+
• Make
• Optional: air for live reload (go install github.com/cosmtrek/air@latest)
• Optional: Postgres if you want persistence

Install + run

go mod download
make run

Open http://localhost:8080.

Live reload (optional)

make dev

Database (optional)

Set DATABASE_URL to enable persistence (Postgres DSN), for example:

export DATABASE_URL="postgres://user:pass@localhost:5432/tinychess?sslmode=disable"

Tests

Unit tests

go test ./...

Browser e2e test (full game)

Runs a headless browser test that opens two clients and plays a complete legal game (Fool's Mate) to verify a game can finish.

go test -tags e2e ./internal/e2e -run TestPlayFullGame

Notes:

• Requires a local Chrome/Chromium install.
• If Chrome isn't on your PATH, set CHROME_BIN to the browser executable.
• If your environment needs it, set CHROMEDP_NO_SANDBOX=1.
• To watch the game being played, run headed with CHROMEDP_HEADLESS=0.
• To slow down moves, set E2E_MOVE_DELAY_MS (milliseconds between moves).
• To pause before the first move, set E2E_START_DELAY_MS.
• To wait for UI updates before capturing, set E2E_CAPTURE_DELAY_MS.
• Famous quick mates:
  • Fool's Mate: go test -tags e2e ./internal/e2e -run TestPlayFullGame
  • Scholar's Mate: go test -tags e2e ./internal/e2e -run TestPlayScholarsMate
• Optional recording:
  • Set E2E_RECORD=1 to capture screenshots before each move (white client).
  • Output defaults to e2e-artifacts/ (override with E2E_RECORD_DIR).
  • Use E2E_RECORD_FORMAT=mp4 (default), gif, or frames (PNGs only).
  • Set E2E_RECORD_FPS to control playback (default 6).
  • Set E2E_RECORD_HOLD_MS to hold the final frame (default 2000).
  • Requires ffmpeg on PATH for mp4/gif.

Make target (run all e2e tests + stitch gifs)

E2E_RECORD=1 E2E_RECORD_FORMAT=gif E2E_RECORD_FPS=6 make test-e2e

Defaults can be overridden:

• CHROMEDP_HEADLESS=0 to watch the run.
• CHROMEDP_VIEWPORT_WIDTH and CHROMEDP_VIEWPORT_HEIGHT for mobile/aspect testing (defaults to iPhone 15 Pro: 393x852).
• E2E_MOVE_DELAY_MS and E2E_START_DELAY_MS for timing.
• E2E_CAPTURE_DELAY_MS to wait for SSE/UI updates before each capture.
• E2E_RECORD_HOLD_MS to extend the final frame.
• E2E_RECORD_FORMAT=frames to skip stitching (no ffmpeg needed).
• E2E_SEND_EMOJI=0 to skip the emoji taunt (default on).
• E2E_EMOJI to override the emoji character.

Links

• Production: https://tinychess.dusty.wtf/
• Sandbox: https://sandbox.tinychess.dusty.wtf