A collaborative writing game where players take turns adding sentences to a story while seeing only the previous line. The result is a hilariously disjointed masterpiece revealed at the end!

🚀 Production: https://exquisite-corpse.dilger.dev

1. Create a Room: Click "Create New Room" to start a game and get a 4-character room code
2. Share the Code: Give the room code to your friends (works on mobile and desktop!)
3. Write Your Sentence: When it's your turn, you'll see only the previous player's sentence
4. Enjoy the Chaos: After everyone has written, the complete story is revealed!

• Real-time Multiplayer: Uses WebSockets for instant updates
• Mobile-Friendly: Responsive design works on all devices
• Privacy-First: Players only see the previous sentence, not the full story
• Simple 4-Character Room Codes: Easy to share and remember
• No Registration Required: Just enter your name and play

• Cloudflare Durable Objects: Manages game room state and WebSocket connections
• Cloudflare Workers: Serverless edge functions for routing
• Vanilla JavaScript: No frameworks, just clean WebSocket API
• Tailwind CSS: Utility-first CSS for responsive design

┌─────────────┐
│   Browser   │──── WebSocket ───┐
└─────────────┘                  │
                                 ▼
┌─────────────┐          ┌──────────────┐
│   Browser   │──────────│   Durable    │
└─────────────┘          │    Object    │
                         │  (Game Room) │
┌─────────────┐          └──────────────┘
│   Browser   │──────────        │
└─────────────┘                  │
                                 ▼
                         ┌──────────────┐
                         │  Game State  │
                         │   Storage    │
                         └──────────────┘

Each game room is a Durable Object instance that maintains:

• Full Story Array: Complete list of all sentences (server-side only)
• Player List: Names, IDs, and turn order
• Current Turn Index: Tracks whose turn it is
• Game Status: Lobby, in-progress, or complete

Privacy Layer: When sending turn notifications, the server only transmits the previous sentence to the next player, ensuring the "exquisite corpse" mechanic works correctly.

Client → Server:

• join: Player joins with their name
• start_game: Host starts the game
• submit_sentence: Player submits their sentence

Server → Client:

• connected: Connection established, playerId assigned
• player_joined: Player list updated
• game_started: Game begins
• your_turn: It's your turn (includes previous sentence)
• waiting_for_turn: Wait for another player
• game_complete: Full story revealed
• error: Error message

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/cdilga/exquisite-corpse.git
cd exquisite-corpse

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run locally
npm run dev

# Open http://localhost:8787

This project automatically deploys to Cloudflare Workers when you push to the main branch.

# Deploy to production
npm run deploy

# Deploy to staging
npm run deploy:staging

# Deploy to beta
npm run deploy:beta

# Run unit tests (with Cloudflare Workers runtime)
npm test

# Watch mode
npm run test:watch

# Interactive UI
npm run test:ui

# Run E2E tests against local server
npm run test:e2e

# Interactive mode
npm run test:e2e:ui

# Test deployed production site
npm run test:deployed

exquisite-corpse/
├── src/
│   ├── index.js           # Worker entry point & routing
│   ├── GameRoom.js        # Durable Object for game state
│   └── pages/
│       └── home.js        # Frontend HTML/CSS/JS
├── tests/
│   ├── unit/
│   │   └── game.test.js   # Unit tests
│   └── e2e/
│       └── game.spec.js   # E2E tests
├── wrangler.toml          # Cloudflare configuration
└── package.json

• src/GameRoom.js: Durable Object class that handles WebSocket connections and game logic
• src/index.js: Worker that routes requests to Durable Objects
• src/pages/home.js: Complete frontend application (HTML/CSS/JS in one file)
• wrangler.toml: Cloudflare Workers configuration

The following secrets are configured in GitHub Actions:

• CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN: For deploying to Cloudflare
• CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID: Your Cloudflare account ID

The magic happens in GameRoom.js in the handleSubmitSentence function:

// Add sentence to full story (server-side only)
state.story.push({
  playerId: playerId,
  playerName: currentPlayer.name,
  sentence: sentence.trim(),
});

// Send ONLY the previous sentence to next player
const previousSentence = state.story[state.story.length - 1].sentence;

this.sendToPlayer(nextPlayer.id, {
  type: 'your_turn',
  previousSentence: previousSentence,  // Only one sentence!
  turnNumber: state.currentTurnIndex + 1,
});

This ensures each player only sees the previous sentence, maintaining the "exquisite corpse" mechanic.

If WebSocket connections fail locally:

1. Make sure you're using wrangler dev (not a simple HTTP server)
2. Check that Durable Objects are properly configured in wrangler.toml

Room codes are case-insensitive and stored using Durable Object names. Each unique code maps to a unique Durable Object instance.

This is a fun project! Feel free to add features like:

• Adjustable number of rounds (multiple sentences per player)
• Room passwords for private games
• Story export/sharing functionality
• Themed prompts or story starters
• Vote for favorite sentence

MIT

This project was automatically generated and implemented using the-ultimate-bootstrap and Claude AI.

Built with ❤️ using Cloudflare Workers and Durable Objects.