Mudslinger

A self-hosted, web-based MUD client. Players open a page in their browser and are connected to a MUD automatically; there is nothing to install on the client side. It renders MUD output (ANSI, XTERM 256 color, UTF-8) and sends player input.

The client connects directly to a MUD's native WebSocket port (e.g. a FluffOS external_port ... websocket), which carries the telnet byte stream as binary WebSocket frames. The telnet protocol stack (IAC negotiation, GMCP) runs entirely in the browser. Use a wss:// URL when serving the page over HTTPS, or the browser will block the connection as mixed content. The player's real IP is not available to the MUD, since there is no proxy to report it.

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 22

Configuration

Build-time settings are controlled via Vite define constants and VITE_* environment variables (see vite.config.ts):

Variable	Default	Meaning
VITE_MUD_URL	ws://localhost:10002	MUD WebSocket URL (ws:// or wss://)
VITE_MUD_NAME	My MUD	Display name shown in the UI
VITE_REPO_URL	https://github.com/michaelprograms/mudslinger	Repo link in the About panel
VITE_BASE_PATH	/play/	URL path the app is served under

Set them in a .env file (gitignored) or pass inline:

VITE_MUD_URL=wss://mud.example.com:4200 npm run build

Build and run

npm install
npm run build          # production bundle -> static/public/assets/
npm run build-dev      # unminified bundle (mode=development)
npm run dev            # Vite dev server with HMR

Then serve static/public/ (the build output) behind a web server. See DEPLOY.md for nginx configuration.

Tests

npm test               # vitest run (headless)
npm run typecheck      # tsc --noEmit

License

MIT