gladCode 2

gladCode is a web-based programming game and arena where players code AI gladiators in C or Python to battle autonomously. The platform features selectable Phaser.js 2D and Three.js top-down 3D battle replays, visual block-based programming (Blockly), raw C/Python editing (ACE Editor), tournament systems, and live WebSocket notifications.

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📐 Architecture Overview

gladCode 2 runs as a microservices architecture managed via Docker Compose:

flowchart TD
    User([User Browser]) -->|HTTP / PHP Pages| Apache[Apache / PHP 8 Frontend\npublic_html:80]
    User -->|WebSockets| Node[Node.js WebSocket Server\nnode:3000]
    Apache -->|MySQL Driver| DB[(MySQL 8.0 Database\nmysql:3306)]
    Node -->|MySQL Driver| DB
    Apache -->|POST /:dirname| Runner[Runner Express API\nrunner:3000]
    Runner -->|Spawn Container| VM[gladcode2-vm Container\npswerlang/gladcode2-vm]
    VM -->|Compile & Run| Payload[C Simulation Engine\npayload/gladCodeServerMain]
    Payload -->|Socket IPC| GladiatorCodes[User Gladiator Codes\ncode0.c, code1.c...]
    Payload -->|Generates| SimLog[simlog JSON]
    SimLog -->|Expand incremental frames| Playback[Shared Playback State\nscript/render2/battle-state.js]
    Playback -->|Classic 2D| Phaser[Phaser.js Renderer\nscript/render.js]
    Playback -->|Coliseum 3D| Three[Three.js Renderer\nscript/render2.js]

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🛠️ Microservices Breakdown

Service	Location	Tech Stack	Role & Responsibilities
Apache / PHP Frontend	public_html/	PHP 8, Apache, jQuery, Phaser.js, Three.js	Web UI, user auth, gladiator management, tournament routing, simulation invocation, and selectable battle replay rendering
Runner Service	runner/	Node.js (ESM), Express, Docker CLI	Docker-in-Docker executor. Receives battle requests, runs containerized simulations
WebSocket Server	node/	Node.js, Express, Socket.IO	Real-time chat, live notification delivery, tournament updates
Simulation Engine	payload/	C (GCC, pthreads, Sockets)	Multi-threaded arena server executing turn-by-turn combat between gladiator scripts
Database	database-2025.*.sql	MySQL 8.0	Stores user accounts, gladiators, tournament schedules, battle logs, and stats

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⚡ Quick Start & Development Environment

Note

No Local Node/Python Requirement: Node.js and Python are not required on the host machine. All services, scripts, and compilers run inside Docker containers.

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop (or Docker Engine + Docker Compose plugin)

1. Environment Configuration

Copy environment template files:

cp .env.example .env
cp config/config.json.example config/config.json
cp node/config.json.example node/config.json

config/config.json lives outside the web root and is mounted into Apache at /var/www/private/config.json (see compose.yaml). Never put secrets in public_html/ — public_html/config.json is deprecated, still read as a last-resort fallback, and blocked by .htaccess. If you have one, move it: mv public_html/config.json config/config.json.

Ensure MySQL credentials in .env, config/config.json, and node/config.json match:

{
  "mysql": {
    "host": "mysql",
    "port": "3306",
    "user": "root",
    "password": "root_password",
    "database": "gladcode"
  }
}

2. Launching Services

Start all containers in detached mode:

docker compose up -d

Service endpoints:

• Web Frontend: http://localhost:80
• Dev Tools Suite: http://localhost:80/dev-tools/
• Runner API: Internal only (http://runner:3000)
• MySQL: localhost:3306

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🗄️ Database Management & Dev Tools

gladCode 2 includes a dev-tools suite in public_html/dev-tools/:

Database Backup & Restore

cd public_html/dev-tools

# Dump current MySQL database to dump_gladcode.sql
./dump_restore.sh dump

# Restore database from dump_gladcode.sql
./dump_restore.sh restore

Tournament CLI Management

cd public_html/dev-tools

# List test tournaments
./tournament.sh list

# Reset specific tournament by ID
./tournament.sh reset 12

# List real production tournaments (with pagination)
./tournament.sh list-real 1 10

# Reset real production tournament
./tournament.sh reset-real 45

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⚔️ How Gladiator Battles Work

1. Code Creation: Users write C or Python gladiator algorithms in editor.php using either visual blocks or text editing.
2. Security Verification: Before compilation, user code is checked against public_html/banned_functions.json to prevent unauthorized memory/game state modification.
3. Execution Request: public_html/back_simulation.php prepares a temporary run folder under public_html/runs/{hash}/ with payload/ files and user scripts (code0.c, code1.c, etc.), then sends an HTTP POST to http://runner:3000/{hash}.
4. Container Isolation: Runner spawns gladcode2-vm container with restricted CPU (--cpu-quota=50000) and a 30-second execution deadline.
5. Simulation Execution: socket_compile.sh compiles gladiator code, launches gladCodeServerMain, and manages socket IPC between gladiators and the C game engine.
6. Log Replay: The simulation writes an incremental JSON execution trace (simlog). script/playback.js expands it into complete frames, then the saved battle setting selects either the classic Phaser renderer (script/render.js) or the top-down Three.js renderer (script/render2.js). The 3D renderer dresses each gladiator in Synty modular models mapped and recoloured from its persisted skin, walking with a distance-driven gait and playing Synty animation clips for melee, ranged, spell, block and charge actions timed on the replay clock (pausing freezes them; replay speed scales them). Both renderers use the same 100 ms simulation cadence and authoritative arena coordinates.

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📁 Repository Structure

gladcode2/
├── .github/                 # GitHub workflows & Copilot instructions
├── Dockerfile-apache        # PHP 8 + Apache + Docker CLI container definition
├── Dockerfile-dind          # Docker-in-Docker container definition for runner
├── compose.yaml             # Docker Compose microservices specification
├── database-2025.*.sql      # Database initialization SQL dumps
├── node/                    # Node.js Socket.IO WebSocket server
├── payload/                 # C battle simulation engine & socket API source
├── public_html/             # Apache web root (PHP backends, JS, CSS, dev-tools)
│   ├── assets/              # Runtime 3D character source, palette atlases, and weapon models
│   ├── back_simulation.php  # Simulation orchestrator
│   ├── banned_functions.json# Security function filter
│   ├── dev-tools/           # Tournament & DB management CLI/Web suite
│   ├── runs/                # Temporary simulation workspace directory
│   └── script/              # Playback UI plus Phaser and Three.js renderers
│       └── render2/         # Modular Three.js arena, entities, effects, audio, camera, and state helpers
└── runner/                  # Express Docker execution service

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🛡️ Security & Constraints

• User code runs in unprivileged Docker containers (gladcode2-vm).
• CPU execution capped at 50% single core per battle.
• 30-second hard wall-clock timeout enforced by runner/runner.js.
• Forbidden functions (setPosition, setHp, setAp, lvlUp, etc.) blocked during compilation.