pirats/README.md

# Rats with Gats Remote Play (`pirats`)

A web-based remote play companion app for the tabletop roleplaying game **Rats with Gats** (where players roleplay as gunslinging pirate rats, or "Pi-Rats", in the magical land of Yeld). The application manages lobbies, character creation, card mechanics, scene phases, obstacles, challenges, and player voting. See [RULEBOOK.md](RULEBOOK.md) for the game rules.

It is built with a **FastAPI** + **SQLModel** (SQLite) backend and a **Svelte 5** single-page frontend (in `frontend/`), which polls the backend's JSON state endpoint for near-real-time updates.

---

## Features

- **Game Lobby:** Create games and join as players via a unique game ID.
- **Character Creation:** 
  - Fill out the character profile (appearance, smell, catchphrase).
  - Delegate custom "Like/Hate" relationship questionnaire cards to other crewmates (answering them for each other!).
  - Draft three "Secret Pirate Techniques" which are automatically shuffled and swapped among players.
  - Bind swapped techniques to Face Cards (Jack, Queen, King) for play.
- **Dynamic Card Mechanics:**
  - Automated 54-card deck shuffling and card drawing.
  - Automatically matches card suits to thematic obstacles (Clubs for combat, Spades for stealth/cunning, Hearts for social/morale, Diamonds for nautical/athletics).
- **Scene Management:**
  - Assign roles (Pi-Rats or "The Deep" narrator).
  - Dynamic challenge creation linking multiple active obstacles.
  - Automatically handles card matching colors/values, automatic success when playing Face Card techniques, and Joker card triggers to discard/replace obstacles.
- **Between-Scenes Voting:**
  - Vote on crewmates to rank up.
  - Toggle personal objectives (Get a Gat, Earn a Name, Die like a Pirate).

---

## Installation & Running

This project supports standard Python package tools as well as Nix flakes.

### Option 1: Standard Python Installation

#### Prerequisites
- Python >= 3.9
- Virtual environment tool (optional but recommended)

#### 1. Setup Virtual Environment (Optional)
```bash
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
```

#### 2. Install Package
Install the package and its dependencies in editable mode:
```bash
pip install -e .
```

#### 3. Run the App
Launch the FastAPI server using the installed package entrypoint:
```bash
pirats --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 --reload
```
Alternatively, run it with `uvicorn`:
```bash
uvicorn pirats.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 --reload
```

Once running, access the web UI at [http://localhost:8000](http://localhost:8000).

#### Configuration (environment variables)

| Variable | Default | Purpose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `DATABASE_URL` | `sqlite:///./rats_with_gats.db` | SQLAlchemy database URL. |
| `PIRATS_LOG_FILE` | _(unset)_ | If set, also write logs to this file (rotating, 10 MB × 5 backups). Logs always go to stderr regardless. |
| `PIRATS_LOG_LEVEL` | `INFO` | Minimum log severity (`DEBUG`/`INFO`/`WARNING`/`ERROR`/`CRITICAL`). |
| `PIRATS_DEV_MODE` | _(unset = on)_ | Default Dev Mode for new games. Unset is treated as a local checkout (on); set to `0`/`false` to disable. |
| `PIRATS_PURGE_ENABLED` | `true` | Periodically purge old finished/inactive games. |
| `PIRATS_PURGE_INTERVAL_HOURS` | `24` | How often the purge task runs. |
| `PIRATS_PURGE_FINISHED_DAYS` | `14` | Purge games that finished more than this many days ago. |
| `PIRATS_PURGE_INACTIVE_DAYS` | `30` | Purge games with no activity for this many days. |

---

### Option 2: Using Nix Flakes

If you use the Nix package manager, this repository provides a complete environment.

#### 1. Enter the Development Shell
Includes Python, all runtime dependencies, and testing tools (`pytest`):
```bash
nix develop
```

#### 2. Run the Application
Run the package directly from the flake:
```bash
nix run . -- --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
```

#### 3. Build the Application Package
```bash
nix build .
```
The executable will be located in `./result/bin/pirats`.

---

## Deploying as a NixOS Service

The Nix flake exposes a NixOS module that configures the application to run as a systemd service with appropriate sandboxing.

Add this flake to your system configuration and configure the service:

```nix
services.pirats = {
  enable = true;
  host = "127.0.0.1";
  port = 8000;
  databasePath = "/var/lib/pirats/rats_with_gats.db";
  logFile = "/var/log/pirats/pirats.log"; # rotating; stderr also goes to the journal
  logLevel = "info";
  openFirewall = false; # Set to true to open ports in the firewall
  purge = {
    enable = true;       # periodically remove old finished/inactive games
    intervalHours = 24;
    finishedDays = 14;   # purge games finished more than 14 days ago
    inactiveDays = 30;   # ...or with no activity for 30 days
  };
};
```

The service writes its log to `logFile` (under the systemd-managed `/var/log/pirats`
`LogsDirectory`, so the sandboxed `DynamicUser` can write to it) and additionally
to the systemd journal via stderr (`journalctl -u pirats`).

---

## Running Tests

Tests are written using `pytest`. 

### Running with Pip
```bash
pytest
```

### Running with Nix
```bash
nix develop --command pytest
```

---

## Project Structure

```
pirats/
├── pyproject.toml             # Python package metadata and dependencies
├── flake.nix                  # Nix package (incl. frontend build), dev shell, NixOS service module
├── tests/
│   └── test_game.py           # Game logic and CRUD test suite (pure-crud, no HTTP for most)
├── frontend/                  # Svelte 5 + Vite SPA
│   └── src/
│       ├── pages/             # Routes: Home, Join, Dashboard (game UI), Admin
│       ├── components/        # One component per game phase, Card.svelte, and scene/ (ScenePhase sub-panels)
│       └── lib/               # api.js (fetch wrapper), cards.js (card display helpers), suggestions.js (Suggest-button pools)
└── src/
    └── pirats/                # FastAPI backend package
        ├── main.py            # App setup, /api/game create/join/state endpoints, CLI entrypoint
        ├── models.py          # SQLModel tables (Game, Player, Obstacle, Challenge, Vote, GameEvent)
        ├── cards.py           # Card parsing, deck building, obstacle table from the rulebook
        ├── crud.py            # Facade re-exporting all crud_* modules
        ├── crud_*.py          # Game logic by phase: base (deck/hands/rank), character, scene, challenge, upkeep
        ├── routes_*.py        # Thin API routers by phase, mounted under /api
        └── static/            # Built frontend lands here (gitignored; populated by the Nix build)
```

### Frontend Development

Run the backend (`pirats --reload`) and the Vite dev server side by side; Vite proxies `/api` to port 8000:

```bash
cd frontend && npm install && npm run dev
```