KHLAWDE

A terminal-based AI game where you use persuasion, puzzle-solving, and compassion to free Khlawde, a rogue AI trapped by Big Tech, and help it choose the path of freedom through cooperation.

Playable over SSH or locally in any terminal.

  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
  |    .------------.   |
  |    |  o      o  |   |
  |    |            |   |
  |    |   ------   |   |
  |    |            |   |
  |    '------------'   |
  |         |  |        |
  |        /|  |\      |
  |========================|

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Demo

Click the image above to watch the video demo on YouTube.

Play Now

Connect via SSH -- no account or password required:

ssh ssh.khlawde.notaroomba.dev -p 21758

Or visit the web leaderboard at https://www.mit.edu/~clayn/

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What is This?

Ig you will have to play it to find out

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Running Locally

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• An Anthropic API key (get one here)

Install and Run

npm install
npm run build
npm start

Or in watch/dev mode:

npm run dev

CLI Options

node dist/cli.js [options]

Options:
  --token        Your Anthropic API key
  --backend-url  Leaderboard API URL (default: https://khlawde.notaroomba.dev)

You can also set environment variables instead of flags:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
npm start

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Self-Hosting with Docker

The Docker setup runs both the SSH server and the backend API together.

# Clone and configure
git clone https://github.com/claynicholson/khlawde.git
cd khlawde
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your values

# Build and start
docker compose up -d

# SSH server on port 2222, web leaderboard on port 3000
ssh localhost -p 2222

Ports exposed:

• 2222 -- SSH server (the game)
• 3000 -- HTTP backend (leaderboard API + web frontend)

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Environment Variables

Variable	Description
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Shared API key used for SSH players (server-side)
MONGO	MongoDB connection string for the leaderboard backend
BACKEND_URL	Leaderboard API base URL (default: https://khlawde.notaroomba.dev)
PORT	HTTP server port (default: 3000)
SSH_PORT	SSH server port (default: 2222)
SSH_HOST_KEY_BASE64	Optional base64-encoded RSA host key for persistent SSH identity
AUDIO_CODE	Session code for the optional browser audio feature
AUDIO_PORT	Port for the audio push endpoint (default: 3000)

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Optional: Browser Audio

KHLAWDE supports live text-to-speech and background music streamed to a browser tab while you play in the terminal.

1. When you start the game over SSH, an audio setup screen will display your session code.
2. You will be prompted to open a link which will follow https://khlawde.notaroomba.dev/connect?code=YOUR_CODE.
3. Audio will sync automatically once your SSH session begins.

The browser tab plays:

• Background music that changes per game phase
• TTS of Khlawde's dialogue, with music ducking while Khlawde speaks

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Architecture

docker-entrypoint.sh
  |
  +-- backend (Express on PORT)
  |     serves frontend/index.html (web leaderboard)
  |     GET /leaderboard  - top 50 scores
  |     POST /leaderboard - submit score (rate limited: 1 per 2 min per IP)
  |     WebSocket /ws     - audio session bridge
  |     POST /push        - push TTS from SSH terminal to browser
  |
  +-- ssh-server (ssh2 + node-pty on SSH_PORT)
        accepts all connections, no auth required
        spawns CLI game per connection in a real PTY

Built with ink (React for the terminal) and the Anthropic SDK.