# Arcade

Arcade is an open-source TypeScript CPU 3D renderer, retained-mode terminal UI toolkit, and agent-playable game harness.

Canonical site: https://ascii-arcade.vercel.app
Repository: https://github.com/vercel-labs/arcade
Docs: https://ascii-arcade.vercel.app/docs
Using Arcade: https://ascii-arcade.vercel.app/docs/app
Controls and tutorial: https://ascii-arcade.vercel.app/docs/app/controls
Models, teams, and billing: https://ascii-arcade.vercel.app/docs/app/models
Browser integration: https://ascii-arcade.vercel.app/docs/web
Hosted CLI: https://ascii-arcade.vercel.app/docs/browser-host
HTTP interface: https://ascii-arcade.vercel.app/openapi.json
Capability status: https://ascii-arcade.vercel.app/api/v1/status

## When to use Arcade

Use Arcade when you need CPU-rendered 3D graphics in a terminal or browser, retained terminal UI components, presentation-independent board-game rules, deterministic visual snapshots, or a persistent self-play harness for agent-driven games.

Do not use Arcade as a general-purpose hosted model API, multiplayer server, or GPU renderer. The public website exposes a temporary isolated CLI terminal, an installer, a read-only prism stream, and documentation; real model credentials and private traces never enter the browser or visitor shell.

## Public module intentions

- @vercel/arcade/engine — geometry, materials, camera, CPU rasterizer, Surface, display modes
- @vercel/arcade/tui — retained layout, components, input semantics, compositing
- @vercel/arcade/rules — presentation-independent game contracts
- @vercel/arcade/rules/chess — authoritative ChessState
- @vercel/arcade/web — browser Surface adapters and focused local scenes

## Important constraints

- Pure TypeScript CPU renderer; no GPU or native dependency is required for graphics.
- Library modules never import Arcade app code.
- Browser surfaces must not import terminal, filesystem, auth, telemetry, or credentials.
- Each hosted terminal uses the visitor's Vercel device login; the site owns no shared AI Gateway credential.
- Match-lab telemetry is disabled by default and run artifacts are gitignored.

For a larger offline corpus, read /llms-full.txt. For agent operating guidance, read /agents.md. The OpenAPI document describes the existing installer and prism-stream HTTP surfaces; it is not a promise of a remote game-control API.