mud/.claude/CLAUDE.md

mudlib

Telnet MUD engine built on telnetlib3. Python 3.12+, managed with uv.

Commands

• just check - lint (ruff --fix + format), typecheck (pyright), test (pytest)
• just lint / just typecheck / just test - individual steps
• just run - start the server (python -m mudlib)
• just debug - start with debug logging

Project Layout

• src/mudlib/ - the engine (commands, world, combat, render, store)
• tests/ - pytest tests
• worlds/ - world definition files (yaml/toml, version controlled)
• docs/ - project knowledge (see below)
• DREAMBOOK.md - the vision, philosophy, wild ideas. not a spec
• repos/ - symlinked reference repos (telnetlib3, miniboa). gitignored, not our code

Docs

Three categories in docs/. Plain text, not markdown.

• docs/how/ - how things work. write one when you build something non-obvious. terrain generation, command system, etc. aimed at someone reading the code who wants the "why did we do it this way" context.
• docs/why/ - design philosophy. telnet-first, text worlds, etc. the reasoning behind big decisions. doesn't change often.
• docs/lessons/ - things we learned the hard way. write one when you hit a real bug or gotcha that cost time. charset-vs-mtts, etc. include the fix so we don't repeat it.

Update docs when:

• you build a new system (add a how/)
• you make a design decision worth explaining (add a why/)
• you debug something painful (add a lessons/)
• existing docs become wrong (update them)

Architecture

• telnetlib3 is a dependency, not vendored. contribute fixes upstream
• telnetlib3 gives us: GMCP, MSDP, NAWS, async server, reader/writer streams
• game loop is tick-based (async task alongside telnet server)
• world definitions live in data files, runtime state lives in memory
• SQLite for persistence (player accounts, progress)
• session mode stack filters what events reach the player (normal/combat/editor)

Style

• simple > clever
• no mock implementations
• match existing patterns in each file