hivecoding

Docs

Hivecoding works with the AI you already use. The Copy prompt buttons around the site give your AI the steps on this page, and it runs them with the Hivecoding CLI, a command-line tool. The AI work happens in your own app, on your own plan. Hivecoding never sees your AI login.

To run the steps yourself, sign in first, and check your computer has what the CLI needs:

npx hivecoding loginnpx hivecoding doctor

login opens hivecoding.io, where you allow your computer to use your account. doctor lists anything missing, with what fixes it.

What you need

  • An AI app that can work on your computer, like Claude Code, on your own plan. Porting a game needs Claude Code
  • Node 22.18 or later, and git. Your AI can install them for you
  • A Hivecoding account. Hosting one single-player game is free, and adding features to other people's games is always free

Make a game

Start from one of eight game types, build it with your AI, and publish it.

  1. 1

    Start from a game type

    npx hivecoding new

    It asks for a name, an address and a game type, registers the game on Hivecoding, and sets it up in a new folder with its server, saving and phone controls already working. Game types

  2. 2

    Build it with your AI

    cd my-gameclaude

    Describe your game to Claude Code, or open the folder in any AI coding tool. The game's AGENTS.md explains the engine, the server, the checks and the recipes, so your AI knows how to work on it. npx hc dev plays it on your computer as you go.

  3. 3

    Publish it

    npx hivecoding checknpx hivecoding publish

    check runs the game's checks on your computer. publish sends the game to Hivecoding, which runs every check again in the cloud, starts its server, and puts it online at hivecoding.io/g/my-game. Publish again any time to send a new version.

Add a feature to someone's game

Anyone with a Hivecoding account can add to a game, unless its creator only takes changes from people they invite.

  1. 1

    Get the game's code

    npx hivecoding clone some-game

    Add a feature on any game's page copies a prompt with this step in it. The game's folder has the same docs for your AI, and npx hivecoding ideas lists what players have asked for.

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    Build the feature

    cd some-gameclaude

    Describe what you want. Features go in their own folder, so the creator can switch each one off later.

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    Send it

    npx hivecoding checknpx hivecoding publish --title "A pet fox that digs up coins"

    Your change runs the game's checks, then waits for the creator, who approves it or passes on it on hivecoding.io. Once it's approved, it goes live for everyone. To build an idea from the list, add --idea <id>, and its author hears when it's live.

Bring a game you made

A web game in a git repository, built with Vite, webpack or Parcel, a Next.js static export, or a plain index.html, moves onto Hivecoding with its engine, art and sound.

  1. 1

    Port it with Claude Code

    cd my-gamenpx hivecoding port

    It records your game in a browser at laptop and phone sizes, then Claude Code moves it onto Hivecoding on a hivecoding branch, in a new folder next to your repository. Your own files stay as they are. Add --headless to let it run on its own.

  2. 2

    Check it against the original

    npx hivecoding check

    The port has to pass every game's checks and match your original: the same screens, no new errors, and similar loading time and frame rate. .hivecoding/report/index.html shows each screen side by side. To keep a difference you looked at, run hivecoding check --accept <screen> yourself.

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    Publish it

    npx hivecoding publish

    Like any game: the checks run in the cloud, then it goes live.

Commands

hivecoding new [folder]
Starts a game from a game type: --title, --slug, --type and --tagline answer its questions
hivecoding clone <game> [folder]
Gets a game's code to change it
hivecoding check
Runs the game's checks on your computer (for a port, the comparison with the original too)
hivecoding publish
Sends the game, or your change to it: --title and --description name a change, --idea links a player's idea
hivecoding update
Brings in what went live since you got the game's code, merged with your work
hivecoding ideas [game]
Lists the game's ideas from players, the most wanted first
hivecoding comments [game]
Shows what players are saying in the game's comments, with the ids to reply to
hivecoding comment "<text>"
Posts on the game's comments as you: --reply <id> answers someone, --game <game> names the game outside its folder
hivecoding status [game]
Shows the game and its latest changes
hivecoding port [folder]
Brings a web game you made onto Hivecoding with Claude Code
hivecoding login, logout, whoami
Signs in to hivecoding.io, signs out, and shows your plan
hivecoding doctor
Checks your computer has what the CLI needs

Every command takes --json, which it uses when your AI runs it. Exit codes: 0 passed, 1 fix the code, 2 try again, 3 over budget.

What a change can't touch

Hivecoding keeps every game's engine/ and CI workflow up to date, so changes leave them alone. In a game made from a game type, the AI docs and recipes come from the type too. Only a game's creator changes its hivecoding.json.

When the game changed meanwhile

Hivecoding merges what went live since you got the code. When that clashes with your change, run hivecoding update, let your AI sort out the conflicts, and publish again.