dartboard

dartboard is a terminal drawing board written in Rust.

The repo currently contains:

• dartboard: a ratatui/crossterm TUI client
• dartboardd: a headless websocket server
• reusable crates for canvas state, editor logic, rendering, and websocket transport

Current State

What exists in this codebase today:

• local embedded mode with an in-process server and multiple local users
• remote multiplayer over websocket
• terminal UI with keyboard and mouse editing
• reusable crates for embedding the canvas/editor/server pieces elsewhere

What does not exist yet:

• persistent storage beyond the in-memory store
• authentication or access control
• a published network service; you run the server yourself

Workspace Layout

• dartboard-core: canvas model, operations, wire types
• dartboard-editor: host-neutral editor/session logic and keymap
• dartboard-tui: reusable ratatui canvas widget
• dartboard-local: in-process server, local client, store trait
• dartboard-server: websocket listener and dartboardd, built on dartboard-local
• dartboard-client-ws: websocket client transport
• dartboard-cli: the dartboard terminal application

Build

cargo build --workspace --all-targets

Or use the provided justfile:

just build
just test
just lint

Running

Embedded TUI demo

Runs the TUI with an in-process server and the built-in local-user demo:

cargo run --bin dartboard

Host a shared websocket session from the TUI binary

cargo run --bin dartboard -- --listen 127.0.0.1:9199

Then connect another client with:

cargo run --bin dartboard -- --connect ws://127.0.0.1:9199

You can also set identity when connecting:

cargo run --bin dartboard -- --connect ws://127.0.0.1:9199 --user alice --user-color ff6633

Run the headless server

dartboardd serves the same websocket protocol without the TUI dependency footprint:

cargo run --bin dartboardd -- 127.0.0.1:9199

Examples:

cargo run --bin dartboardd
cargo run --bin dartboardd -- 0.0.0.0
cargo run --bin dartboardd -- 127.0.0.1:0

Notes:

• default server address is 127.0.0.1:9199
• if you pass port 0, the resolved websocket URL is printed on startup
• the server currently uses InMemStore, so canvas state is lost when the process exits

Controls

The TUI exposes these core controls in its built-in help:

• type to draw
• arrow keys to move
• Shift + arrows to create or extend a selection
• mouse drag to select
• right-drag or Alt + arrows / Ctrl + Shift + arrows to pan
• Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V for swatch-based copy/cut/paste
• Alt+C to export text to the system clipboard
• Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+R for undo / redo
• Ctrl+P to toggle help
• Ctrl+Q to quit

Advanced editing features currently implemented include:

• rectangular and elliptical selections
• floating selections with transparency toggle
• swatch slots with pinning
• border drawing
• smart fill
• row and column push/pull transforms
• support for wide Unicode glyphs and per-cell colors

Protocol / Limits

• websocket messages are JSON-encoded ClientMsg / ServerMsg values
• default canvas size is 256 x 128
• the shared server currently allows up to 8 concurrent players

License

MIT