Moyu · Stick Slash

A stick-figure action game inside your terminal. Play on its own or wrap Codex, Claude Code, or another coding CLI. While you work, Moyu occupies one quiet row. Press Ctrl+] to play and press it again to return; progress is saved automatically.

简体中文 · Quick start · See it in action · Controls · Troubleshooting

Quick start

Requires Node >= 20 and an interactive terminal. macOS, Linux, and native Windows 10/11 are supported.

On macOS or Linux with Node installed:

npm install --global moyu-game@0.2.0
moyu demo

moyu demo opens the game full-screen so you can try it without installing Codex or Claude Code. Press q to leave. To keep your coding session open with a quiet one-row game beside it, run moyu -- codex or moyu -- claude; press Ctrl+] to enter or leave the game. Your game progress is saved automatically.

If your Mac does not have Node, use the macOS installer. Windows does not require WSL. Run this in PowerShell:

$file = Join-Path $env:TEMP 'moyu-native-install.ps1'
Invoke-WebRequest https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PrometheusTT/moyu/main/install/windows-native.ps1 -OutFile $file
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File $file

The installer sets up Node and WezTerm if needed. Open a new WezTerm PowerShell tab, then run moyu demo. If you already have a coding CLI installed, you can wrap it instead:

moyu -- codex
moyu -- claude

On Windows, install the native Windows version of the CLI you want to wrap. For the latest development commit instead of the npm release, install https://codeload.github.com/PrometheusTT/moyu/tar.gz/refs/heads/main with npm install --global.

See it in action

The clip above is a real play session in the text fallback tier, recorded without a coding CLI. High-resolution terminals can render finer graphics; moyu doctor --caps shows which tier your terminal selects.

• Actual play: run moyu demo after installation. This uses your terminal's available graphics tier and starts at normal progression.
• Sword-art showcase: from a source checkout, run npm run showcase:en for a 26-second sequence of all seven arts. It starts with unlocked moves and full qi for recording, so it is a staged showcase rather than a normal run. See the recording guide.
• Beside an agent: run moyu -- codex or moyu -- claude, then press Ctrl+] while the agent is working. Press it again to return to the same coding session.

Moyu needs Node 20+ and an interactive terminal. Graphics quality depends on your terminal; use moyu doctor --caps to see the selected tier. Open a terminal report if the game does not render correctly, including your OS, terminal, and doctor --caps output.

Controls

When Moyu wraps a coding CLI, keys belong to that CLI until you enter the game.

Key	Action
Ctrl+]	Enter or leave the game; F12 is an alternative
Esc / q	Return to the CLI without ending its session
E	Expand or collapse the battlefield
?	Pause and view the sword-art guide and unlock progress; [ / ] changes pages
A / D	Move left / right
J	Quick slash; movement, crouching, and jumping change the strike
Space / K	Jump
U / I	Dash slash / spin slash
S → K	Iron Guard: break control and defend in place; you cannot move or attack, but still take damage

Enter combinations in order; do not hold their keys together. Ctrl+C, Ctrl+G, and Ctrl+Space remain available to the coding CLI.

Play and progression

Enemies spawn for about 30 seconds per stage. Defeat every remaining enemy and boss to finish the stage. A boss appears every three stages; mantis, scarab, crystal, and spider bosses rotate in. Early bosses have simpler moves, while later ones add combos, knockback, and brief control effects. Red ground marks and blue ice fields warn you to dodge.

Hits build qi for sword arts. Defeats build insight, which unlocks arts and permanently improves your maximum health and some cooldowns. Using an art raises its mastery and reach. Sword arts, insight, qi, and stage checkpoints save automatically.

Sword arts

Press each key in sequence. The unlock number is insight, not the number of times you cast the art. The qi column is the base cost for its first tier.

Keys	Art	Unlock insight	Base qi
S → U	Dugu Nine Swords (独孤九剑)	Starting art	10
S → I	Six Meridian Divine Sword (六脉神剑)	12	15
W → I	Taiji Sword (太极剑)	36	15
W → D → J	Getsuga Tenshō (月牙天冲), secret art	48	20
S → D → U	Heavenly Flying Fairy (天外飞仙)	60	20
W → A → J	Sun Breathing (日之呼吸), secret art	80	20
S → A → I	Myriad Swords Return to the Source (万剑归宗)	100	20

Qi below 60 uses the first set of forms; 60–99 uses the second; 100 or more uses the third. Later tiers cost 3 or 6 extra qi. Forms rotate within each tier, and the last form in the highest tier has a finishing move. Press ? in-game for individual forms and your progress. S → K is a separate defensive move: Iron Guard initially lasts 0.8 seconds with a 6-second cooldown. It clears control and prevents knockback or stagger during the guard, but it is not invulnerability.

“Myriad Swords Return to the Source” is this project's English rendering, not a verified official translation.

To record every art without manual inputs, run npm run showcase:en or npm run showcase:zh from a source checkout. See the recording guide.

Terminals and graphics

Moyu probes your terminal and chooses Kitty Graphics, color Braille, or half-block text. These terminals are currently known to support high-resolution play:

Terminal	Platform
Kitty	macOS / Linux
Ghostty	macOS / Linux
WezTerm	macOS / Linux / Windows
iTerm2	macOS

Run moyu doctor --caps to see your actual graphics tier or moyu doctor --gfx to check image output. Other terminal reports are welcome through Issues; see the terminal QA guide for what to include.

Task integration

Task integration is optional. When enabled, Moyu saves the game and updates its status when an agent task starts, finishes, or needs confirmation:

moyu setup                       # Install detected Codex / Claude Code hooks
moyu install                     # Preview configuration changes
moyu install --write             # Apply changes and back up the original file
moyu install --uninstall --write # Remove Moyu hooks

Codex uses ~/.codex/hooks.json; Claude Code uses ~/.claude/settings.json. The installer merges existing settings. Hooks record only events and timestamps, never prompts, output, or error text. If Codex shows Hooks need review, choose Trust all and continue to enable the new hooks.

Update

To update the npm release, run npm install --global moyu-game@latest (npm.cmd in Windows PowerShell). Saves are kept. If you installed directly from GitHub and want the latest main commit even when its package version is unchanged, remove and reinstall that source. On macOS / Linux:

npm uninstall --global moyu-game
npm install --global 'https://codeload.github.com/PrometheusTT/moyu/tar.gz/refs/heads/main'

Windows PowerShell:

npm.cmd uninstall --global moyu-game
npm.cmd install --global "https://codeload.github.com/PrometheusTT/moyu/tar.gz/refs/heads/main"

Restart Moyu after updating; running processes do not reload automatically.

Language

Moyu's built-in games and CLI messages (including doctor and install) follow the system locale: Chinese for Chinese locales, English otherwise. Override it for one run with moyu --lang en play stick-slash or moyu --lang zh -- codex; MOYU_LANG=en and MOYU_LANG=zh also work. Put Moyu's --lang before -- when wrapping a CLI; arguments after -- belong to that CLI. Third-party Cartridges provide their own text.

Create with us

Bug reports, terminal testing, translations, enemies, and sword arts are welcome. Search Issues first, then open an Issue or Pull Request; small fixes can go straight to a PR. You can also build a local game with the Cartridge quickstart. See the contribution guide for the full workflow.

Source development requires Node.js 22.6 or later:

git clone https://github.com/PrometheusTT/moyu.git
cd moyu
npm ci
npm run check
npm run compile

Commit the generated dist/ alongside source changes.

Uninstall

If you enabled task integration, run moyu install --uninstall --write first, then npm uninstall --global moyu-game (npm.cmd on Windows). Saves and local Cartridges remain in ~/.moyu; delete that directory manually only if you no longer want them. Node and WezTerm are separate applications and remain installed.

If the terminal state looks wrong after a crash, run moyu doctor --reset. More help is in Troubleshooting. This project uses the MIT License; report security issues through the security policy.