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Open source game server with authentication, users, lobbies, server scripting and an admin portal.

Game + Backend = Gamend

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Discord | Guides | API Docs | Elixir Docs | Deployment Tutorial | Scaling Article

Run locally

Prerequisites

• Elixir 1.20 & Erlang/OTP 29 — see .tool-versions, the same pins as gamend; with asdf just run asdf install
• Rust (rustup) — required to build the WebRTC native dependency (ex_sctp)
• PostgreSQL — optional. Dev uses SQLite by default; set GAMEND_DB_POSTGRES_* or GAMEND_DB_URL in .env to use Postgres instead, then mix deps.clean gamend_core gamend_web --build && mix compile (the adapter is chosen at compile time).

Run

1. Copy .env.example to .env.
2. Install dependencies and start the app from the repo root:

mix deps.get
mix dev.start

The app runs on localhost:4000 (SQLite database, device auth enabled).

With a gamend checkout beside this one at ../gamend, the engine is built from it and edits there show up here. Without one, it comes from Hex.

Test

mix test
mix lint        # format check, credo --strict
mix precommit   # compile, format, test, credo, API lint

CI also runs dialyzer, mix deps.audit and a Docker build. Working on this repository, human or agent: AGENTS.md.

Run with Docker

Alternatively, run it in a container. It reads .env, so copy .env.example first:

docker compose up

For server plugins that run Godot headless, Dockerfile.godot adds Godot 4.7 on top of this image: build docker build -t gamend-starter . first, then docker build -f Dockerfile.godot ..

You should now see on localhost:4000:

Multi-node local deployment

For multi-node deployment, you need Postgres, Redis, a scalable app service (Elixir nodes), and an nginx proxy that load-balances requests to the app replicas.

1. Configure .env file (copy .env.example to .env).

2. Start services with 2 app replicas:

docker compose -f docker-compose.multi.yml up --scale app=2

Configure

You can configure the:

• modules/starter_config.json: Website settings (title, tagline, links) and branding paths (logo, favicon, banner, css).
• modules/plugins/starter_hook: An example Elixir plugin with custom hook logic. Build it so its hooks load locally: cd modules/plugins/starter_hook && mix deps.get && mix compile && mix plugin.bundle (or reload it from the admin console). The Docker build compiles plugins automatically.
• .env: Secrets (oauth/email/etc.). .env.example lists every GAMEND_* setting and is generated: run mix gamend.settings.env_example after a gamend update. It leaves out SENTRY_DSN, which the bundled Sentry client reads itself; nothing sends errors to Sentry until you add its logger handler (Sentry.LoggerHandler).
• priv/static/theme.css: The theme.
• priv/static/images: The images used in the website.

Godot client

A minimal Godot demo project lives in godot/ — it logs in and calls the example starter_hook.hello function over HTTP, WebSocket, and WebRTC. See godot/README.md for setup (install the Gamend SDK from the Asset Library, point it at your server, run).

Deploy

1. Fork this repo.
2. Go to fly.io (or another docker provider).
3. Connect the app with the repo you forked.
4. Launch the app and set your secrets. The GAMEND_AUTH_SECRET_KEY_BASE in fly.toml and docker-compose.yml is a public placeholder: generate your own with mix phx.gen.secret.