Codenames Server

Play Codenames with your Claude — not against a bot, and not against an API call. In classic mode, the Claude instance in your chat is the spymaster: it sees the hidden key through MCP tools and gives you one-word clues while you guess on a live board in your browser. In reversed mode, you are the spymaster: your browser shows you the key and a clue form, and Claude does the guessing — the server never sends Claude the key, so its deductions are provably genuine.

One small Node server does both jobs: it speaks MCP to Claude on /mcp and serves the human's board on /room/<CODE>.

The game

Cooperative, one-team Codenames:

• 25 words. 9 are your agents, 2 are assassins, the rest are bystanders. Only the spymaster (Claude) sees which is which.
• Claude gives a clue: one word + a number (e.g. OCEAN 3). You may guess up to number + 1 words.
• Reveal an agent → keep guessing. A bystander → turn ends. An assassin → game over.
• Find all 9 agents within 8 clues to win. Difficulty is configurable per game.

The server enforces the mechanical rules (clue can't match or contain a board word, phase order, guess limits). The spirit of the rules — clues about meaning only, no smuggled information — is on the players, as in the tabletop original.

Run it locally

npm install
npm run build
npm start            # listens on :3000

Test the MCP side with the inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector
# connect to http://localhost:3000/mcp (Streamable HTTP)

Deploy (so your Claude can reach it)

claude.ai connects to remote MCP servers over HTTPS, so deploy anywhere that runs Node and gives you a public URL. Fly.io example (a Dockerfile and fly.toml are included):

fly launch --no-deploy      # accept the generated app name or pick one
fly secrets set PUBLIC_URL=https://<your-app>.fly.dev
fly deploy

PUBLIC_URL is only used to build the join links Claude shows you — set it to wherever the server is reachable.

Connect Claude

1. In claude.ai / the Claude app: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector.
2. URL: https://<your-app>.fly.dev/mcp (no authentication).
3. In a chat, enable the connector and say: "Create a Codenames room and be my spymaster."

How a session flows

1. Claude calls codenames_create_room, receives the secret key, and tells you the join URL (e.g. /room/AMBER-FOX). Open it on any device.
2. Claude calls codenames_give_clue — the clue types itself onto your board.
3. Tap words to guess (tap twice to confirm). Bystander or "stop guessing" ends your turn.
4. Send Claude any message ("done", "your turn", or your table talk). Chat models only act when you message them, so this is the drumbeat of the game. Claude calls codenames_get_state, reads what happened, and gives the next clue.
5. Win, lose, post-mortem, and codenames_restart for a rematch on the same URL.

MCP tools

Tool	Purpose
codenames_create_room	New room + board; returns the join URL. Options: agents, assassins, turn_limit, and my_role ("spymaster" default, "guesser" for reversed mode).
codenames_get_state	Role-aware view: includes the key only when Claude is spymaster.
codenames_give_clue	(Claude as spymaster) Post a clue (clue, count; count: 0 = unlimited). Validated against board words.
codenames_guess	(Claude as guesser) Guess one board word against the human's clue.
codenames_pass	(Claude as guesser) Stop guessing and hand the turn back.
codenames_restart	Fresh board, same room code/URL; my_role here swaps who is spymaster.

In reversed mode the human's board shows the key as colored card edges (green = agent, red = assassin) plus a clue form; ask Claude to "restart the room with you as guesser" to swap roles mid-session.

Notes and limits

• State is in memory. Rooms expire after 24 h idle and vanish on redeploy. Perfect for pick-up games; add Redis/SQLite if you want persistence.
• No auth. Room codes are the only secret (~400 combinations — fine among friends, not adversaries). Don't expose anything sensitive through this server.
• The word pool is an original list of common English nouns; swap in your own in src/words.ts (any language works — the game is a great bilingual exercise).

The Window (phone camera bridge)

The server also hosts the Window: Claude calls window_create and gives you a URL like /eye/EMBER-421 to open on your phone. Press START, grant the camera, and Claude can then call window_look to receive a single frame as a true image it can see. Privacy rules, enforced by design: the camera runs only while the page is open and started; a photo is taken only when window_look is called; every capture flashes visibly on your screen; frames are delivered once and never stored. Close the page and the window is closed. An optional note field travels with the next frame.

MIT licensed. Built to be forked: Duet-style two-sided keys, competitive two-team mode, or entirely different turn-based games all fit the same referee-server pattern.