codemble 0.5.0

A learning game that turns the code AI wrote for you into a galaxy you light up by understanding it.

Codemble

Turn AI-built code into a galaxy you actually understand.

Codemble is a local-first learning game for projects built with Claude Code, Codex, and other coding agents. It maps real parser evidence into a 3D galaxy and a flat architecture map, then lights each region only after you prove you understand it.

Your project · Your key · Your machine · No invented structure

Quick start · Learning loop · Documentation · Test Codemble

_{Galaxy level. Every system is one module; size is lines of code, brightness is how many distinct structures call it. Files the parser could not read stay visible and say so.}

[!IMPORTANT] Codemble is in its Phase 1 tester release. It maps Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, and mixed projects in one parser-proven galaxy, installable straight from PyPI with an in-app project picker. The technical release is complete; unaided learner runs are the evidence still being collected. Try the ten-minute tester loop.

Quick start

Two steps. The first is once per machine; the second is how you run Codemble from then on.

	Step	Command
	1 · Install uv — the runner that fetches Codemble on demand	brew install uv
	2 · Chart your project — nothing to install, nothing left behind	uvx codemble

Installing uv without Homebrew

# macOS · Linux
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Windows (PowerShell)
powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

Already have pipx? You can skip uv entirely: pipx install codemble, then run codemble. Plain pip install codemble works too. uv is the recommended path because uvx runs the current release without adding anything to your system Python.

Codemble opens your browser — pick your project folder there. To skip the picker, pass a path: codemble ./your-ai-built-project.

The wheel already contains the web app, so Node.js is not required. No API key is needed for the galaxy, the map, the structural summary, source viewer, language Lens, checks, lighting, or saved progress. Add your own Anthropic or OpenAI key only if you want grounded prose explanations:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...   # or OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...

Prefer to send nothing anywhere? Point Codemble at a local Ollama instead — same grounding validation, loopback only, never automatic:

ollama pull gemma4:12b && export CODEMBLE_PROVIDER=ollama

Installation, configuration, and troubleshooting →

How the learning loop works

Step	What Codemble does	What you gain
1. Chart	Parses your project without running its code or package scripts	A deterministic map made from source evidence
2. Navigate	Two layers over one graph: a 3D galaxy on scripted camera rails, and a flat map of architecture and workflow	Orientation without getting lost in free flight
3. Study	Shows the real source, exact line numbers, neighbors, and parser-detected language idioms	Context tied to code you can inspect
4. Prove	Generates and scores checks from the graph—never from the model	A region lights only when understanding is demonstrated
5. Return	Saves progress locally; changing one file re-dims only its module	A living map that stays honest as the project changes

No XP. No streaks. No leaderboard. The visible reward is the useful one: more of your own code becomes a sky you understand.

What it looks like

_{System level. Members orbit by call depth, so the inner ring runs first.}

_{Study. Everything on this panel except the narration comes from the parser — and this one has no model configured at all.}

_{Large projects (up to roughly 1,000 source files) parse in the background with visible staged progress — a real file count while reading, named steps while resolving — so a big project never looks like a frozen tab. Cancel any time to pick another.}

Two layers over one graph

Codemble draws the same parser evidence two ways, switchable in the header. The map cannot show you a relationship the galaxy does not have — both layouts are computed in the graph layer and served as data.

Layer	What it is	When it helps
Galaxy	3D, camera on rails through galaxy → system → study	Orientation, and the shape of the whole project
Map · Architecture	Modules as boxes, grouped by folder, layered by import distance from Home	Seeing how the project fits together
Map · Workflow	The call tree from your entrypoint, depth by depth	Seeing what runs first

The Map is plain SVG, so it still works on a machine that cannot draw WebGL.

Open a structure, read what the parser knows first

The study panel builds itself outward from the most certain evidence: a structural summary written from parser facts alone — no key, no network, no model — then grounded narration if you configured a provider, then every connection into and out of the structure with its direction, its certainty, and a file:line you can click, then the real source and the language Lens notes.

Sections other than the narration never involve a model at all.

Easy or Expert

A header toggle changes how Codemble talks to you and how much it puts on screen: plain language, larger type, the Map by default, and a hint chip naming the nearest unlit region to Home — counted in import hops over the graph, not chosen by a model. It never changes graph truth, coordinates, progress, or how a check is scored.

You can also switch project or change Home without leaving the app.

Read the galaxy

In the galaxy	In your project
A star system	One source module
A planet	A function or class
The Home system	The selected parser-ranked entrypoint
A route or edge	An import or call; approximate calls are labeled possible
Size	Lines of code
Brightness and glow	How many distinct structures call it
Nebula tint	Language, at galaxy level
Orbit ring	Call depth — the inner ring runs first
Drifting particles	A call the parser proved; a possible call stays still
Dim → lit	Not yet proven → understood

Understanding owns the top of the brightness range: the unlit ramp stops below the amber a lit star uses, so a busy module you have not proven can never outshine one you have. Pass a region's checks and that system plays a short amber "nebula dawn" — after the light is already saved, so the animation marks a fact rather than delivering one.

Python-only, JavaScript-only, TypeScript-only, and mixed projects share the same graph contract. Language focus changes only what you are looking at; it never changes coordinates, progress, or parser truth.

Honest by construction

Codemble is built for learners who may not yet be able to spot a confident mistake. Accuracy therefore outranks spectacle:

• Structure, entrypoints, concepts, imports, and calls come from parsers.
• Every explanation points to a real file:line and may name only supplied identifiers and relationships.
• Language Lens notes appear only where a parser detected the construct.
• Check answers come from the graph, never an LLM.
• Approximate relationships stay visibly uncertain — a distinct colour and no drifting particles in the 3D galaxy, a genuinely dashed line in the 2D map, and the legend swatch follows whichever layer is on screen.
• Provider output that fails grounding validation is withheld instead of being softened into a guess.

Read the full correctness contract. A wrong explanation is a highest-severity bug—report it without mercy.

Local-first, with an explicit AI boundary

Stays on your machine	Leaves only when you ask
Project discovery and parsing	The bounded Study context sent to your configured provider
Graph, structural summary, language Lens, and checks	A request triggered only when you open Study
Local server and packaged web app	Nothing in the background
Progress and explanation cache in ~/.codemble/	No accounts, telemetry, or Codemble cloud
Narration too, if you choose a local Ollama	Nothing at all in that case

No model at all? Codemble remains a complete parser-backed map and learning game; only the optional prose narration is unavailable.

Boundaries that keep the map truthful

• Supported source: Python 3.11+, JavaScript/JSX, TypeScript/TSX, and mixed projects. Unsupported languages stay outside the graph rather than being guessed.
• Scale: above roughly 1,000 supported source files, choose a subdirectory — the in-app picker offers the busiest scopes as buttons and accepts a typed path, or pass codemble --path ./project/subdirectory.
• Ambiguous Home: choose a parser-ranked entrypoint in the app or pass --entrypoint NODE_ID.
• Broken source: syntax errors remain visible; Codemble maps safe partial evidence instead of crashing or inventing the missing structure.
• Rendering: the 3D galaxy needs WebGL. If your machine cannot draw it, the Map layer still works — it is plain SVG over the same parser evidence, not a degraded guess.

Help test the release

The most valuable contribution right now is not a feature request. It is a first run on a real AI-built project:

1. Follow the ten-minute tester guide.
2. Light at least one system.
3. Report confusion verbatim—never paste private source or API keys.

Open an early-tester report →

Develop

python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest && ruff check .

(cd web && npm install && npm run check)
(cd docs-site && npm install && npm run check && npm run build)

The load-bearing design and architecture contracts are documented, not implied:

• Architecture
• Contributing
• Formal Edo design system
• Agent operating guide and current state

Roadmap

Horizon	Work
Now	Collect unaided first-run evidence on the current release across supported project types
Next	Go, Rust, and Java adapters; level-of-detail rendering for larger repositories
Later	Read-only share links, new quest types, and the coordinated public launch

The public roadmap separates shipped work from planned work. Milestones move only when their acceptance evidence exists.

License

Codemble is released under the Apache License 2.0.

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_{Built for the moment after “AI made it work” and before “I know how it works.”}