000000book

An open archive of motion-captured graffiti, running since 2009. Every tag is a GML file: the writer's hand as coordinates and timestamps, replayable by anyone. Writers capture and share tags; programmers build things that read them. Live at 000000book.com.

Rails 8.1 on Ruby 3.4, MySQL 8.4. Beta uses a Docker container managed by Kamal; production still uses ./deploy. Assets use Propshaft and plain ES modules, with no Node build step.

Install Ruby from .ruby-version, Bundler, Docker, MySQL client development libraries and ImageMagick first. The app runs locally; Compose runs only MySQL.

docker compose up -d      # MySQL 8.4, the version the server runs
bundle install
bin/rails db:prepare
bin/rails db:seed         # optional: updates existing development records
bin/rails server          # http://localhost:3000
bundle exec rspec         # no environment variables needed

MYSQL_PORT and MYSQL_PASSWORD override config/database.yml. Seeds need an existing user and do not create tags or import the archive.

bin/setup --skip-server installs dependencies without running migrations or clearing logs. bin/check runs lint and tests without editing files. Use bin/format [files] separately for safe RuboCop corrections.

• public/canvasplayer/<version>/ is canvasplayer, byte for byte. SOURCE there says how to update. It lives outside the asset pipeline because Propshaft's fingerprints would break the modules' relative imports.
• app/assets/javascripts/player.js, gml_thumbnails.js and recorder.js are the only player code that belongs here: the tag page, the live grid cells, and the recorder on /upload.
• data/<id>.gml is each tag's file, read and written by GmlObject. Images are Active Storage on local disk.
• docs/ is the API and GML documentation, served at /docs and indexed by /llms.txt. /api redirects to /docs/api; /openapi.yaml describes the API.

• / plays a tag beside a curated grid. Click a cell, press ← →, or let it run like a slideshow. /data is the searchable grid with a display-mode dropdown. The front page keeps labels and controls quiet.
• /data/:id is one tag with a filmstrip of its neighbours. Controls opens the pane: looks, live or still, ink mode, effects, data layers.
• /apps plays the newest tag made with each app. /upload explains how to make a tag and lets you draw one.

• GET /data/:id.gml, .json or .xml. JSON includes GML; XML is metadata only. JSON ?preview=1 is for thumbnails; ?player=1 is the site's playback payload.
• POST /data with gml= uploads. Details in docs/api.

Start with bin/rails data:validate (read-only; exits non-zero on blockers). Rehearse pending migrations with ./script/rehearse-migrations.sh before applying them; it requires production SSH access. Tests use schema.rb, not the legacy production schema.

Migrations never run automatically on deploy. The repository includes a migration that drops comments; check the target's migration status and backup first. Legacy gml_objects:save_to_disk and gml_objects:fix_missing tasks write files. tags:delete_missing_data destroys rows and requires CONFIRM_DELETE=yes-i-have-a-backup. See operations before running maintenance.

See deployment for beta's Kamal setup and the legacy production deploy, and operations for backups, audits, resync and migration rehearsal.

Jamie Wilkinson, Evan Roth, Theodore Watson, Chris Sugrue and Todd Vanderlin of the copyleft F.A.T. Lab, with Flash help from Manolis Perrakis. Contact info[at]000000book.com. MIT licensed. Copyfree 2009 onward. "Release early, often & w/ rap music."