GitHub - mckenna654/FreeToPlay: Self-hosted gaming lobby and session scheduler with Discord RSVPs, IGDB artwork, calendar/agenda views, and Docker/Unraid support.

Squad up. Game on. Your gaming lobby + Discord bot.

About

FreeToPlay is a self-hosted web app and Discord bot for adult gaming groups who struggle to line up schedules.

Log in with Discord, pick a game, set a time, and let friends RSVP from the web calendar or straight from Discord. When someone creates or cancels a session, the bot keeps your channel in sync automatically.

Ideal for Unraid, Docker, Portainer, or any home server — with optional HTTPS via Nginx Proxy Manager.

Features

Web dashboard

Gaming lobby UI — midnight backgrounds, violet and lime accents, bold game-menu typography, and original sci-fi artwork
Calendar and agenda — monthly planning on desktop; readable agenda by default on phones
Find your next session — search titles, games, or hosts; filter by open spots or your RSVPs
Upcoming session tickets — game artwork, dates, and remaining spots at a glance
Event detail pages — game artwork, host, notes, and a clear roster
RSVP statuses — Going, Maybe, and Can’t make it, synchronized with Discord
Calendar downloads and sharing — download an individual session as an .ics file or copy its invite link
Guided scheduling — live preview, keyboard-accessible game search, and validation that preserves your input
Timezone-aware creation — browser-local start times are stored as a precise instant; event details display your local time
Capacity tracking — max players + live progress bar (e.g. 3/4 filled)
Host controls — creators can cancel/delete their own events
Discord login — Passport OAuth2, no separate accounts

Game search & art

IGDB API autocomplete — type a game name, pick from live results (powered by Twitch)
Cover art — pulled automatically onto the dashboard and Discord embeds
Works without an API key (manual game names still work)

Discord bot

Rich embeds on new sessions (title, game, time, slots, host, cover art)
Interactive buttons — Join / Tentative / Decline (syncs to the database)
Web Dashboard button — opens your calendar so others can host too
Clickable event title — links to that session’s web page
Cancellation sync — deletes the original embed and posts a cancel notice

Deploy & ops

Docker / GHCR image — ghcr.io/mckenna654/freetoplay:latest
SQLite + Prisma — simple single-file DB on a volume
Reverse proxy ready — trust proxy + secure cookies for HTTPS domains
MIT licensed

Screenshots

The v1.7.0 gaming lobby: dark surfaces, violet/lime accents, bold type, and original sci-fi artwork. Screenshots use sample sessions and players; controller tiles show the fallback when a session has no IGDB artwork.

Desktop lobby

Session details and scheduling

Mobile

Quick start (Docker / Unraid)

Image: ghcr.io/mckenna654/freetoplay:latest

Setting	Value
Network	Bridge
Port	`3000` → `3000`
Path	Host `/mnt/user/appdata/freetoplay/data/` → Container `/app/data`

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
`DISCORD_CLIENT_ID`	Yes	Discord application client ID
`DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET`	Yes	Discord application client secret
`DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN`	Yes	Bot token
`DISCORD_CHANNEL_ID`	Yes	Channel ID for session posts
`BASE_URL`	Yes	Public URL, e.g. `https://f2p.example.com` or `http://192.168.1.50:3000`
`SESSION_SECRET`	Yes	Random string for login cookies
`DATABASE_URL`	Yes	Must be `file:/app/data/prod.db`
`IGDB_CLIENT_ID`	No	Twitch/IGDB Client ID for game search/art
`IGDB_CLIENT_SECRET`	No	Twitch/IGDB Client Secret
`PORT`	No	Defaults to `3000`

Discord setup

Create an app in the Discord Developer Portal.
OAuth2 → Redirects: add
{BASE_URL}/auth/discord/callback
Example: https://f2p.example.com/auth/discord/callback
Create a Bot, copy the token, enable message/embed permissions.
Invite the bot with the bot scope (Send Messages, Embed Links, View Channels).
Enable Developer Mode in Discord → right-click your channel → Copy Channel ID.

IGDB game database (optional)

FreeToPlay uses Twitch's IGDB to power game search and cover art.

Sign up at dev.twitch.tv and register an application.
Generate a Client Secret.
Set IGDB_CLIENT_ID and IGDB_CLIENT_SECRET as environment variables on your container.
Restart the container. On Host a session, type 3+ letters in Game for autocomplete + cover art.

External hosting (Nginx Proxy Manager)

Set BASE_URL to your HTTPS domain, e.g. https://f2p.example.com.
Add the same domain callback in Discord OAuth2 redirects.
In NPM, add a Proxy Host:
- Domain: f2p.example.com
- Forward to: your server IP, port 3000
- SSL: Let’s Encrypt + Force SSL
- Enable Websockets if available

Local development

Use Node.js 24 or newer (nvm use selects Node 24). The Docker image also uses Node 24 to support the current SQLite and Prisma dependencies.

git clone https://github.com/mckenna654/FreeToPlay.git
cd FreeToPlay
cp .env.example .env   # fill in Discord + secrets
npm install
npx prisma migrate dev
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000.

Calendar month boundaries use the server timezone, shown below the schedule. Set the server/container TZ environment variable to your group's timezone (for example, Australia/Sydney) if needed. Upcoming ticket dates and session details are displayed in the viewer's local timezone when JavaScript is enabled. Without JavaScript, the form uses the labeled server timezone.

Run npm test to build and check the app against an isolated temporary SQLite database. Tests cover page rendering, search/filter state, session validation and creation, RSVP/cancellation permissions, and calendar exports. They do not load your .env or connect to Discord.

For a local preview with sample sessions, run node tests/support.cjs after building and open the printed localhost URL. This fixture uses a separate temporary database; Discord login is intentionally disabled.

Stack

Node.js + Express + EJS
Prisma + SQLite
discord.js
Passport Discord OAuth
Tailwind CSS
Docker (multi-stage Debian Bookworm image)

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for the full 1.x release history.

Version	Highlights
1.7.0	Gaming lobby redesign, new branding, agenda/search/filters, calendar downloads, and timezone-aware scheduling
1.6.0	Migrated game search and artwork integration to IGDB
1.5.1	Docker build fix + migration recovery guidance
1.5.0	Branding, MIT license, docs polish
1.4.0	Discord web links, reverse proxy / HTTPS support
1.3.0	Host cancel + Discord cancellation sync
1.2.0	Calendar UI, RSVP statuses, interactive Discord buttons
1.1.0	Game search + cover art
1.0.0	Initial web app, Discord bot, Docker

Note: Pull ghcr.io/mckenna654/freetoplay:latest or pin :v1.7.0. Do not pin old tags like v1.0.0–v1.4.0 for production — those point at early snapshots.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.agents/skills		.agents/skills
.claude/skills		.claude/skills
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
.windsurf/skills		.windsurf/skills
.zed		.zed
docs		docs
prisma		prisma
public		public
scripts		scripts
src		src
tests		tests
.dockerignore		.dockerignore
.env.example		.env.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
.nvmrc		.nvmrc
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
Dockerfile		Dockerfile
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
docker-compose.yml		docker-compose.yml
docker-entrypoint.sh		docker-entrypoint.sh
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
prisma.config.ts		prisma.config.ts
skills-lock.json		skills-lock.json
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json

Navigation Menu

Repository navigation

About

Repository files navigation

About