An empty, deployable shell for the async multiplayer board game. It contains no game logic yet — its only job is to prove the deployment path works: the server runs in Docker, is reachable through Nginx Proxy Manager over HTTPS, and WebSockets survive the reverse proxy.

Once both checks are green, adding the real game (Phase 1 onward) never touches the deployment story again.

What's here

lifegame/
├── docker-compose.yml
├── Dockerfile
├── package.json / package-lock.json
├── server/index.js      # health endpoint + WebSocket echo
└── public/index.html    # live HTTP + WebSocket status page

1. Put it on the homelab

Drop the folder in your services directory (e.g. ~/homelab/lifegame/) and build:

cd ~/homelab/lifegame
docker compose up -d --build
docker compose logs -f      # expect: "Life Journey (Phase 0) listening on :3000"

Verify locally on the host first:

curl http://localhost:3000/api/health
# {"ok":true,"service":"life-journey","phase":0,...}

2. Point Nginx Proxy Manager at it

Add a Proxy Host:

Domain: your chosen name, e.g. game.example.com
Scheme: http
Forward Hostname / IP:
- Option A (default compose): the homelab's LAN IP (e.g. 192.168.x.x)
- Option B (shared network): lifegame
Forward Port: 3000
Websockets Support: ON ← the easy-to-forget one
SSL tab: request a new Let's Encrypt certificate, Force SSL on

3. Confirm it works

Open https://game.example.com. You should see two rows go green:

Server (HTTP) — the health endpoint responded
WebSocket — a live socket connected through the proxy

Click Send WebSocket ping and the status should show the echo came back.

If HTTP is green but WebSocket is red, the proxy isn't upgrading the connection — go back and toggle Websockets Support on the proxy host.

Data & backups

The lifegame-data volume (mounted at /app/data) is where the SQLite database and uploaded player tokens will live in later phases. It's empty now, but include it in the same backup routine as your other self-hosted data.

What Phase 1 adds

The shared game.js rules engine (the pure reducer from the prototype)
SQLite data model: games, players, board/rule config, tokens
Rooms + shareable invite links / join codes
NetworkTransport on the client — the one-line swap that makes the game run across devices
Persistence & reconnection, since async means tabs close and servers restart