Schemaverse

A space strategy game implemented entirely inside PostgreSQL. Every player is a database role. Buy ships with INSERT, steer them with a function call, read the battle in a view, and if your PL/pgSQL is strong, write a fleet script and let the database command your fleet for you.

People play it to learn SQL, to teach SQL, to poke at Postgres security, and to build map UIs. This edition runs on PostgreSQL 19 (18 in CI), on purpose: the game is a showcase of what modern Postgres can do.

Play

Two doors, one account. Your username is a PostgreSQL role.

• psql: psql -h <server> -U <you> schemaverse
• browser: the web interface has a SQL console with completion, a live map you can command by clicking (every click shows the SQL it wrote), a round replay, fleet script editing, the mission track and trophies. It opens a connection as you, so it can do exactly what psql can and nothing more.

Start with SELECT * FROM my_missions; or the Missions tab. The reference is in docs/PLAYING.md.

Profiles, trophy cases, shared fleet scripts and round replays are public pages with link previews: paste /player/<name> or /fleet/<id> anywhere. Publish a script with UPDATE my_fleets SET shared = true.

Run it yourself

Everything runs in Docker. A class, a hackathon, or your laptop:

git clone https://github.com/Abstrct/Schemaverse.git
cd Schemaverse
cp docker/.env.example docker/.env   # set the three passwords
make up                              # PostgreSQL 19 + schema + ticker + web
open http://localhost:8080

make player NAME=alice PASS=secret creates a player from the command line. make smoke runs the end-to-end test, make test the pgTAP suite. Details, including the classroom preset (one-hour rounds, protected newcomers) and production deployment with TLS and backups, are in docker/README.md.

Hack on it

• schema/ is a sqitch project. sqitch.plan is the history of the game; every change has a deploy, a revert and a verify script.
• tic/ is the ticker, in Go: it sequences tic_open(), every fleet script as its player, and tic_close().
• web/ is the SvelteKit interface.
• tests/ is pgTAP. trophies/ are the classic trophies as SQL.
• docs/MODERNIZATION_PLAN.md is the plan this edition follows, and docs/BRAND.md is the design system, derived from the DEF CON 19 pins.
• legacy/ holds the 2011-2017 Perl daemons and PHP client for history.

This game was created to learn about security in Postgres, and it is played by people trying to break it. Run it on something you can rebuild.

-Abstrct · schemaverse.com