Claude Arcade

This repo is both a plugin (plugins/claude-arcade/) and a plugin marketplace (.claude-plugin/marketplace.json). You can install it with one command — see below.

Watch your tokens come to life. While Claude Code runs, the character runs, jumps, and collects coins. While Claude thinks, the character charges up. While Claude waits for your input, a ? block appears.

Games

Claude Arcade is built to host multiple arcade games for Claude Code — each one a tiny pixel game whose visuals are driven entirely by what's happening in your live session (tokens, prompts, tools, context pressure, etc.). Right now it ships with one:

Super Mario Runner

An auto-playing side-scroller. You don't control Mario — your Claude Code session does. Token throughput becomes his running speed, thinking becomes a glow, prompts become jumps, subagents become tiny tinted sidekicks, and a filling context window literally rains and burns down the level. Each cell below is a distinct in-game state and when it triggers.

Normal gameplay _{Tokens are flowing — Mario walks/runs/sprints based on tok/s, HUD numbers tick up}	Thinking _{Claude is processing (no tokens yet) — Mario glows and a … thought bubble appears}	Waiting for your input _{Claude is waiting on your reply — ? block appears, character taps foot, tab title flashes}
Token burst _{First big chunk of output after thinking — speed boost with a star streak}	Subagent spawn _{Every time Claude spawns a subagent, a small tinted Mario joins the level and runs alongside the main one}	Task complete _{Claude finishes a task or turn — fireworks celebration, coin counter pops}
Context 60% — rain _{Context window passes 60% — sky darkens, rain starts}	Context 80% — fire _{Context window passes 80% — red sky, fire embers drifting}	Context 90% — shake _{Context window passes 90% — screen shakes, time to clear context}

Install (recommended)

Add the marketplace, then install the plugin. From inside any Claude Code session:

/plugin marketplace add jaipatel248/claude-arcade
/plugin install claude-arcade@claude-arcade

That's it. Run the game with:

/claude-arcade:super-mario-runner

Pick a different port if 3248 is busy:

/claude-arcade:super-mario-runner 4000

Updating

/plugin marketplace update claude-arcade

Uninstalling

/plugin uninstall claude-arcade@claude-arcade
/plugin marketplace remove claude-arcade

Local development install

Without going through the marketplace — useful when iterating on the plugin source:

git clone https://github.com/jaipatel248/claude-arcade.git
claude --plugin-dir ./claude-arcade/plugins/claude-arcade

After editing files, run /reload-plugins inside the session to pick up changes without restarting.

How it maps Claude → Mario

Claude activity	Game effect
Tokens flowing fast	Character sprints
Tokens flowing slow	Character walks
Idle	Character stands still
Thinking (processing)	Glow + thought bubble (`...`)
Token burst after thinking	Speed boost with star effect
Waiting for your input	`?` block appears, character taps foot, tab title flashes
You answer	`?` block bursts into coins
Task complete	Fireworks
Context window 60%+	Sky darkens, rain
Context window 80%+	Red sky, fire embers
Context window 90%+	Screen shakes
Cost increases	Coin counter goes up

HUD: Tokens (in/out), Speed (tok/s), Coins, Prompts, Context %, Cost ($), Session time, Model badge.

Keyboard: Space jump · M toggle music · S toggle SFX · C screenshot.

How it works

Claude Code session
  ─► hooks (PreToolUse, PostToolUse, Stop, …) call scripts/collect.js
  ─► collect.js writes events to ~/.claude/token-graph-live.jsonl
  ─► scripts/super-mario-runner.js tails the JSONL file
  ─► pushes updates to the browser via Server-Sent Events
  ─► browser renders the game at 60fps (Canvas + pixel art)

The launch script forks itself into the background on first run (cross-platform — no shell backgrounding tricks needed) and binds an HTTP server on the chosen port. Subsequent invocations on the same port just reopen the browser tab.

Repo layout

claude-arcade/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── marketplace.json            ← Marketplace catalog
├── plugins/
│   └── claude-arcade/
│       ├── .claude-plugin/
│       │   └── plugin.json         ← Plugin manifest
│       ├── hooks/
│       │   └── hooks.json          ← Registers statusLine + Claude Code hooks
│       ├── scripts/
│       │   ├── collect.js          ← Hook receiver → JSONL writer
│       │   └── super-mario-runner.js ← Game server (HTTP + SSE)
│       ├── skills/
│       │   └── super-mario-runner/SKILL.md   ← /claude-arcade:super-mario-runner
│       └── webview/
│           ├── super-mario-runner.html
│           ├── js/                 ← Game modules
│           └── sounds/
├── docs/
│   └── images/                     ← README screenshots (01-running.png … 09-shake.png)
├── LICENSE                         (MIT)
└── README.md

Requirements

Claude Code (claude CLI)
Node.js 16+ (already required by Claude Code)
A modern browser
Zero npm dependencies — uses only Node built-ins

Server controls

Start (default port 3248):

node plugins/claude-arcade/scripts/super-mario-runner.js

Pick a port:

node plugins/claude-arcade/scripts/super-mario-runner.js --port 4000

Check status:

node plugins/claude-arcade/scripts/super-mario-runner.js --status --port 4000

Stop a running instance:

node plugins/claude-arcade/scripts/super-mario-runner.js --stop --port 4000

Run in foreground (for debugging):

node plugins/claude-arcade/scripts/super-mario-runner.js --foreground

Debug logging

Set CLAUDE_ARCADE_DEBUG=1 before launching Claude Code to dump every hook payload to ${TMPDIR}/claude-arcade-debug.jsonl. Off by default.

License

MIT

Credits

Built by Jay Patel. Pull requests welcome.