Connect 5

Connect 5 is a static daily word game. Practice mode is fully local, and the daily board is published as a single JSON file that GitHub Pages serves. Result sharing is done with copy/X/Bluesky links.

Project Structure

• index.html: daily puzzle homepage
• pages/daily.html: redirect for old daily links
• pages/practice.html: practice mode
• assets/js/app: shared config and constants
• assets/js/core: reusable game engine modules
• assets/js/features/daily: daily puzzle generation and daily mode behavior
• assets/data/daily-puzzle.json: the currently published daily puzzle
• scripts/generate-daily-puzzle.mjs: secret-seeded daily puzzle generator
• assets/js/pages: page-level controllers

Local Development

Serve the repo root with any static server.

python3 -m http.server 8000

Then open http://localhost:8000/index.html.

Gameplay

• Daily gives everyone the same puzzle on a given UTC date.
• Practice generates fresh local boards with no save state.
• Daily results can be copied or shared to X / Bluesky after the game ends.

The displayed daily puzzle number starts at #1 on April 15, 2026.

Deployment

This repo deploys as plain static files. GitHub Pages is enough.

GitHub Pages

1. Publish the repo root from main.
2. Keep CNAME set to connect5.co.
3. Point your DNS at GitHub Pages.
4. Add a repository secret named CONNECT5_DAILY_SECRET.
5. Run the Update Daily Puzzle GitHub Actions workflow once, then let the daily schedule keep it fresh.
6. Wait for TLS provisioning, then enable HTTPS in GitHub Pages settings.

Notes

• The public site only exposes the current daily puzzle file. Future puzzles are generated in GitHub Actions from CONNECT5_DAILY_SECRET, so players cannot derive tomorrow's board from the shipped frontend code alone.
• Word validation still uses dictionaryapi.dev. If that service is slow or unavailable, replacing it with a bundled word list would make the game more reliable.