AuraJS

Alpha status: AuraJS is currently in alpha. It is not safe for production use yet.

Publish and play directly from your terminal.

Write one JavaScript game and build native binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows.

npx auramaxx play <mygame>

Install

npm install -g auramaxx

Create a New Game

auramaxx create my-game
# or
aura create my-game
cd my-game
npm run dev

Play a Game

auramaxx play aurasu
# or
npx aurasu play

Publish and Play Your Game

In a scaffolded AuraJS game, use:

# publish (alias to: npx auramaxx publish)
npm run publish

# run your packaged game entrypoint
npm run play

Default package naming follows aurajs/<yourname> (published as @aurajs/<yourname> unless you change it).

Platform Packages

Platform	Package
macOS ARM	`@aurajs/darwin-arm64`
macOS x64	`@aurajs/darwin-x64`
Linux x64	`@aurajs/linux-x64`
Windows x64	`@aurajs/win32-x64`

API Docs

Core API: docs/api-contract-v1.md
3D API: docs/api-contract-3d-v2.md

Why AuraJS

Write JS. Ship native.

Everything Unity and C++ give you: native GPU rendering, real binaries, platform APIs, with the language 20 million developers already know.

Features

JS handles logic, native handles performance. No compromises on either side.

Sub-second hot reload

Save your file, game restarts instantly. No compile step, no domain reload. Unity takes 5 to 30 seconds per change. AuraJS takes less than one.

Native GPU rendering

wgpu talks directly to Vulkan, Metal, and DirectX 12. No browser, no ANGLE translation, no compositor. Real draw calls to real drivers.

2MB binaries

An empty Unity game ships at 50 to 100MB. AuraJS ships at the size of your assets plus a ~5MB runtime. Games download in seconds.

State is JSON

Game state is plain JS objects. Save games, multiplayer sync, replays, spectating, and modding are straightforward because your data is already serializable.

AI-native API

Flat global API, no class hierarchies, no imports. An AI agent can hold the entire API in context and generate a complete working app in one prompt.

Platform built in

Wallet, social, auth, credential vault, cloud saves, all from aura.platform.*. Zero integration work. No third-party SDKs.

KB-sized patches

Updates swap the JS bundle, not the binary. Game updates go from hundreds of megabytes to kilobytes. Push fixes in seconds.

Mods are free

The game is JS. Mods are JS. Users write mods in the same language the game is written in. No Lua bridge, no plugin framework. It just works.

20 million developers

JS is the most widely known programming language on earth. Your platform's potential developer pool dwarfs Unity's C# or C++ ecosystems.

Multiplayer is sync JSON

State is already plain objects. Multiplayer is sending those objects. No Netcode framework, no Mirror, no RPC system. Sync your state, done.

Zero config builds

No cmake, no webpack, no build system. aura build outputs a native binary. No toolchain, no SDK, no Rust installation required.

AuraJS vs the alternatives

	AuraJS	Unity	C / C++	Electron
Hot reload	<1s	5-30s	recompile	<1s
Min binary size	~2 MB	~80 MB	~1 MB	~150 MB
GPU access	native	native	native	WebGL
Developer pool	20M+	5M	3M	20M+
AI code gen quality	excellent	decent	poor	decent
Multiplayer	sync JSON	Netcode	custom	sync JSON
Modding	native	framework	Lua/etc	native
Patch size	KBs	MBs-GBs	full binary	KBs
Platform APIs	built in	-	-	-
Vendor lock-in	none	heavy	none	Chromium
Build config	zero	editor	cmake	webpack

This is a complete game

One file. No imports. No config. No build step. Just logic.

let x = 400, y = 300, speed = 200

aura.setup = async function () {
  await aura.assets.load(["player.png", "coin.wav"])
}

aura.update = function (dt) {
  if (aura.input.isDown("arrowright")) x += speed * dt
  if (aura.input.isDown("arrowleft"))  x -= speed * dt
  if (aura.input.isDown("arrowup"))    y -= speed * dt
  if (aura.input.isDown("arrowdown"))  y += speed * dt
}

aura.draw = function () {
  aura.draw2d.clear(20, 20, 30)
  aura.draw2d.image(aura.assets.image("player.png"), x, y)
  aura.draw2d.text(`Position: ${x}, ${y}`, 10, 10, {
    color: aura.colors.white, size: 16
  })
}

Get started

# install
npm install -g auramaxx

# create
auramaxx create my-game && cd my-game

# run
npm run dev

AURA

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