{"slug": "decker", "name": "Decker", "category": "selfhosted", "category_name": "Self-hosted and home server", "description": "HyperCard-inspired environment for building interactive multimedia stacks, games and tools.", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 6, "warners": 1, "score": 3.703, "rising": 1.02, "first": "2025-12-09", "latest": "2026-10-21", "why": "Liked for packing apps and their own editor into a single self-contained HTML file that makes no outside calls, and described as fun and cute to use.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1], "listed": true, "loved": ["Fun to use", "Single HTML file"], "caveat": "Nostalgia project", "short_quote": "check out Decker https://beyondloom.com/decker/ Super fun to use.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/johnearnest/decker", "official_url": "https://beyondloom.com/decker/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Decker"], "verdict": [{"text": "Liked for packing apps and their own editor into a single self-contained HTML file that makes no outside calls,", "cites": [{"id": 802849456, "item_id": 50178091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50178091", "by": "supermaurio2000", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it, thanks for creating this.", "excerpt": "I love it, thanks for creating this. And what I especially like: if you save it as html file, it contains the engine itself and makes no calls to the outside world.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Four Years with Decker"}, {"id": 795455856, "item_id": 49715991, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49715991", "by": "veqq", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Decker works similarly to this", "excerpt": "Decker works similarly to this (without the SQL-lite, but directly in the single flat html file which can be statically hosted or passed around, and includes an editor for itself!) https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Decker", "context": "", "use_case": "single-file web apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Capsule \u2013 Single-file web apps that save their data into SQLite"}]}, {"text": " and described as fun and cute to use.", "cites": [{"id": 739409552, "item_id": 46213097, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46213097", "by": "oidar", "date": "2025-12-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "check out Decker https://beyondloom.com/decker/ Super fun to use.", "excerpt": "If you like that, check out Decker https://beyondloom.com/decker/ Super fun to use.", "context": "", "use_case": "HyperCard-like environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Gemini 3 imagines Hacker News as a HyperCard stack in 1994"}, {"id": 779538992, "item_id": 48721187, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721187", "by": "grimgrin", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If y'all never seen Decker, it _is_ cute", "excerpt": "If y'all never seen Decker, it _is_ cute: https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Decker", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Decker Fantasy Camp 2026"}, {"id": 802849456, "item_id": 50178091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50178091", "by": "supermaurio2000", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it, thanks for creating this.", "excerpt": "I love it, thanks for creating this. And what I especially like: if you save it as html file, it contains the engine itself and makes no calls to the outside world.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Four Years with Decker"}]}, {"text": " The one complaint is that it feels like nostalgia and is not useful for real projects today,", "cites": [{"id": 784990608, "item_id": 49061913, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061913", "by": "donohoe", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "if you're going to have aspirations that this is useful today (2026) with a real project then its a complete waste of time.", "excerpt": "I miss HyperCard and I love projects like this at a nostalgia level - but if you're going to have aspirations that this is useful today (2026) with a real project then its a complete waste of time. I want HyperCard where I can build out a stack or whatever and actually present it to people as a real and tangible thing. I love living in the past as much as anyone else, but this is a little disappointing.", "context": "", "use_case": "HyperCard-like stacks", "switched_from": "", "story": "Decker"}]}, {"text": " though a daily user points to hundreds of games and zines built with it, including a Steam release.", "cites": [{"id": 784991824, "item_id": 49061989, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061989", "by": "RodgerTheGreat", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use personal applications written in Decker on a daily basis.", "excerpt": "I use personal applications written in Decker on a daily basis. There are over 300 games, zines, visual novels, and toys built with Decker on itch.io: https://itch.io/games/tag-decker Last month saw the first game made entirely in Decker published on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4693460/The_Dreams_in_the_Peacock_House/ We are neither living in the past nor wasting our time.", "context": "daily Decker user", "use_case": "personal apps, games, zines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Decker"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Fun to use", "summary": "Commenters call it fun, cute and lovable.", "quotes": [{"id": 739409552, "item_id": 46213097, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46213097", "by": "oidar", "date": "2025-12-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "check out Decker https://beyondloom.com/decker/ Super fun to use.", "excerpt": "If you like that, check out Decker https://beyondloom.com/decker/ Super fun to use.", "context": "", "use_case": "HyperCard-like environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Gemini 3 imagines Hacker News as a HyperCard stack in 1994"}, {"id": 779538992, "item_id": 48721187, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721187", "by": "grimgrin", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If y'all never seen Decker, it _is_ cute", "excerpt": "If y'all never seen Decker, it _is_ cute: https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Decker", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Decker Fantasy Camp 2026"}, {"id": 802849456, "item_id": 50178091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50178091", "by": "supermaurio2000", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it, thanks for creating this.", "excerpt": "I love it, thanks for creating this. And what I especially like: if you save it as html file, it contains the engine itself and makes no calls to the outside world.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Four Years with Decker"}]}, {"label": "Single HTML file", "summary": "A saved stack is one HTML file containing the engine and an editor, with no outside calls.", "quotes": [{"id": 802849456, "item_id": 50178091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50178091", "by": "supermaurio2000", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it, thanks for creating this.", "excerpt": "I love it, thanks for creating this. And what I especially like: if you save it as html file, it contains the engine itself and makes no calls to the outside world.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Four Years with Decker"}, {"id": 795455856, "item_id": 49715991, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49715991", "by": "veqq", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Decker works similarly to this", "excerpt": "Decker works similarly to this (without the SQL-lite, but directly in the single flat html file which can be statically hosted or passed around, and includes an editor for itself!) https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Decker", "context": "", "use_case": "single-file web apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Capsule \u2013 Single-file web apps that save their data into SQLite"}]}, {"label": "Real-world output", "summary": "Over 300 games, zines and visual novels on itch.io and a Steam release have been built with it.", "quotes": [{"id": 784991824, "item_id": 49061989, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061989", "by": "RodgerTheGreat", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use personal applications written in Decker on a daily basis.", "excerpt": "I use personal applications written in Decker on a daily basis. There are over 300 games, zines, visual novels, and toys built with Decker on itch.io: https://itch.io/games/tag-decker Last month saw the first game made entirely in Decker published on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4693460/The_Dreams_in_the_Peacock_House/ We are neither living in the past nor wasting our time.", "context": "daily Decker user", "use_case": "personal apps, games, zines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Decker"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Nostalgia project", "summary": "One commenter calls it a waste of time for real, presentable projects in 2026.", "quotes": [{"id": 784990608, "item_id": 49061913, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061913", "by": "donohoe", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "if you're going to have aspirations that this is useful today (2026) with a real project then its a complete waste of time.", "excerpt": "I miss HyperCard and I love projects like this at a nostalgia level - but if you're going to have aspirations that this is useful today (2026) with a real project then its a complete waste of time. I want HyperCard where I can build out a stack or whatever and actually present it to people as a real and tangible thing. I love living in the past as much as anyone else, but this is a little disappointing.", "context": "", "use_case": "HyperCard-like stacks", "switched_from": "", "story": "Decker"}]}], "who": [{"by": "RodgerTheGreat", "context": "daily Decker user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061989", "date": "2026-07-26"}], "tags": ["for games and zines", "for personal apps", "statically hostable", "works offline"], "use_cases": ["single-file web apps", "personal apps, games, zines", "hypercard-like stacks", "hypercard-like environment"], "compared": [{"slug": "hypercard", "name": "HyperCard", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49060856", "title": "Decker", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50165215", "title": "Four Years with Decker", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49712278", "title": "Show HN: Capsule \u2013 Single-file web apps that save their data into SQLite", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48693273", "title": "Decker Fantasy Camp 2026", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211953", "title": "Show HN: Gemini 3 imagines Hacker News as a HyperCard stack in 1994", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 802849456, "item_id": 50178091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50178091", "by": "supermaurio2000", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love it, thanks for creating this.", "excerpt": "I love it, thanks for creating this. And what I especially like: if you save it as html file, it contains the engine itself and makes no calls to the outside world.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Four Years with Decker"}, {"id": 795455856, "item_id": 49715991, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49715991", "by": "veqq", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Decker works similarly to this", "excerpt": "Decker works similarly to this (without the SQL-lite, but directly in the single flat html file which can be statically hosted or passed around, and includes an editor for itself!) https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Decker", "context": "", "use_case": "single-file web apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Capsule \u2013 Single-file web apps that save their data into SQLite"}, {"id": 784991824, "item_id": 49061989, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061989", "by": "RodgerTheGreat", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use personal applications written in Decker on a daily basis.", "excerpt": "I use personal applications written in Decker on a daily basis. There are over 300 games, zines, visual novels, and toys built with Decker on itch.io: https://itch.io/games/tag-decker Last month saw the first game made entirely in Decker published on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4693460/The_Dreams_in_the_Peacock_House/ We are neither living in the past nor wasting our time.", "context": "daily Decker user", "use_case": "personal apps, games, zines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Decker"}, {"id": 784990608, "item_id": 49061913, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061913", "by": "donohoe", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "warn", "quote": "if you're going to have aspirations that this is useful today (2026) with a real project then its a complete waste of time.", "excerpt": "I miss HyperCard and I love projects like this at a nostalgia level - but if you're going to have aspirations that this is useful today (2026) with a real project then its a complete waste of time. I want HyperCard where I can build out a stack or whatever and actually present it to people as a real and tangible thing. I love living in the past as much as anyone else, but this is a little disappointing.", "context": "", "use_case": "HyperCard-like stacks", "switched_from": "", "story": "Decker"}, {"id": 779538992, "item_id": 48721187, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48721187", "by": "grimgrin", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If y'all never seen Decker, it _is_ cute", "excerpt": "If y'all never seen Decker, it _is_ cute: https://github.com/JohnEarnest/Decker", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Decker Fantasy Camp 2026"}, {"id": 739409552, "item_id": 46213097, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46213097", "by": "oidar", "date": "2025-12-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "check out Decker https://beyondloom.com/decker/ Super fun to use.", "excerpt": "If you like that, check out Decker https://beyondloom.com/decker/ Super fun to use.", "context": "", "use_case": "HyperCard-like environment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Gemini 3 imagines Hacker News as a HyperCard stack in 1994"}]}