A browser-based platform for playing paper Magic: The Gathering remotely with friends. Spell Coven enables MTG players to play their physical cards online through video chat and game management tools. Players can use a webcam or their phone as a camera—all running in the browser with no downloads required.
License: PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 (non-commercial use only)
This project is licensed under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0.
You are free to use, modify, and distribute this software for non-commercial purposes only. Commercial use — including selling, paid hosting, offering it as a paid service, or bundling it into a commercial product — is prohibited without a separate commercial license from the copyright holder.
See LICENSE for full terms.
If you want to use this project commercially, contact the maintainer to obtain a commercial license.
- Open a GitHub issue labeled
commercial-license.
This is a hobby project. I'm a full-time web developer, and Spell Coven is my playground for exploring modern web development. It's a passion project born from my love of Magic: The Gathering and real-time browser applications.
Spell Coven aims to provide a comprehensive remote play experience for Magic: The Gathering players, competing with platforms like SpellTable by offering:
- Multi-party Video & Voice: Browser-based video chat optimized for overhead camera views of playmats (2-4 players per game)
- Manual Card Search: Look up cards through Scryfall and keep a recent-card history
- Game Management Tools: Life total tracking, commander damage tracking, and game timers
- Flexible Room System: Create or join private/public game rooms with format and power level metadata for better matchmaking
- Device Flexibility: Use standard webcams or mobile devices as overhead cameras without separate apps
- Fully Browser-Based: No installation required—works on modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
The following features are currently available and working:
- ✅ Room System: Create and join game rooms with real-time player presence
- ✅ Multi-party Video/Audio Chat: WebRTC-powered video and audio communication between players
- ✅ Webcam Integration: Use your webcam as an overhead camera for your playmat
- ✅ User Authentication: Sign in with Convex authentication
- ✅ Life Total Tracking: Keep track of life totals for all players
- ✅ Commander Damage Tracking: Track commander damage across multiple opponents
- ✅ Invite by URL: Share a link to invite friends to your game room
Future enhancements on the roadmap:
- Public/Private Room Matchmaking: Find games with players of similar formats and power levels
- User Accounts and Game History: Track your play sessions over time
- Replay and Spectator Modes: Watch games or review past sessions
Spell Coven is designed for Magic: The Gathering players who want to play with their physical cards remotely against friends. The platform enables:
- Remote Play Sessions: Play paper MTG with friends across distances using video chat
- Casual & Competitive Play: Support for various formats (Commander, Modern, Standard, etc.) with power level indicators
- Card Identification: Quickly identify cards on camera for rules lookups and oracle text (coming soon)
- Game State Tracking: Keep track of life totals and commander damage
- Flexible Setup: Use any webcam or smartphone as an overhead camera—no special equipment needed
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Install dependencies:
bun install
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Start the Convex development server:
bun run convex:dev
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Start the Web development server:
bun run dev
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Open the app: Navigate to https://localhost:1234 to get started.
The media backend uses LiveKit Cloud tokens issued from Convex. These values are
server-only Convex environment variables, not VITE_* client variables:
LIVEKIT_URL=wss://your-project.livekit.cloud
LIVEKIT_API_KEY=...
LIVEKIT_API_SECRET=...Do not commit these secrets to .env files. Convex functions read them via
process.env in convex/env.ts, so they must be configured on the Convex
deployment that the app is using.
For the normal local Convex dev deployment used by bun run convex:dev, set the
variables with the Convex CLI:
bunx convex env set LIVEKIT_URL
bunx convex env set LIVEKIT_API_KEY
bunx convex env set LIVEKIT_API_SECRETUse the interactive form above, or pipe values through stdin to keep secrets out of shell history:
pbpaste | bunx convex env set LIVEKIT_API_SECRETE2E runs use a Convex preview deployment created by
scripts/convex-preview.sh. The preview script copies LIVEKIT_URL,
LIVEKIT_API_KEY, and LIVEKIT_API_SECRET from the current shell environment
into the Convex preview deployment when they are present. For the local E2E
preview name used by the root script (CONVEX_PREVIEW_NAME=local):
bun run convex:e2e:uiIf you use a different CONVEX_PREVIEW_NAME, replace local with that preview
name. To set or override values manually, use:
bunx convex env set --preview-name local LIVEKIT_URL
bunx convex env set --preview-name local LIVEKIT_API_KEY
bunx convex env set --preview-name local LIVEKIT_API_SECRETFor production Vercel deployments, set the values on the production Convex deployment:
bunx convex env set --prod LIVEKIT_URL
bunx convex env set --prod LIVEKIT_API_KEY
bunx convex env set --prod LIVEKIT_API_SECRETAdding these secrets only in the Vercel dashboard is not enough because the
token action runs in Convex, not in the Vercel function runtime. Vercel still
needs the usual public VITE_CONVEX_URL for the web app to point at the correct
Convex deployment.
Sentry is integrated across the Convex backend and web client. See
docs/sentry.md for configuration, CI setup, and verification
steps.
This Turborepo monorepo houses all applications and packages needed to drive the Spell Coven platform:
web: Main web application for remote MTG play (Vite + React + TanStack Router)- Room system with real-time player presence
- WebRTC video/audio chat
- Manual Scryfall card search and recent-card history
@repo/ui: Shared React component library@repo/eslint-config: Shared ESLint configurations@repo/typescript-config: Shared TypeScript configurations@repo/tailwind-config: Shared Tailwind CSS configuration@repo/prettier-config: Shared Prettier configuration
Each package/app is written in TypeScript.
Frontend:
- React 19, TanStack Router, Tailwind CSS
- Vite with TypeScript
- Convex for authentication
Real-time Communication:
- WebRTC for peer-to-peer video/audio
- Convex for real-time data sync and room management
Infrastructure:
- Turborepo managed with Bun workspaces
This Turborepo has some additional tools already setup for you:
- TypeScript for static type checking
- ESLint for code linting
- Prettier for code formatting
To build all apps and packages, run the following command:
cd spell-coven-mono
# With [global `turbo`](https://turborepo.com/docs/getting-started/installation#global-installation) installed (recommended)
turbo build
# Without [global `turbo`](https://turborepo.com/docs/getting-started/installation#global-installation), use your package manager
bunx turbo run build
You can build a specific package by using a filter:
# With [global `turbo`](https://turborepo.com/docs/getting-started/installation#global-installation) installed (recommended)
turbo build --filter=docs
# Without [global `turbo`](https://turborepo.com/docs/getting-started/installation#global-installation), use your package manager
bunx turbo run build --filter=docs
- Mana symbol vectors sourced from Mana & Card Icons made by Andrew Gioia.
This is an open-source project and contributions are welcome! Whether you're interested in:
- Adding new features (game tools, UI improvements)
- Improving game-room usability
- Optimizing performance
- Writing documentation
- Reporting bugs
Please feel free to open issues or submit pull requests.
Learn more about the power of Turborepo: