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What it does

The client loader (@nanoforge-dev/loader-client) is a Bun web server. nf start starts one for each client app, pointed at the app’s build folder. It serves:
  • the loading page, at /;
  • the list of game files, at /manifest;
  • the client’s environment variables, at /env;
  • the game files themselves, at /game/<path>.
It prints Client started on url http://localhost:3000/ when it is ready.

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What nf start passes to it

The client loader also has --watch-port <port> for the live-reload WebSocket. nf start doesn’t set it, so the WebSocket takes a free port.

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Routes worth knowing when you debug

Open them in the browser next to the game: Only files inside the build folder are served at /game/<path>, and only files of the loading page at the other paths. Any other path returns a 404. /manifest lists the build folder each time it is requested, so files added by a rebuild show up on the next page load. A hash is computed again only when a file’s size or modification time changes.

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Live reload

With --watch, the client loader watches the build folder and sends update on its WebSocket when a file changes. The loading page then reloads. Changes closer than 100 ms count as one. When nf start passes --watch-server-dir, a change in the server build reloads the page too, 100 ms later, to give the server time to restart.

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HTTPS

With --cert and --key, the client loader serves HTTPS, and /env returns tlsEnabled: true. You need HTTPS as soon as players open the game on an address other than localhost: see secure context. The live-reload WebSocket stays plain ws://, on localhost. Live reload works only in a browser on the machine that runs the loader.