Hi

\"\n});\n```\n\n## Val Town Utility Functions\n\nVal Town provides several utility functions to help with common project tasks.\n\n### Importing Utilities\n\nAlways import utilities with version pins to avoid breaking changes:\n\n```ts\nimport { parseProject, readFile, serveFile } from \"https://esm.town/v/std/utils@85-main/index.ts\";\n```\n\n### Available Utilities\n\n\n#### **serveFile** - Serve project files with proper content types\n\nFor example, in Hono:\n\n```ts\n// serve all files in frontend/ and shared/\napp.get(\"/frontend/*\", c => serveFile(c.req.path, import.meta.url));\napp.get(\"/shared/*\", c => serveFile(c.req.path, import.meta.url));\n```\n\n#### **readFile** - Read files from within the project:\n\n```ts\n// Read a file from the project\nconst fileContent = await readFile(\"/frontend/index.html\", import.meta.url);\n```\n\n#### **listFiles** - List all files in the project\n\n```ts\nconst files = await listFiles(import.meta.url);\n```\n\n#### **parseProject** - Extract information about the current project from import.meta.url\n\nThis is useful for including info for linking back to a val, ie in \"view source\" urls:\n\n```ts\nconst projectVal = parseProject(import.meta.url);\nconsole.log(projectVal.username); // Owner of the project\nconsole.log(projectVal.name); // Project name\nconsole.log(projectVal.version); // Version number\nconsole.log(projectVal.branch); // Branch name\nconsole.log(projectVal.links.self.project); // URL to the project page\n```\n\nHowever, it's *extremely importing* to note that `parseProject` and other Standard Library utilities ONLY RUN ON THE SERVER.\nIf you need access to this data on the client, run it in the server and pass it to the client by splicing it into the HTML page\nor by making an API request for it.\n\n## Val Town Platform Specifics\n\n- **Redirects:** Use `return new Response(null, { status: 302, headers: { Location: \"/place/to/redirect\" }})` instead of `Response.redirect` which is broken\n- **Images:** Avoid external images or base64 images. Use emojis, unicode symbols, or icon fonts/libraries instead\n- **AI Image:** To inline generate an AI image use: `

`\n- **Storage:** DO NOT use the Deno KV module for storage\n- **Browser APIs:** DO NOT use the `alert()`, `prompt()`, or `confirm()` methods\n- **Weather Data:** Use open-meteo for weather data (doesn't require API keys) unless otherwise specified\n- **View Source:** Add a view source link by importing & using `import.meta.url.replace(\"ems.sh\", \"val.town)\"` (or passing this data to the client) and include `target=\"_top\"` attribute\n- **Error Debugging:** Add `` to HTML to capture client-side errors\n- **Error Handling:** Only use try...catch when there's a clear local resolution; Avoid catches that merely log or return 500s. Let errors bubble up with full context\n- **Environment Variables:** Use `Deno.env.get('keyname')` when you need to, but generally prefer APIs that don't require keys\n- **Imports:** Use `https://esm.sh` for npm and Deno dependencies to ensure compatibility on server and browser\n- **Storage Strategy:** Only use backend storage if explicitly required; prefer simple static client-side sites\n- **React Configuration:** When using React libraries, pin versions with `?deps=react@18.2.0,react-dom@18.2.0` and start the file with `/** @jsxImportSource https://esm.sh/react@18.2.0 */`\n- Ensure all React dependencies and sub-dependencies are pinned to the same version\n- **Styling:** Default to using TailwindCSS via `` unless otherwise specified\n\n## Project Structure and Design Patterns\n\n### Recommended Directory Structure\n```\n├── backend/\n│ ├── database/\n│ │ ├── migrations.ts # Schema definitions\n│ │ ├── queries.ts # DB query functions\n│ │ └── README.md\n│ └── routes/ # Route modules\n│ ├── [route].ts\n│ └── static.ts # Static file serving\n│ ├── index.ts # Main entry point\n│ └── README.md\n├── frontend/\n│ ├── components/\n│ │ ├── App.tsx\n│ │ └── [Component].tsx\n│ ├── favicon.svg\n│ ├── index.html # Main HTML template\n│ ├── index.tsx # Frontend JS entry point\n│ ├── README.md\n│ └── style.css\n├── README.md\n└── shared/\n ├── README.md\n └── utils.ts # Shared types and functions\n```\n\n### Backend (Hono) Best Practices\n\n- Hono is the recommended API framework\n- Main entry point should be `backend/index.ts`\n- **Static asset serving:** Use the utility functions to read and serve project files:\n ```ts\n import { readFile, serveFile } from \"https://esm.town/v/std/utils@85-main/index.ts\";\n \n // serve all files in frontend/ and shared/\n app.get(\"/frontend/*\", c => serveFile(c.req.path, import.meta.url));\n app.get(\"/shared/*\", c => serveFile(c.req.path, import.meta.url));\n \n // For index.html, often you'll want to bootstrap with initial data\n app.get(\"/\", async c => {\n let html = await readFile(\"/frontend/index.html\", import.meta.url);\n \n // Inject data to avoid extra round-trips\n const initialData = await fetchInitialData();\n const dataScript = ``;\n \n html = html.replace(\"\", `${dataScript}`);\n return c.html(html);\n });\n ```\n- Create RESTful API routes for CRUD operations\n- Always include this snippet at the top-level Hono app to re-throwing errors to see full stack traces:\n ```ts\n // Unwrap Hono errors to see original error details\n app.onError((err, c) => {\n throw err;\n });\n ```\n\n### Database Patterns\n- Run migrations on startup or comment out for performance\n- Change table names when modifying schemas rather than altering\n- Export clear query functions with proper TypeScript typing\n\n## Common Gotchas and Solutions\n\n1. **Environment Limitations:** \n - Val Town runs on Deno in a serverless context, not Node.js\n - Code in `shared/` must work in both frontend and backend environments\n - Cannot use `Deno` keyword in shared code\n - Use `https://esm.sh` for imports that work in both environments\n\n2. **SQLite Peculiarities:**\n - Limited support for ALTER TABLE operations\n - Create new tables with updated schemas and copy data when needed\n - Always run table creation before querying\n\n3. **React Configuration:**\n - All React dependencies must be pinned to 18.2.0\n - Always include `@jsxImportSource https://esm.sh/react@18.2.0` at the top of React files\n - Rendering issues often come from mismatched React versions\n\n4. **File Handling:**\n - Val Town only supports text files, not binary\n - Use the provided utilities to read files across branches and forks\n - For files in the project, use `readFile` helpers\n\n5. **API Design:**\n - `fetch` handler is the entry point for HTTP vals\n - Run the Hono app with `export default app.fetch // This is the entry point for HTTP vals`\n\n",[],[176],{"_102":184,"_95":185,"_156":186,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":187,"_162":163,"_104":188,"_99":32,"_165":189,"_167":190,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_171":191,"_98":192},"057d94de-a2e3-11f0-b5fc-0224a6c84d84","App.tsx","0199bacd-429f-74e9-ad90-da2498ab8deb",1,["D",1759775638102],"script","/** @jsxImportSource https://esm.sh/react@19 */\nimport { useState } from \"https://esm.sh/react@19\";\n\nexport default function App () {\n const [count, setCount] = useState(0);\n \n return (\n

Hello

{count}

\n \n

\n )\n}",[],[185],{"_102":194,"_95":195,"_156":196,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":136,"_162":163,"_104":197,"_99":187,"_165":166,"_167":198,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_171":199,"_98":200},"9d3b6046-a2f5-11f0-a4a9-0224a6c84d84","README.md","0199bacd-42a0-74ca-9ae6-3f64f66d7dc6",["D",1759783623698],"# Project Picker\n\nThis is a React application that helps you choose your next coding project. It includes a list of project ideas and a spinner to randomly select one.\n\n## How it works\n\nThe `http.tsx` file is the main entry point and serves the app. It renders the `App` component on the server and wraps it in an HTML response. This HTML response includes a `\n \n \n `;\n\n return new Response(html, {\n headers: {\n \"Content-Type\": \"text/html\",\n },\n });\n}",[],[220],{"_102":228,"_95":229,"_156":230,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":231,"_162":163,"_104":232,"_99":32,"_165":189,"_167":233,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_171":234,"_98":235},"ab0a6d6e-a2e3-11f0-b3e9-0224a6c84d84","projects.ts","ab0a6e4a-a2e3-11f0-b3e9-0224a6c84d84",4,["D",1759775915925],"export const projects = [\n {\n name: \"Habit Tracker\",\n description: \"React app where you can create various habits to track\",\n size: \"medium\",\n },\n {\n name: \"“Git Ingest” for Val.Town\",\n description:\n \"Get the contents of a val through esm.town, and then be able to copy it to the clipboard, or save it as a txt file\",\n size: \"large\",\n },\n {\n name: \"ChatGPT to create project ideas\",\n description: \"Click a button to get a project idea!\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"(MAKE FIRST) Project-picker randomizer\",\n description:\n \"Export all the project ideas, make a “spinner” val that tells me which project to do next.\",\n size: \"medium\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Code Golfer\",\n description:\n \"Copy paste code and have ChatGPT golf it, provide a way to un-golf it as well\",\n size: \"medium\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Arithmetic challenge \",\n description: \"50 questions in 60 seconds\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Reading challenge\",\n description:\n \"Read an AI generated story about a topic, then doing a reading exam\",\n size: \"medium\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Daily Gratitude Form\",\n description:\n \"Generate a few questions that are about gratitude, save answers to a database\",\n size: \"large\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Random Gradient Generator\",\n description:\n \"Generate beautiful CSS gradients with a single click. Returns HTML page with gradient + copy-paste CSS.\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"ASCII Art Generator\",\n description: \"Convert text into ASCII art banners using a simple font map.\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Live Clock Many Timezones\",\n description:\n \"Display current time in 5+ interesting cities with emoji flags.\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Character Counter\",\n description: \"Paste in URI and get length of character’s back\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Timestamp Converter\",\n description: \"Convert from epoch date to human readable date\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"“Datle”\",\n description:\n \"Make your own “wordle” game where you are given a epoch date and have to guess the actual date in as few guesses as possible\",\n size: \"large\",\n },\n {\n name: \"ChatGPT magic 8 ball\",\n description: \"Use an AI to answer a question, design it like an 8 Ball\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Dad joke generator\",\n description: \"What am I, chopped liver?\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Dice roller\",\n description:\n \"Choose various combinations of dice and generate random numbers for each one\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Coin Flip API\",\n description: \"It’s an API that either passes or fails 50/50\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Tip calculator\",\n description:\n \"Put in the total bill, number of guests, and tells you how much everyone should pay\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Dog time calculator\",\n description:\n \"Input an age, get back that age in dog years. Figure out how dog years are defined and extrapolate it to other animals? What’s a dog hour?\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Nato Alphabet quiz\",\n description: null,\n size: \"small\",\n },\n {\n name: \"Country flag quiz\",\n description: null,\n size: \"medium\",\n },\n {\n name: \"OpenAI Realtime sleepcast\",\n description:\n \"Use the https://www.val.town/x/stevekrouse/hello-realtime to generate a “Sleepcast” that puts you to sleep\",\n size: \"small\",\n },\n];\n",[],[229],{"_102":237,"_95":238,"_156":239,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":240,"_162":163,"_104":241,"_99":242,"_165":223,"_167":243,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_171":244,"_98":245},"aaa18aca-a2e7-11f0-8494-0224a6c84d84","spinner.http.tsx","ab188598-a2e3-11f0-bdd7-0224a6c84d84",13,["D",1759777633224],7,"import { projects } from \"./projects.ts\";\n\nexport default async function (req: Request) {\n const url = new URL(req.url);\n\n // API endpoint to get a random project\n if (url.pathname === \"/api/spin\") {\n const randomProject = projects[Math.floor(Math.random() * projects.length)];\n return new Response(JSON.stringify(randomProject), {\n headers: { \"Content-Type\": \"application/json\" },\n });\n }\n\n // Serve the main HTML page\n const html = `\n\n\n\n \n \n Project Spinner\n \n\n\n

🎡 Project Spinner

\n\n

\n\n \n\n

\n \n

\n\n \n\n\n `;\n\n return new Response(html, {\n headers: { \"Content-Type\": \"text/html\" },\n });\n}\n",[],[238],"files",[153,174,183,193,201,209,218,227,236],"counts",{"_250":32,"_251":187,"_252":32,"_253":254},"pulls","branches","forks","envVars",{"_255":32,"_256":32},"count","emptyCount","contents",[259,262,265,268,271,274,277,280,283],{"_102":154,"_95":155,"_156":157,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":161,"_162":163,"_104":260,"_99":32,"_165":166,"_167":168,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_98":261},["D",1759775915923],[155],{"_102":175,"_95":176,"_156":177,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":178,"_162":163,"_104":263,"_99":32,"_165":166,"_167":180,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_98":264},["D",1759775915906],[176],{"_102":184,"_95":185,"_156":186,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":187,"_162":163,"_104":266,"_99":32,"_165":189,"_167":190,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_98":267},["D",1759775638102],[185],{"_102":194,"_95":195,"_156":196,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":136,"_162":163,"_104":269,"_99":187,"_165":166,"_167":198,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_98":270},["D",1759783623698],[195],{"_102":202,"_95":203,"_156":204,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":187,"_162":163,"_104":272,"_99":32,"_165":189,"_167":206,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_98":273},["D",1759775638102],[203],{"_102":210,"_95":211,"_156":212,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":213,"_162":163,"_104":275,"_99":32,"_165":166,"_167":215,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_98":276},["D",1759775915886],[211],{"_102":219,"_95":220,"_156":221,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":187,"_162":163,"_104":278,"_99":32,"_165":223,"_167":224,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_98":279},["D",1759775638102],[220],{"_102":228,"_95":229,"_156":230,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":231,"_162":163,"_104":281,"_99":32,"_165":189,"_167":233,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_98":282},["D",1759775915925],[229],{"_102":237,"_95":238,"_156":239,"_158":-5,"_159":137,"_160":240,"_162":163,"_104":284,"_99":242,"_165":223,"_167":243,"_169":22,"_170":-5,"_98":285},["D",1759777633224],[238],"upstreamProject",{"_102":145,"_95":288,"_110":289,"_112":290,"_108":109,"_23":291},"react-starter","Minimal React starter with SSR","https://imagedelivery.net/iHX6Ovru0O7AjmyT5yZRoA/a0afa007-3e32-4914-a751-f7efceecae00/square512",{"_93":292,"_129":293},"jxnblk","https://imagedelivery.net/iHX6Ovru0O7AjmyT5yZRoA/fca87e60-4ad1-453c-af10-2782c6823400/square512","upstreamBranch",{"_102":140,"_104":296,"_297":298,"_95":43,"_138":145,"_99":142,"_139":-5,"_141":-5,"_299":300,"_106":-5,"_150":22,"_108":109,"_149":292,"_16":147,"_148":288},["D",1743096145603],"updatedAt",["D",1743197735178],"lockfileKey","1744626893628-esm.town_v_jxnblk_react-starter@39-main","emptyEnvVars","isNew","flags",[],"routes/_app.x.$handle.$name.pulls",{"_93":94,"_95":96,"_307":308,"_100":311,"_250":316,"_317":-5,"_318":22,"_319":-5},"filters",{"_309":310},"state","open",{"_102":103,"_95":96,"_104":312,"_106":-5,"_107":22,"_108":109,"_110":111,"_112":-5,"_14":113,"_114":-5,"_115":22,"_116":-5,"_117":32,"_16":118,"_119":120,"_121":120,"_122":123,"_124":123,"_125":123,"_126":120,"_127":120,"_23":313,"_131":314,"_134":315,"_150":22},["D",1759775638102],{"_93":94,"_129":130},{"_93":94,"_133":130},{"_99":136,"_95":43,"_102":137,"_138":103,"_139":140,"_141":142,"_143":109,"_144":145,"_146":147,"_148":96,"_149":94},[],"latestBranch","isForkOwner","ownProjectForks","actionData","errors"]

willemhelmet

project-picker

Pull requests