{"slug": "show-hn-i-rebuilt-microsoft-comic-chat-s-layout-engine-in-one-html-file", "title": "Show HN: I rebuilt Microsoft Comic Chat's layout engine in one HTML file", "summary": "A developer rebuilt Microsoft Comic Chat's layout engine in a single HTML file, using GPT 5.6 and Fable 5/Opus 4.8 to reproduce the original source code by hand. The app supports secure, ephemeral group chats for up to 10 people with end-to-end encryption via AES-GCM and WebCrypto, and uses a Cloudflare Durable Object as a relay that cannot read message content.", "body_md": "I used Comic Chat in 1996 and never got over it. So when Microsoft put the source up last week, I wanted it back the way I remembered it: same engine, browser tab, no install, works on a phone.\n\nI do not write or read code. I'm the proverbial \"product manager.\" So, I have to thank both GPT 5.6 and Fable 5 / Opus 4.8 (just before they released Opus 5 today). I aimed to stay faithful to the original as much as I could and extend it intelligibly.\n\nIt's not IRC, but you *can* connect with up to 10 people in a secure (E2E encrypted), ephemeral group chat. Sorry, but I'm not sure who uses IRC anymore. I don't. ;)\n\nOne link, up to ten friends, everyone typing into the same strip live. Names, lines and uploaded backdrops are encrypted in your browser with AES-GCM through WebCrypto before any of it leaves. The relay is a Cloudflare Durable Object that orders events and passes them along, and it cannot read a line of your comic. A room carries separate keys for the script and for uploaded images, plus a third derived with HKDF that proves you belong without the real key going on the wire. Keys are non-extractable and ride in the URL fragment, which a browser never sends to a server. Security was not an afterthought with this.\n\nIt *is* one HTML file. Nothing is emulated, there is no WASM, and the constants are reproduced from the source by hand rather than compiled. There is a \"For nerds\" tab in the app with the routines, the geometry and the crypto behind the shared rooms, etc., so I will let the page answer that rather than paste it here.\n\nComic Sans is kinda optional. Barely.\n\nI'm down for constructive feedback and viable suggestions / bug reports.\n\nEnjoy!\n\nComments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49042872](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49042872)\n\nPoints: 1\n\n# Comments: 0", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-i-rebuilt-microsoft-comic-chat-s-layout-engine-in-one-html-file", "canonical_source": "https://arcade.pirillo.com/comic-chatter.html", "published_at": "2026-07-24 23:28:27+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-24 23:52:17.410648+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["developer-tools", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["Microsoft", "Cloudflare", "GPT 5.6", "Fable 5", "Opus 4.8"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-i-rebuilt-microsoft-comic-chat-s-layout-engine-in-one-html-file", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-i-rebuilt-microsoft-comic-chat-s-layout-engine-in-one-html-file.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-i-rebuilt-microsoft-comic-chat-s-layout-engine-in-one-html-file.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-i-rebuilt-microsoft-comic-chat-s-layout-engine-in-one-html-file.jsonld"}}