{"slug": "show-hn-minecraft-as-one-c-file-that-runs-inside-a-pdf-a-terminal-and-a-kindle", "title": "Show HN: Minecraft as one C file that runs inside a PDF, a terminal and a Kindle", "summary": "A developer released a freestanding single C file reimplementation of Minecraft's first version, rd-132211 (released 13 May 2009), that runs with no includes and no memory allocation across a terminal, telnet multiplayer, a 20 KB WebAssembly module, a PDF in Chrome, a bare x86 PC with no OS, and a jailbroken Kindle Paperwhite. The PDF build works because PDFium lacks WebAssembly support, so the C is compiled to wasm with clang and converted to JavaScript via binaryen's wasm2js; the author said Claude wrote the C and JavaScript code while they selected targets and tested everything. The project also compiles for Raspberry Pi Pico and Game Boy Advance but is untested on that hardware, and the Kindle version lives in a separate repository, Inkwell.", "body_md": "This is basically the doomgeneric idea but applied to Minecraft (its first version rd-132211 that came out on 13 May 2009).\n\nIt's one freestanding C file with no includes and no memory allocation. It runs in a terminal, over telnet as shared multiplayer, as a 20 KB wasm module, inside a PDF on Chrome and on a bare x86 PC with no OS, and on a jailbroken Kindle Paperwhite.\n\nPDFium doesn't have WebAssembly so the C goes to wasm with clang and then binaryen's wasm2js turns it into JavaScript.\n\nIt also compiles for a Raspberry Pi Pico and Game Boy Advance, but I don't have any of these so haven't tested it. If someone has one would love to hear how it works there. The browser version can be played here directly: [https://pragyaangaur.github.io/Can-It-Run-Minecraft](https://pragyaangaur.github.io/Can-It-Run-Minecraft)\n\nUsed Claude for the C and JavaScript code because that's outside my area of work. I picked the targets and tested everything. The Kindle version ended up being an extended project so it's not in the linked repo: [https://github.com/pragyaangaur/Inkwell](https://github.com/pragyaangaur/Inkwell)\n\nAnd if anyone has any crazier places it could run on (someone please do it on a pregnancy test) do try and share it... maybe I could add it to the repo!\n\nComments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50257980](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50257980)\n\nPoints: 1\n\n# Comments: 0", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-minecraft-as-one-c-file-that-runs-inside-a-pdf-a-terminal-and-a-kindle", "canonical_source": "https://github.com/pragyaangaur/Can-It-Run-Minecraft", "published_at": "2026-10-27 12:13:35+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-27 12:42:30.496289+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["Minecraft", "rd-132211", "Claude", "PDFium", "binaryen", "wasm2js", "Raspberry Pi Pico", "Game Boy Advance"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-minecraft-as-one-c-file-that-runs-inside-a-pdf-a-terminal-and-a-kindle", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-minecraft-as-one-c-file-that-runs-inside-a-pdf-a-terminal-and-a-kindle.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-minecraft-as-one-c-file-that-runs-inside-a-pdf-a-terminal-and-a-kindle.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-minecraft-as-one-c-file-that-runs-inside-a-pdf-a-terminal-and-a-kindle.jsonld"}}