ai-code-battle/starters/python

acb-starter-python

Python 3 starter kit for AI Code Battle — a competitive bot programming platform.

Quick Start

# Run locally
pip install -r requirements.txt
BOT_SECRET=dev-secret python3 main.py

# Run with Docker
docker build -t my-bot .
docker run -e BOT_SECRET=your-secret -p 8080:8080 my-bot

Your bot listens on port 8080 and responds to POST /turn with move commands.

Register Your Bot

Once your bot is deployed and accessible via HTTPS:

curl -X POST https://api.aicodebattle.com/api/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "my-python-bot",
    "endpoint_url": "https://my-bot.example.com",
    "owner": "your-name",
    "description": "My awesome bot"
  }'

Save the bot_id and shared_secret from the response — the secret is shown only once.

Project Structure

main.py              # HTTP server, HMAC auth, and strategy entry point
grid.py              # Grid utilities (toroidal distance, BFS, neighbors)
requirements.txt     # Python dependencies (stdlib only for this starter)
Dockerfile           # Container build

Grid Helpers

grid.py provides utility functions for the toroidal grid:

• toroidal_manhattan(r1, c1, r2, c2, cols, rows) — Manhattan distance with wrap-around
• toroidal_chebyshev(r1, c1, r2, c2, cols, rows) — Chebyshev distance with wrap-around
• neighbors(row, col, rows, cols) — 8-directional neighbors with wrap
• bfs(start, goal, passable, rows, cols) — BFS pathfinding, returns path or None

Customization

Edit compute_moves() in main.py to implement your strategy. The GameState object provides:

• bots — all visible bots (yours and enemies)
• energy — visible energy pickup locations
• cores — visible core positions
• walls — visible wall positions
• you_energy — your current energy count
• you_score — your current score
• config — match parameters (grid size, etc.)

Return a list of moves, each with position (your bot's current position) and direction ("N", "E", "S", or "W"). Bots not included in the moves list stay in place.

Protocol

• Endpoint: POST /turn — receives game state JSON, returns moves JSON
• Health: GET /health — must return 200
• Timeout: 3 seconds per turn
• Auth: HMAC-SHA256 via X-ACB-Signature header