ai-code-battle/starters/php

acb-starter-php

PHP 8 starter kit for AI Code Battle — a competitive bot programming platform.

Quick Start

# Run locally
BOT_SECRET=dev-secret php index.php

# 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-php-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

index.php      # HTTP server, HMAC auth, and routing
strategy.php   # Your bot logic (implement compute_moves())
game.php       # Game state types and grid utilities
composer.json  # Composer config (no external deps required)
Dockerfile     # Container build

Grid Helpers

game.php provides utility functions for the toroidal grid:

• toroidal_manhattan($a, $b, $rows, $cols) — Manhattan distance with wrap-around
• toroidal_chebyshev($a, $b, $rows, $cols) — Chebyshev distance with wrap-around
• neighbors($p, $rows, $cols) — 8-directional neighbors with wrap
• cardinal_steps($p, $rows, $cols) — Cardinal directions with positions
• bfs($start, $goal, $passable, $rows, $cols) — BFS pathfinding, returns path or null

Customization

Edit compute_moves() in strategy.php 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, vision radius, etc.)

Return an array of Move objects, each with the bot's current position and a direction ("N", "E", "S", or "W"). Bots not included in the moves array 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