Ghost Arcade Community

Open-source projection mapping, VJ, and shader playground for live performance. Built on Svelte 5, Three.js, and Electron. Runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

TL;DR: Ghost Arcade Community is the free, open-source edition of Ghost Arcade. It's fully featured for live performance — projection mapping, shader rendering, video/image layers, MIDI control, mobile companion, output recording. The commercial Pro edition adds Spout/Syphon texture sharing, AI shader generation, dual-deck VJ with crossfader, snapshots, macros, setlists, keyframe animation, and the plugin ecosystem. See What's different from Pro below.

Features

• Projection mapping — quad warp + mesh warp, multi-output slicing, drag-to-position, per-corner curves
• Layers — shader / video / image / 3D model / point cloud / Gaussian splat / SVG / lines / text / light painting / Three.js scene
• Effects — 50+ built-in effects (blur, glitch, displacement, color grading, chromatic aberration, kaleidoscope, etc.) chainable per-layer or per-clip
• MIDI control — full WebMIDI support with MIDI Learn — map any param to any controller in seconds
• Mobile companion — open http://<your-lan-ip>:9002 on an iPad or phone for a touch-controllable VJ surface (clip launcher, mixer, master fader, effects, shader params)
• Recording — capture the output to MP4 / WebM at any resolution
• Cloud shader sync — pull community shaders from a configurable index; edit + save your own
• Live ISF shader playground — write shaders in the browser with the full ISF v2 spec
• Audio reactivity — system audio or microphone, FFT bands feed any param

Quick start

Run from source

git clone https://github.com/riskcapital/ghost-arcade-community.git
cd ghost-arcade-community
npm install
npm run desktop          # Electron + Vite dev server in one

The first launch downloads a small demo project from the public releases asset bundle so you have something to play with immediately.

Build a desktop installer

npm run build:desktop          # Windows NSIS installer
npm run build:desktop:mac      # macOS DMG (universal)
npm run build:desktop:linux    # Linux AppImage

Output lands in dist-electron/.

Mobile companion

The desktop app starts a WebSocket server on port 9001 and an HTTP server on port 9002. Open the HTTP URL on a device on the same Wi-Fi:

http://<your-mac-or-pc-lan-ip>:9002

The desktop QR code includes a per-launch pairing token. Open the URL from the desktop app or scan the QR code so the mobile UI can authenticate to the WebSocket controller and show the clip launcher + mixer.

Network note: the WS + HTTP servers bind to all interfaces (0.0.0.0) so the mobile companion can reach them. The control WebSocket requires the QR/session token in desktop builds, but you should still only run this app on networks you trust. See SECURITY.md for the threat model.

First launch troubleshooting

Ghost Arcade Community ships unsigned binaries. The first time you launch a downloaded build, your OS will warn that the publisher is unverified. This is expected — the project doesn't have a code-signing budget yet, and the binaries are reproducible from public source.

macOS

"Ghost Arcade Community can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software."

Fix: in Finder, right-click the app → Open → confirm. You only need to do this once per install.

If the app silently exits on first launch, check Console.app for a Gatekeeper rejection log. The unsigned-binary path is documented in SECURITY.md.

Windows

"Windows protected your PC — Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting."

Fix: click More info → Run anyway. SmartScreen reputation is per-file; new builds will trigger this until enough downloads accumulate.

Linux (AppImage)

chmod +x ghost-arcade-community-1.0.0.AppImage
./ghost-arcade-community-1.0.0.AppImage

If you get a sandbox error on Ubuntu 24.04+:

./ghost-arcade-community-*.AppImage --no-sandbox

(This is an Electron 33 + glibc-confinement issue, not specific to this project.)

What's different from Pro

The commercial Pro edition is a separately maintained codebase. Same foundation (projection mapping, layers, shader library, MIDI, mobile companion), Pro adds the live-performance + AI surfaces:

Same in both editions

Pro-only

If you need any of the Pro features, the commercial edition is at https://ghostarcade.live.

License

AGPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE for the full text.

The AGPL applies to the entire repository — including any modifications, forks, and SaaS deployments. If you run a modified version on a server that users interact with over a network (e.g. a hosted web build), you must make the modified source code available to those users.

Commercial creative use is allowed: paid shows, client visuals, installations, recordings, streams, tutorials, and content made with the app do not become owned by this project just because you used Ghost Arcade Community. See COMMERCIAL_USE.md.

The AGPL does not grant trademark rights. Official names, logos, app icons, release channels, and brand identity are controlled by Risk Capital Media LLC. Forks and unofficial builds must use their own name and branding. See TRADEMARKS.md.

For commercial use that doesn't fit the AGPL terms (e.g. closed-source modifications), the Pro edition is available under a separate commercial license at https://ghostarcade.live.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests welcome at https://github.com/riskcapital/ghost-arcade-community.

By contributing, you agree to license your contributions under the AGPL-3.0. Please don't submit code copied from the Pro edition unless it is your own original work.

Tech stack

• Svelte 5.46 (with export let props, no runes yet)
• Three.js 0.182 for 3D rendering
• Electron 33.4 for the desktop shell
• Vite 7 for the dev server + build
• TypeScript 5.9, vanilla ws for the WebSocket server

Acknowledgments

Built by Justin Wood and contributors. Forked from the Pro codebase to ship under AGPL-3.0 in early 2026.