IF-PAL

Play classic text adventure games with a gen alpha AI companion watching over your shoulder.

IF-PAL runs Z-machine games (Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide, etc.) in a clean serif reader view, with Grue — an gen alpha AI friend — reacting to what happens in the game in real time.

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Requirements

• Node.js (v18+)
• dfrotz — the Z-machine interpreter
• A Z-machine game file (.z3, .z5, or .z8)
• Either Ollama (local, free) or an Anthropic API key for Grue

Install dfrotz on macOS:

brew install frotz

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Setup

git clone <repo>
cd if-pal
npm install
cp settings.example.json settings.json

Edit settings.json for your preferred AI backend (see below), then:

npm run dev

Click Open a game... and pick a .z3 file to start playing.

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Configuration

Settings live in settings.json at the project root. This file is gitignored — copy from settings.example.json to get started.

Using Ollama (local, free)

Install Ollama and pull a model:

brew install ollama
ollama pull llama3.2:3b

Apple Silicon note: If you hit errors on M-series Macs, start Ollama with:

GGML_METAL_TENSOR_DISABLE=1 ollama serve

settings.json:

{
  "provider": "ollama",
  "model": "llama3.2:3b",
  "ollamaPort": 11434,
  "debounceMs": 1500
}

Any model available in Ollama will work. Smaller models (1–4B) are fast; larger ones (7B+) are more interesting but slower.

Using Claude (Anthropic API)

Sign up at console.anthropic.com, create an API key, and add credits.

settings.json:

{
  "provider": "claude",
  "model": "claude-haiku-4-5-20251001",
  "ollamaPort": 11434,
  "debounceMs": 1500,
  "anthropicApiKey": "sk-ant-..."
}

Recommended models:

• claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 — fast and cheap, great for Grue
• claude-sonnet-4-6 — more thoughtful, higher cost

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Settings reference

Key	Default	Description
provider	"ollama"	"ollama" or "claude"
model	"qwen2.5:3b"	Model name for the chosen provider
ollamaPort	11434	Port Ollama is listening on
debounceMs	1500	How long to wait after a game turn before Grue responds (ms)
anthropicApiKey	—	Your Anthropic API key (required if provider is "claude")

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Where to get game files

The Interactive Fiction Archive has hundreds of free Z-machine games. The Infocom classics (Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide, Planetfall) are widely available.