QuakeJS Rootless Project

Play multiplayer Quake III Arena in your browser with Podman / Docker

Demo

Try it live: gibs.oldschoolfrag.com

About

This project fork provides a fully local QuakeJS server built on @treyyoder's original QuakeJS project with the goal of a creating modern, lightweight, and secure alternative.

Key improvements in this fork:

• Modern base: Docker Hardened Image (Debian 13), Node.js 22.x LTS, Nginx-light
• Security: Significant CVE reduction, goal of zero High or Critical CVEs, runs as non-root
• Updated NPM packages where possible
• Multiplexed web and game traffic over a single port
• Small image size (~280MB)

What this fork has not done (so far):

• Recompile original game code from ioquake3 (still old game code)
• Introduce new functionality

Quick Start

Using Podman (Recommended)

podman run -d \
  --name quakejs \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  docker.io/awakenedpower/quakejs-rootless:latest

Using Docker Run

docker run -d \
  --name quakejs \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  docker.io/awakenedpower/quakejs-rootless:latest

Then open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080 to start playing!

Using Docker Compose

Create a docker-compose.yml file:

services:
  quakejs:
    container_name: quakejs
    image: awakenedpower/quakejs-rootless:latest
    ports:
      - '8080:8080'
    restart: unless-stopped

Then run:

docker-compose up -d

Using Kubernetes with Helm

This repository includes a Helm chart in .helm/. The CI workflow builds and pushes a linux/amd64 image, then packages the chart as an OCI artifact with the image pinned as tag@sha256:<digest>.

Local install:

helm install quake .helm \
  --namespace quakejs \
  --create-namespace

Install from the published OCI Helm chart:

helm install quake oci://ghcr.io/jackbrenn/quakejs-rootless/helm/quake \
  --namespace quakejs \
  --create-namespace

ArgoCD Application example

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: quake
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default
  source:
    repoURL: oci://ghcr.io/jackbrenn/quakejs-rootless/helm
    chart: quake
    targetRevision: 0.1.0
    helm:
      values: |
        ingress:
          enabled: true
          className: ""
          hosts:
            - host: quake.example.com
              tls: false
  destination:
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
    namespace: quakejs
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true
    syncOptions:
      - CreateNamespace=true

Important values:

image:
  repository: docker.io/awakenedpower/quakejs-rootless
  tag: latest

ingress:
  enabled: false
  className: ""
  hosts:
    - host: quake.example.com
      tls: false

quake:
  fsGame: baseq3

For ArgoCD, consume the published OCI Helm chart and override values there rather than editing rendered manifests.

Building from Source

Building with Podman (Recommended)

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/JackBrenn/quakejs-rootless.git
cd quakejs-rootless

2. Build the image:

podman build -t quakejs-rootless:latest .

3. Run the container:

podman run -d \
  --name quakejs \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  quakejs-rootless:latest

Building with Docker

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/JackBrenn/quakejs-rootless.git
cd quakejs-rootless

2. Build the image:

docker build -t quakejs-rootless:latest .

3. Run the container:

docker run -d \
  --name quakejs \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  quakejs-rootless:latest

Configuration

Server Configuration

The server configuration can be customized by modifying server.cfg.

Ports

• 8080 - Multiplexed Web interface and Game server port. Web requests are handled by Nginx directly, while WebSocket game traffic is seamlessly forwarded internally. This makes proxying behind SSL natively supported via a single port.

What's Different?

This fork builds upon the excellent work of @treyyoder/quakejs-docker with the following updates:

Component	Original	This Fork
Base OS	Ubuntu 20.04	Debian 13 Docker Hardened Image
Node.js	14.x	22.x LTS
Web Server	Apache 2	Nginx Light
Networking	Dual Port	Single Port Multiplexed via Nginx
CVEs	5 critical, 14 high, 999+ medium	0 critical, 0 high, 2 medium, 15 low
Container User	root	non-root

CVE counts as of 04.04.2026 — Results provided by Docker Scout.

🙏 Credits & Acknowledgments

This wouldn't be possible without these projects or contributors:

• @jonasbg - Hardened Kubernetes Helm chart and OCI publishing workflow
• @treyyoder - Original quakejs-docker implementation that made fully local QuakeJS servers possible
• @nerosketch - QuakeJS fork with local server capabilities
• @inolen - Original QuakeJS project
• @mescanne - Single-port multiplexing concept via Nginx WebSocket routing

License

MIT