DevGuess
Wordle-style web game for developers where players identify a hidden technology using multi-attribute feedback and directional year hints.
Architecture
Validated edge game flow
Browser
React client
Grid · hints · reference guide · sharing
Trust boundary · Cloudflare Pages Functions
Request validation
Zod schemas
Game integrity
Rate limits · signed progress
Deterministic round logic
Seed and dataset version
Custom technology catalog
170+ structured entries and taxonomy
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Problem and Idea
DevGuess is a developer-focused guessing game inspired by Wordle, but built around real technology metadata. Each guess is evaluated across 11 attributes (kind, ecosystem, runtime, platform, language, license, steward, year, and more), so players narrow the answer through meaningful technical signals instead of random trial and error.
Engineering Constraints
The game needed useful feedback without exposing the answer, deterministic rounds that stayed consistent across clients, and a backend flow that did not trust browser-owned progress. It also needed to remain small enough to run naturally alongside a static Vite application on Cloudflare.
Architecture and Decisions
The backend runs on Cloudflare Pages Functions and uses signed progress tokens plus request rate limiting to keep gameplay fair and resistant to tampering. Search and guess endpoints are validated with Zod, and answer selection is deterministic per round seed and dataset version.
I also built an in-app reference guide/taxonomy explorer and share flows that generate downloadable PNG/PDF snapshots of each run, including completion time and board state.
Signed client progress avoids a server-side session for every player, but it is a specific tradeoff rather than a claim that the browser becomes trusted. Validation, rate limiting, and signed state each cover a different failure mode.
Behind the Project
- Curious about the roots and build process? Read How and Why I Built DevGuess.
Tech Stack
- Frontend: React + TypeScript + Vite
- Backend: Cloudflare Pages Functions
- Validation: Zod
- Testing: Vitest
- Dataset: Custom structured tech catalog (170+ technologies)
My Contributions
- Designed the full data model and taxonomy for technology classification
- Implemented matching logic (set overlap, hierarchy matching, and year-direction hints)
- Built secure backend flow (signed tokens, validation, anti-abuse rate limiting)
- Developed core UI/UX: interactive grid, hinting, victory modal, sharing/export, theme support
- Added reference DB filtering and taxonomy guide for learning-oriented gameplay
Links
Engineering concepts used
Building a Secure API with Cloudflare Workers, Zod, and Rate Limiting
Validating every input at the edge, rate limiting without a database, and using signed state so a client can hold data it cannot forge.
Why You Should Never Trust the Client: Server-Authoritative App Architecture
Use trust boundaries, authorization, validation, idempotency, transactions, and server-owned rules to keep mobile games and APIs correct under tampering and retries.
What Happens When Your App Makes an HTTP Request?
Follow fetch through DNS, connection security, edge infrastructure, authentication, cache, database, serialization, retries, and the final UI update.
Caching Visualized: Browser, CDN, API & Database Caches
Send requests through memory, browser, CDN, API, and database layers while changing TTL, capacity, frequency, staleness, and revalidation.
Key Highlights
- •Built a full-stack Wordle-style game for developer technologies
- •Designed an 11-attribute comparison and hint engine
- •Implemented signed progress tokens and rate-limited API endpoints
- •Created exportable share snapshots (PNG/PDF) and reference taxonomy explorer