Urbit guide

Don't worry if this seems too difficult. Soon we'll have real servers that are simple to use and Urbit will only be used by the developers.

NOTE: There is no matchmaking system. If you want to play against someone, you'll need to know their username.

1. Get an Urbit ship

Unfortunately this is not as simple as it should be. Here's the official Get on Urbit guide. You have a few options.

1.1 Mine a comet

If you're using a desktop or a laptop, your best choice is to mine a comet for free (steps 3 and 4 in the previous link). If you're on Windows, you'll need to use WSL. The whole process should look something like:

curl -L https://urbit.org/install/linux-x86_64/latest | tar xzk --transform='s/.*/urbit/g'

./urbit -c mycomet

./mycomet/.run

+code

Open http://localhost:8080 in your web browser and paste the password that you got from the +code command. When you're done using your comet, press Ctrl + D to shut it down.

1.2 Get a free ship from Tlon

Unlike mining a comet, this will work on any platform. If you go to Get on Urbit, you should see an invite link under "Get on Urbit faster" section. Click the link and follow the instructions. It might take a day or two for your account to get activated. When that happens, go to https://tlon.network/ and log in there.

After logging in, open landscape by going to https://sampel-palnet.tlon.network/apps/landscape (replace sampel-palnet with your ship's ID).

Keep in mind that this probably won't work forever. As Nichess grows, it's unlikely that Tlon will want to give us so many free accounts.

1.3 Host your own ship

You probably don't want to do this as it's the most complicated option and will also cost you some money if you decide to use the cloud. If you still want to do it, follow these instructions.

2. Install Nichess

Once you're logged in, open the terminal app and run:

|install ~riclur-macned %nichess

3. Find a game

Once you open the app, go to the Games page in the navigation bar and then click on Challenges. After you either accept a challenge or someone accepts your challenge, you'll need to select the game in the "Active Games" section before you can play.