Push Flappy

Flappy Bird for push day — control the bird with push-ups via your webcam (or phone camera) and MediaPipe Pose.

Inspired by the viral “Push day killer” camera filter: bird Y follows your torso height; copper pipes scroll; score for clearing gaps. Geometric bird/pipes (not copyrighted Flappy Bird sprites).

Live: https://pushflappy.com
Repo: https://github.com/davidemanuelDEV/push-flappy

Run

npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 → Start.

Production build:

npm run build && npm start

Viral sharing & daily board

Beat-me challenges

• On wipeout, the run is POSTed once to /api/leaderboard automatically (saved nick/emoji, default Anon / 🐦). The wipeout Post CTA shows Posted / disabled after success — Challenge a friend stays the filled primary.
• On wipeout, Share challenge builds a deep link: https://pushflappy.com/play?beat={score} (optional &reps=). In a race, the primary CTA shares the race link instead (/race/{id}).
• Share text includes score + wipeout quip + dare CTA. Prefer navigator.share; clipboard fallback.
• Opening /play?beat=N shows a bar-to-beat in the HUD. Clearing a higher score triggers a you beat them share prompt.
• Wipeout / victory share UI includes a secondary Squat Flappy outline row under Challenge a friend (Growth lock: “Arms cooked? Legs next → squatflappy.com”) → https://squatflappy.com/play.
• Landing hero (and /play ready/idle chrome) shows a rounded-full Also play Squat Flappy promo pill → https://squatflappy.com/play. Hidden during active play.
• Optional canvas share card (1080×1080) attaches when the OS share sheet supports files.

Daily seeded runs

• Pipe gap RNG is seeded from the calendar day in America/Los_Angeles (YYYY-MM-DD).
• Everyone faces the same pipe layout that day → scores are comparable on the daily board.

Race (async lobby)

• /race mints a short id and copies https://pushflappy.com/race/{id}.
• /race/[id] is the dare-first page: a real nick (2–16 letters/numbers) is required. Join POSTs that nick at score 0 / reps 0 so the live top-10 has names before anyone flies. Play (/play?race={id}) stays off until join succeeds. Spectators need no camera.
• Same pipe seed for everyone in that race. /play?race= shows a compact live top-10 during ready and play (your row highlighted). Scores POST as you clear pipes (~1s) and on wipeout — latest per nick, cap 10, same nick updates in place. Spectators on /race/{id} and /overlay poll the same board (~1s). Not frame-sync.
• OBS: /race/[id]/overlay or /race/[id]?obs=1 — big ranks, no camera.
• Persistence: same Blob / KV / memory backends as the daily board (push-flappy/race/{id}.json).

Leaderboard API

• GET /api/leaderboard?day=YYYY-MM-DD — top scores for that day.
• POST /api/leaderboard — { nick, emoji?, score, reps, dayKey? } (today only). Anonymous nick (2–16 chars); no accounts.
• In-memory IP rate limits (GET ~60/min, POST ~12/min per IP).
• Best score per nick kept per day.

Challenge reminders (email capture)

• Compact opt-in on game over, plus light forms on /board and the landing page.
• Copy: “Get reminder to challenge again” → success: “You’re on the list”.
• No accounts. Capture only unless Resend is configured.

Reminders API

• POST /api/reminders — body:

  { "email": "you@example.com", "source": "gameover|board|landing", "timezone?": "America/Los_Angeles", "dayKey?": "YYYY-MM-DD" }

• Validates email; IP rate-limit (~8/min); dedupes by normalized email.
• Stores email, createdAt, dayKey, timezone (default America/Los_Angeles), source.
• Persistence: same KV env as the leaderboard (KV_REST_API_URL / KV_REST_API_TOKEN). Without KV → in-memory (not durable across cold starts).

Env var	Purpose
KV_REST_API_URL	Upstash / Vercel KV REST URL (required for durable reminder storage)
KV_REST_API_TOKEN	REST token
UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL	Alias for KV_REST_API_URL (raw Upstash Redis REST)
UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_TOKEN	Alias for KV_REST_API_TOKEN
RESEND_API_KEY	Optional. If set, sends a one-line welcome. If absent, capture-only — wire a cron later to email “Push day — beat today’s board”.
RESEND_FROM	Optional From header for Resend (defaults to Resend onboarding address)

Production paths avoid logging full emails (masked if logged in dev).

Persistence (Vercel Blob / KV / Upstash)

Daily scores persist when any of these are set on the Vercel project:

Env var	Purpose
BLOB_READ_WRITE_TOKEN	Private Vercel Blob store (pathname push-flappy/lb/{day}.json)
KV_REST_API_URL	Upstash / Vercel KV REST URL
KV_REST_API_TOKEN	REST token
UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL	Alias for KV_REST_API_URL (same REST protocol)
UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_TOKEN	Alias for KV_REST_API_TOKEN

Blob wins when BLOB_READ_WRITE_TOKEN is set; else a complete KV_* or UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_* pair. Memory only if none of those are set. Responses include storage: "blob" | "kv" | "memory" — wipeout treats any non-memory value as posted.

In the Vercel dashboard: connect a private Blob store (or Storage → KV / Upstash), then redeploy. Never commit .env.local.

Demo seeds: fake board rows are off in production unless ALLOW_DEMO_LEADERBOARD=1. In development they still fill an empty board. An empty production board shows clear empty-state copy (not a fake-full list).

Env var	Purpose
ALLOW_DEMO_LEADERBOARD	Set to 1 to force demo seeds even in production (local/staging only)

David / deploy: Blob token on the project persists the daily board. Reminders still use the KV / Upstash REST pair.

Growth analytics

• @vercel/analytics + @vercel/speed-insights in the root layout (free tier).
• Client events: play_start, play_wipeout, challenge_open (beat), share_click (channel wa|x|copy|native|card), board_submit, reminder_optin, sibling_click (from: push, surface: wipeout|victory|landing|play), race_create, race_join, race_score, race_share.
• Optional GET /api/stats — { dayKey, boardEntriesToday, reminderCount, storage, demoAllowed } (no PII).

Phone / HTTPS

Phone browsers require HTTPS (or localhost) for getUserMedia. Deploy to Vercel and open pushflappy.com (or your *.vercel.app URL).

Camera tips

• Laptop first: allow the front camera and get into push-up position facing the webcam.
• Phone: portrait works with the phone on the floor facing up; landscape is optional.
• Face the camera in a push-up plank; hold the top of a push-up until you see Start position set, then hit Start.

Pose → bird mapping

Primary control: continuous body-Y tracking (not classic gravity + flap).

1. MediaPipe Pose Landmarker on each video frame (WASM + lite model from CDN — no API keys).
2. Torso height = midpoint of shoulders (11 & 12), with hip/nose fallbacks.
3. Start calibration: hold plank ~1s to lock upY.
4. Light EMA smoothing; bird X fixed; pipes scroll with gap collision + scoring.
5. Optional rep counter from the same torso signal.
6. Short/narrow screens get a slightly larger pipe gap.

Stack

• Next.js 15 (App Router) · React 19 · TypeScript · Tailwind CSS v4
• @mediapipe/tasks-vision (client-only)
• Optional Vercel Blob (daily board) + KV / Upstash (board fallback + reminder emails)
• Optional Resend (RESEND_API_KEY) for welcome mail; otherwise capture-only
• No accounts, no company branding

Streamers (OBS)

OBS pack (Phase 1). Live setup: https://pushflappy.com/streamers. Repo notes: STREAMERS.md.

• Play Browser Source: https://pushflappy.com/stream (same as /play?obs=1)
• Recommended size: 1920×1080
• Chest/cam: phone face-up on the floor, or webcam on a plank — allow camera, hold the top of a push-up; existing 3-2-1 starts on its own
• Viewer dare: chat opens the beat-me link on their phone (/play?beat={score})
• Optional second source: https://pushflappy.com/overlay — read-only daily board, no camera
• Race overlay: https://pushflappy.com/race/{id}/overlay — live race top-10, no camera

Do not add paid Twitch Extensions or a !beat bot here.

Routes

Path	Description
/	Marketing / how-to-play + Start CTA
/play	Fullscreen camera game (?beat=N challenge; ?obs=1 capture chrome)
/stream	OBS play view (same game, no marketing chrome, larger HUD) — noindex
/streamers	Human/SEO OBS setup (Browser Source, cam, plank, overlays)
/overlay	Read-only daily board widget for a second Browser Source
/race	Mint a race link
/race/[id]	Join + live top-10 (camera-free spectate). ?obs=1 = overlay
/race/[id]/overlay	OBS race board, no chrome
/api/leaderboard	Daily board GET/POST
/api/race	POST mint / ensure a race
/api/race/[id]	GET board; POST score (0/0 = join, names before play)
/api/reminders	Email reminder capture POST
/board	Camera-free daily board + reminder opt-in
/guides/webcam-push-up-game	How-to: torso→bird, on-device pose
/guides/obs-push-up-overlay	OBS Browser Source + overlays
/guides/async-fitness-race	Nick-first async race explainer
/guides/squat-flappy	Sibling game (squatflappy.com)