A sophisticated web-based ant simulation where you can program artificial ants using JSON rules to create complex emergent behaviors. Watch as your ants interact with an infinite grid, leaving trails of color and responding to their environment through your custom logic.
- 🌐 Infinite Grid: Smooth panning and zooming across an unlimited canvas
- 🤖 Programmable Ants: Define ant behavior using a powerful JSON-based rule system
- 🧠 Advanced Logic: Support for variable references, mathematical expressions, tolerance-based matching, and OR/AND conditions
- 🎨 Visual Feedback: Real-time color-coded visualization of ant states and grid cells
- 🎮 Interactive Controls: Click to place ants, select them to edit rules, and control simulation speed
- 💻 Modern UI: Clean, responsive interface with floating control panels
# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/grid-life.git
cd grid-life
npm install
# Start development server
npm run devOpen http://localhost:3000 and start placing ants with left-clicks!
- 🏁 Getting Started Guide - Installation, basic usage, and first steps
- 📚 Ant Logic Language - Complete reference for programming ant behavior
- 🏗️ Architecture Overview - Technical structure and core classes
- 💡 Behavior Examples - Collection of ready-to-use ant behaviors
- 🛠️ Development Guide - Contributing and building the project
Classic Langton's Ant behavior:
[
{
"condition": { "cellState": { "r": 240, "g": 240, "b": 240 } },
"action": { "setCellState": { "r": 255, "g": 0, "b": 0 }, "turn": "right", "move": true }
},
{
"condition": { "cellState": { "r": 255, "g": 0, "b": 0 } },
"action": { "setCellState": { "r": 240, "g": 240, "b": 240 }, "turn": "left", "move": true }
}
]This creates an ant that turns right on white cells and left on red cells, eventually forming complex highway patterns.
| Action | Control |
|---|---|
| Place ant | Left click |
| Select ant | Click on ant |
| Pan camera | Right drag |
| Zoom | Mouse wheel |
| Play/Pause | Space |
| Reset | R |
- TypeScript for type safety
- Vite for fast development
- Canvas API for high-performance rendering
- Modern ES modules for clean architecture
We welcome contributions! See our Development Guide for details on:
- Setting up the development environment
- Understanding the codebase architecture
- Running tests and builds
- Submitting pull requests
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
Grid Life is inspired by:
- Langton's Ant - The classic cellular automaton
- Conway's Game of Life - Emergent complexity from simple rules
- Modern web technologies for interactive simulations
Ready to create your own ant behaviors? Start with our Getting Started Guide!