Everything ANetBBS Does

A complete inventory of what ships in ANetBBS v1.0b.2 (alpha 2). Auto-derived from the blueprint registry, service units, and game/door catalogs. Nothing here is roadmap or vapor — every item below is present in the v1.0b.2 tarball.

By the numbers

Front-ends — 8 protocols, one user database

All front-ends share one SQLite user database and one UserSession presence table — “who’s online” sees everyone regardless of how they connected.

Messaging

Local

• Local message boards with categories, threading, sticky/lock, quote-reply, ANSI banners
• Full-text search across boards
• Post voting (up/down)
• Per-board moderators with edit/delete/lock
• Per-user last-read tracking
• Drafts
• Soft-delete with restore
• Sysop word filter
• File attachments on posts
• Anonymous post option per board

Private

• User-to-user private messages
• Inbox / Sent / Drafts folders
• Reply / Reply-all / Forward
• Mass-PM (sysop)
• Block list per user
• “You have new” banner at login

FidoNet

• netmail (binkp) with full kludge support (MSGID, REPLY, INTL, CHRS, FMPT/TOPT, PID, TZUTC)
• echomail bidirectional with AreaFix robot (+TAG / -TAG / %RESCAN / %LIST / %QUERY)
• Per-user FidoNet AKA registry
• Bad-area sysop review queue
• AreaFix password per network
• FTS-0001 wire format with bare-CR line terminators (spec-correct)
• Synchronet-compatible AreaFix subject-line password
• Inbound ZIP-bundle extraction (FTS-5003 Mystic-style)

DOVE-Net QWK

• Outbound REP packet upload
• Inbound QWK fetch + import
• CONTROL.DAT-driven area auto-create
• Conf# mapping, manual quick-add by conf number
• Idle-hub detection (“550 No QWK packet” = silent, not error)

TIC (file echoes)

• Ingest hatched files from FTN peers
• Hatch outbound to downstream subscribers
• Per-area FileFix subscribe/unsubscribe with +TAG/-TAG
• Bulk subscribe-to-all per network
• TIC manifest validation, hash check

Inter-BBS IM

• MSP-2 (RFC 1312) wire-format compliant
• Receives IMs from Synchronet sbbsimsg
• Sends outbound IM to peer BBSes
• Per-user routing (StingRay@bbs.a-net.fyi)
• Auto-mirrors Synchronet sbbsimsg.lst directory daily

Real-time chat

MRC (Modern Relay Chat)

• Single bridge connection to mrc.bottomlessabyss.net shared across all users
• Multi-network — connect to multiple MRC servers concurrently (configurable)
• Web client at /mrc/ — channel sidebar, user list, scrolling chat
• Terminal client — stationary status bar at row 1, scrolling chat, pinned input
• Tab-completion on usernames seen in chat
• Slash-commands: /identify /msg /me /join /list /who /chatters /motd /banners /topic /lastseen /afk /back /status /roomconfig /termsize /trust /broadcast /raw /ctcp
• Capabilities: MCI, MSGEXT, CTCP
• Per-user identify with passwords
• User profiles + arrival/departure events
• Web users + terminal users share rooms and identity

IRC

• Web IRC client at /irc/ (xterm.js)
• MRC↔︎IRC bridge — sysop can mirror MRC channels to IRC, both ways
• Per-bridge config at /admin/mrc-irc-bridges/

Multinode terminal chat

• Between currently-connected terminal/SSH sessions
• Page-to-chat invite
• /who listing

Shoutbox

• Inline web shoutbox on the front page
• Rate-limited
• Sysop moderate

Files

File areas

• FidoNet-style file areas with per-area upload permission (users / sysop / none)
• Optional area password
• Sysop moderation queue (uploads quarantined until approved)
• Per-user upload/download ratios (Synchronet/Mystic style; sysop-configurable)
• Per-user shareable expiring links (with hours-valid + max-downloads cap)
• Per-file [Re-scan descriptions] sysop button
• Live directory scan — newly hatched/dropped files appear without DB-row management

File gallery (web)

• Per-user uploads at /files/
• Auto-extract description from FILE_ID.DIZ / README.* / DESCRIPT.ION inside the archive (zip, tar.gz/bz2/xz, 7z, rar, lha/lzh)
• CP437 → UTF-8 transcoding of DIZ files
• Optional ClamAV virus scan on upload
• Image-file thumbnail generation (cached PNG)
• Per-area browse + download
• File size caps (configurable)

FidoNet TIC

• Auto-file inbound TICs into their declared area
• Outbound hatching with TIC manifest generation
• Multi-network: per-network file area + file-echo lists

Image galleries

• Web gallery at /gallery/ — paginated thumbnail grid, full-screen modal viewer, lazy-loaded
• Admin at /admin/galleries/ — add/remove/edit collections, drag-and-drop multi-file upload
• JSON config (gallery-config.json) preserved across update.sh runs
• Terminal viewer anet-gallery.sh using chafa (universal) or img2sixel (sixel-capable terminals)

Door games

Door types supported

1. DOS doors via DOSBox-staging with TCP/serial nullmodem bridge
2. Native Linux doors (any executable)
3. Synchronet .js doors — real jsexec if installed, otherwise a built-in Node.js compat shim
4. Mystic Pascal .mps/.mpx doors — auto-compiles .mps → .mpx via bundled mplc
5. Mystic Python .py doors via a fake mystic_bbs module
6. rlogin out-dial — connect outbound to remote BBS game servers (Synchronet xtrn, DoorParty, A-Net Online)
7. Built-in web games — Flask-routed mini-games

Pre-installed doors (in vendor/games/)

• LORD — Legend of the Red Dragon (Synchronet JS port, plays end-to-end out of the box)
• BotWars — multiplayer robot combat
• ANetSIMS — life-sim by Apam (A-Net Sixel TV included)

Bundled Mystic runtime

• Full Mystic BBS 1.12 A48 (mystic + mplc + mide + mis + mutil binaries)
• 4.9 MB, no separate download required

Drop files supported

• DOOR.SYS
• DORINFO1.DEF
• DOOR32.SYS

Per-node node manager

• Auto-allocates from GAMES_MAX_NODES pool
• Per-game max_nodes cap
• Per-node scratch dirs at <install>/data/temp/nodeN/
• Release on session end
• Drop-file regeneration per call

Token substitution in door config

• Synchronet %CODE% and Mystic %c codes interpreted in executable_path, working_directory, command_line_args, drop_file_path
• Supported: %f (drop-file path), %P (per-node dir), %U/%u (username), %n/%N (node), %m/%M (minutes left), and ~25 more

Synchronet JS compat shim

• ~270 functions/objects covering File / console / bbs / system / user / load / require / dd_lightbar_menu / mouse_getkey
• Pure Node — runs stock SBBS doors that don’t need a full Synchronet install

Door I/O safety

• Ctrl+]q user-abort
• 60-second idle-timeout watchdog (configurable via DOOR_IDLE_TIMEOUT)
• Bridge-close detection
• waitpid watcher
• Force-kill of stuck process groups
• Stuck doors always return user to BBS within the timeout
• Per-door working-dir preservation (NODE*.DAT etc. never auto-cleaned)

Built-in web games (10)

• Hangman (puzzle)
• Trivia Challenge (puzzle)
• Number Guesser (puzzle)
• Snake (action)
• Tic Tac Toe (strategy)
• Memory Match (puzzle)
• Typing Speed Test (other)
• Minesweeper (puzzle)
• 2048 (puzzle)
• Text Adventure (RPG)

Web door terminal

• Pinned to 80×25 with real CGA 16-color palette
• No auto-fit-to-viewport — gotoxy lands where doors expect
• Pre-join output buffer so doors that draw their welcome screen before the first keystroke (ANetSIMS, A-Net Sixel TV) render immediately
• Sixel + iTerm2 image addon for graphical doors
• Per-session keep-alive

Wiki

• Collaborative wiki at /wiki/
• Markdown with [[wiki-links]]
• Full revision history with diff and revert
• Full-text search across pages
• Wanted-pages and orphan-pages reports
• 41 seeded pages cover the whole BBS
• Per-page edit history with author / timestamp
• Page protection (sysop-only edit) optional

RSS / Atom reader

• Web reader at /rss/ — feed list with unread counts, combined river view, paginated per-feed item lists, full-content article view
• Per-user mark-as-read tracking
• Terminal reader (R from main BBS menu) — same browse model, word-wrapped to 78 cols, unread * markers
• Admin at /admin/rss/ — add/edit/delete feeds, force-refresh, per-feed status, last error
• Background poller — every active feed every 30 min (configurable via RSS_POLL_INTERVAL)
• Dedupes by GUID
• X-News feed seeded by default
• Outbound RSS feeds for local boards, bulletins, oneliners

Community / social

• Personal web pages — /_pages/<user> static HTML per user
• Site pages — sysop-edited static pages at /page/<slug>
• Gemini Capsules — list local users’ gemini:// pages
• User profiles with bio, avatar, location, .plan
• Calendar — per-user events, BBS-wide schedule
• Groups — user-formed sub-communities
• Polls — sysop and user polls, embedded in pages
• Saved messages — bookmark / unread later
• Oneliners wall
• /finger/<user> web profiles
• Contacts / Buddies — friend list with arrival/departure notifications
• Blocks — per-user mute list
• Notifications center with toast popups + bell badge
• Leaderboard — ranked by points / posts / files / games activity
• Permalinks — short /m/<id> for sharing posts off-BBS
• Bulletins — sysop announcements with pinned + expiring
• BBS History — site-page wiki of the BBS’s lore

Outbound notifications

• Email newsletter to active users
• Discord webhooks for events (new post, new caller, etc.)
• Telegram bot notifier
• MSP outbound IM to peer BBSes
• FidoNet netmail outbound
• MRC outbound to bridge

Sysop tools

Admin dashboard

• At-a-glance counts (users, posts, files, recent activity)
• Recent activity log
• Alerts (failed services, stuck doors, sysop pages, file queue, registration attempts)

Setup

• First-time setup wizard (interactive)
• Setup checklist / Launch checklist with progress tracking

Users

• Users CRUD — add / edit / delete / bulk import / lock / toggle-ban
• Pending users approval queue
• Inactive users prune
• New-user questions custom signup questionnaire
• Registration attempts log
• Time budgets — per-user daily/weekly time caps
• User notes (sysop-only)
• Manage user dialog (sessions, posts, files at-a-glance)

Content

• Boards CRUD + reorder
• Per-board moderators
• Bulletins CRUD + pin/unpin + expiry
• MOTD pool with rotation
• Word filter
• Site pages editor
• Menu admin — every BBS terminal menu is data-driven and editable
• Themes CRUD + theme builder
• Default echo subs template for new networks
• ANSI editor for banners / welcome / goodbye screens

Networks

• Echomail dashboard — poll logs, AreaFix log, bad-areas review
• Per-network manage — binkp, AreaFix password, polling interval
• File-echo subs
• Default echo subs
• TIC log + per-TIC detail
• Subscribe / unsubscribe to all per network
• Connection test to peers (binkp handshake)
• Dialout (modem dial)
• MRC↔︎IRC bridge admin

Files

• File areas admin
• Bulk import (FILEBONE / BACKBONE format)
• File queue (moderation review)
• Virus scan admin

Games

• Door Games admin — add / edit / sort / disable
• Per-game max-nodes + drop-file type + door type

Communication

• Broadcast to logged-in users
• Newsletter email blast to active users
• Sysop pages alert with answer/reply flow
• Chat bans for MRC/shoutbox
• Webhooks outbound notifications config

Operations

• NodeSpy — see what every active terminal user is doing in real time
• NodeSpy kick — disconnect stuck terminal sessions cross-process
• Caller log — detailed connection records
• Activity log
• Journal viewer — system journal (systemd) inside the web UI
• Control panel — stop/start/restart any service from the web
• Sysop console — terminal-style admin shell
• DB backup
• IP bans (CIDR support)

Galleries

• Galleries CRUD
• Per-gallery file management (drag-and-drop upload, delete, reorder)

Front-end UX details

• Single-key hotkey menus (no Enter required) on terminal
• Synchronet @CODE@ and Mystic |XX display codes in welcome / goodbye / menu ANSI screens
• Notification banner at login (*** You have new: 3 PMs, 1 InterBBS IM)
• 7 built-in themes — light, dark, amber, green, blue, retro, hacker
• Custom theme builder
• Per-user theme picker
• Mobile-friendly responsive web layout
• CP437/ANSI rendering across all message lists, viewers, sysop tools
• Image rendering in terminal (sixel + iTerm2 protocols)
• ANSI art preservation in echomail bodies (CP437 passthrough)
• 80×25 default terminal sizing with sysop-overridable per-user /termsize

Pre-bundled data

• fsxnet.zip — fsxNet nodelist + areas info
• spooknet.zip — SpookNet config
• tqwinfo.zip — TQWnet info pack
• 41 wiki pages seeded
• X-News RSS feed subscribed by default
• Default themes (7 pre-built)
• Default menus for terminal interface

Deployment / operations

• install.sh — single-shot wizard installs the full stack in ~10 minutes:
  • Detects OS (Linux Mint / Ubuntu / Debian / Fedora / Arch / OpenSUSE)
  • Installs system packages (python, nginx, certbot, nodejs, dosbox-staging, clamav, lhasa, unrar)
  • Optional Mystic BBS runtime (bundled, no download)
  • Creates service user, venv, secrets, SSH host key, sysop admin account
  • Generates systemd units for every enabled service
  • Configures UFW firewall rules
  • Configures nginx reverse proxy with HTTP-only or HTTPS template
  • Runs certbot for Let’s Encrypt SSL (with pre-flight port-forwarding check)
  • Production vs Test mode switch (test mode skips nginx/SSL for behind-NAT setups)
• update.sh — safe upgrade preserving .env, data/, doors/, MRC config, gallery config, MRC bridge state
• install.sh --uninstall — clean removal
• systemd units for every service with proper CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE for privileged ports
• UFW rules auto-added per enabled service
• .env generation with secure SECRET_KEY
• Logs at /<install>/logs/ plus systemd journal integration
• DB migrations via alembic on every start

Code coverage

• 51 web blueprints
• ~320 HTTP routes
• 189 templates
• Door I/O: DOS / Linux / Synchronet JS / Mystic Pascal / Mystic Python / rlogin / built-in web
• 5 background pollers (echomail, RSS, MRC keepalive, IRC keepalive, sysop-page timeout)
• One SQLite database, one user identity, one session table across all front-ends

For installation see README.md. For per-feature deep dives see docs/. For what’s-new vs prior alphas see RELEASE.md.