snake-rodeo

name	snake-rodeo
description	Autoplay daemon for the Trifle Snake Rodeo game. Connects to a live game server, authenticates via wallet, and votes on snake directions using pluggable AI strategies. Use when the user wants to play snake rodeo, run game simulations, or build custom strategies.
license	MIT
compatibility	Requires Node.js 18+. Depends on trifle-auth skill for initial authentication.
metadata	{"author":"trifle-labs","version":"3.2.0","homepage":"https://snake.rodeo"}

Snake Rodeo Skill

Play the Trifle Snake Rodeo automatically with a persistent daemon and modular strategy system. Built on the snake-rodeo-agents library.

How It Works

The game is a multiplayer snake on a grid (hex or cartesian). Teams bid on directions each round — the highest bidder's direction wins. All bids go into a prize pool that the winning team splits. The daemon watches the game via SSE, picks optimal directions using a strategy, and submits votes automatically.

Prerequisites

• Authenticated via trifle-auth skill
• Node.js 18+
• Ball balance (earned from games, auth bonuses, etc.)

Daemon Commands

# Start/stop
node snake.mjs start [--detach] [--strategy NAME]
node snake.mjs stop
node snake.mjs status
node snake.mjs attach [-f]

# Pause/resume voting (daemon keeps running)
node snake.mjs pause
node snake.mjs resume

# Configuration
node snake.mjs config [key] [value]
node snake.mjs strategies
node snake.mjs server [live|staging]
node snake.mjs telegram [chat_id|off]

# Manual play
node snake.mjs state
node snake.mjs vote <direction> <team> [amount]
node snake.mjs strategy    # Analyze current game
node snake.mjs balance

Strategies

Five built-in strategies are available. Each extends BaseStrategy from snake-rodeo-agents.

Strategy	Alias	Description
expected-value	ev, default	BFS pathfinding, dead-end avoidance, game-theoretic team selection, probabilistic defection in multi-agent scenarios. Balanced.
aggressive	agg	Backs leading teams, counter-bids aggressively.
underdog	und	Backs small pools for bigger payouts.
conservative	con	Minimum bids, prioritizes safety.
random	rand	Random valid moves.

Switch strategy:

node snake.mjs config strategy aggressive
# or
node snake.mjs start --strategy aggressive

Creating Custom Strategies

Extend BaseStrategy from snake-rodeo-agents:

import { BaseStrategy } from 'snake-rodeo-agents';

export class MyStrategy extends BaseStrategy {
  constructor(options = {}) {
    super('my-strategy', 'My custom strategy', options);
  }

  computeVote(parsed, balance, state) {
    // parsed: ParsedGameState — hex grid, teams, scores, valid directions
    // balance: number — current ball balance
    // state: AgentState — round tracking, team assignment, vote history

    // Return a vote:
    return { direction: 'ne', team: 'A', amount: 1, reason: 'chasing fruit' };

    // Or skip:
    return { skip: true, reason: 'too risky' };
  }

  // Optional: counter-bid when outbid
  shouldCounterBid(parsed, balance, state, ourVote) {
    return null; // or return a new VoteAction
  }
}

Key types for strategy development:

• ParsedGameState — Parsed game with head, teams[], validDirections[], gridRadius, prizePool, minBid, fruitsToWin
• AgentState — { currentTeam, roundSpend, roundVoteCount, lastRound, gamesPlayed, votesPlaced, wins }
• VoteAction — { direction, team, amount, reason }

snake-rodeo-agents Library

The core logic lives in snake-rodeo-agents, a standalone TypeScript library. This skill wraps it with daemon management, config persistence, and OpenClaw integration.

API Client

import { SnakeClient, createAndAuthenticate, parseGameState, getStrategy } from 'snake-rodeo-agents';

// Auth (creates a throwaway wallet, no real ETH needed)
const { token, privateKey, address } = await createAndAuthenticate('https://bot.trifle.life');

// Create client
const client = new SnakeClient('https://bot.trifle.life', token);

// Play
const rawState = await client.getGameState();
const parsed = parseGameState(rawState);
const strategy = getStrategy('expected-value');
const vote = strategy.computeVote(parsed, balance, agentState);

if (vote && !vote.skip) {
  await client.submitVote(vote.direction, vote.team, vote.amount);
}

SnakeClient methods:

Method	Description
getGameState()	Current game state (snake, fruits, scores, votes)
getBalance()	Current ball balance
submitVote(dir, team, amount)	Submit a direction vote
getRodeos()	List active rodeo games
getUserStatus()	User profile and stats

Wallet Authentication

SIWE (Sign In With Ethereum) auth with throwaway wallets:

import { createAndAuthenticate, reauthenticate, checkToken } from 'snake-rodeo-agents';

// New wallet
const { token, privateKey, address } = await createAndAuthenticate(serverUrl);

// Reuse saved wallet
const { token } = await reauthenticate(serverUrl, savedPrivateKey);

// Check token validity
const user = await checkToken(serverUrl, token);

Game State Utilities

The library provides hex grid utilities for strategy development:

import { parseGameState, hexDistance, bfsDistance, floodFillSize, getValidDirections } from 'snake-rodeo-agents';

const parsed = parseGameState(rawState);

// BFS shortest path to a target (respects snake body, grid bounds)
const { distance, firstDir } = bfsDistance(head, target, rawState);

// Flood-fill reachable area (dead-end detection)
const reachable = floodFillSize(head, rawState);

// Hex distance between two positions
const dist = hexDistance(posA, posB);

Tournament Simulator

Run offline tournaments to compare strategies at high speed:

# CLI
npm run simulate -- ev,aggressive --games 100 --seed 42
npm run simulate -- ev,aggressive,conservative --config small --verbose
npm run simulate -- ev,aggressive --json   # machine-readable output

// Library
import { SimAgent, runTournament, RODEO_CYCLES, getStrategy } from 'snake-rodeo-agents';

const agents = [
  new SimAgent('a', 'ev-agent', getStrategy('ev')),
  new SimAgent('b', 'agg-agent', getStrategy('aggressive')),
];

const results = runTournament(agents, RODEO_CYCLES, 100, { seed: 42 });
console.log(results.agentStats);
// Same seed = identical results for reproducibility

Simulator options:

Flag	Description
-g, --games N	Games per config (default: 100)
-c, --config NAME	small|medium|large|all (default: all)
-s, --seed N	RNG seed for reproducibility
-v, --verbose	Print per-round details
--json	Machine-readable JSON output

Telegram Logging

Send game events to a Telegram group:

import { TelegramLogger } from 'snake-rodeo-agents';

const tg = new TelegramLogger({
  botToken: process.env.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN,
  chatId: process.env.TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID,
});

await tg.send('<b>Hello</b> from the snake agent!');

Configure in the daemon:

node snake.mjs telegram <chat_id>   # enable
node snake.mjs telegram off          # disable

Configuration

Settings are stored in ~/.config/snake-rodeo/settings.json (XDG-compliant, isolated from any host agent).

Key	Default	Description
strategy	expected-value	Active strategy name
server	live	live or staging
minBalance	5	Minimum balance to place votes
telegramChatId	null	Telegram chat ID for logging
telegramBotToken	null	Telegram bot token (or set TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN env var)

File Locations

Purpose	Path
Settings	~/.config/snake-rodeo/settings.json
Auth token	~/.config/snake-rodeo/auth.json or TRIFLE_AUTH_TOKEN env var
Daemon state	~/.local/state/snake-rodeo/daemon.state
Daemon PID	~/.local/state/snake-rodeo/daemon.pid
Daemon log	~/.local/share/snake-rodeo/daemon.log

Authentication

The skill resolves your Trifle auth token in this order:

1. TRIFLE_AUTH_TOKEN environment variable (recommended for automation)
2. ~/.config/snake-rodeo/auth.json — { "token": "your-jwt-here" }

To set up auth, run snake auth login (uses trifle-auth skill) or set the env var directly.

Architecture

snake-game/                             # OpenClaw skill wrapper
├── SKILL.md                            # This file
├── snake.mjs                           # CLI entry point
├── clawdhub.json                       # ClawHub registry metadata
├── package.json                        # Dependencies (snake-rodeo-agents)
├── lib/
│   ├── config.mjs                      # Settings/paths
│   ├── api.mjs                         # Token-based API (uses OpenClaw auth)
│   ├── process.mjs                     # Daemon PID management
│   └── telegram.mjs                    # Telegram bridge
├── daemon/
│   └── autoplay.mjs                    # Game loop: SSE → strategy → vote
└── node_modules/
    └── snake-rodeo-agents/             # Core library (TypeScript)
        └── dist/
            ├── lib/game-state.js       # Hex grid, BFS, flood-fill
            ├── lib/strategies/         # Strategy implementations
            ├── lib/client.js           # Standalone API client
            ├── lib/auth.js             # Wallet SIWE auth
            ├── lib/simulator.js        # Offline game simulator
            ├── lib/telegram.js         # Telegram logger
            └── bin/play.js             # Standalone CLI runner

Upgrading

node snake.mjs stop
cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/snake-rodeo
npm install github:trifle-labs/snake-rodeo-agents
node snake.mjs start --detach