pillowfort

a tiny cozy app that keeps track of where everything in the fort is: cushions, blankets, snacks, and the HackCamp flag. hackcamp 2026 project.

came here from a flag? you're on the trail. the fort collapsed, the HackCamp flag is lost somewhere in it, and sleepy-dev's notes lead to it.

• work in a terminal, inside this folder. on Windows, use Git Bash (it came with git), not PowerShell or CMD.
• start with the note sleepy-dev left themselves. it's hidden: ls -a shows it.
• you'll see three kinds of {...} things:
  • markers like hc26{a_few_words}: you're on the right track. don't submit them, just follow what they say.
  • fakes: sleepy-dev had chatgpt dump a pile of obviously fake flags into the history. ignore them.
  • the real flag looks like hackcamp2026{617_7H3_34M_C0MM17_ followed by 32 letters and numbers }. it's not in this repo anywhere: after your fix PR, the bot links you to a claim page that hands it out. it's the one thing you submit.
• broke something? delete this folder and clone again. you lose nothing.

commands you'll probably want

command	what it does
ls -a	list everything in this folder, including hidden files (names starting with .)
cat <file>	print a file
grep <word> <file>	show only the lines of a file that contain a word
git log --oneline	list every commit, one per line
git log --grep=<word>	only commits whose message contains a word
git log --oneline -- <file>	only commits that touched one file
git log -p -- <file>	same, plus exactly what changed (- removed, + added)
git checkout <id>	go back to how the project looked at that commit
git switch main	come back to the present

git log opens a scrolling view. arrow keys or space to scroll, q to get out. if your terminal seems frozen after a git command, press q.

"detached HEAD" is not an error. it just means you're looking at the past. git switch main brings you back.

setup

npm install
npm start

the app talks to the api on whatever port is in config.json. (it's the wrong one, which is why nobody can find the flag.)

contributing

you can't push to this repo directly. to propose a fix:

1. on GitHub, click Fork (top right of this repo). that makes your own copy.
2. get your fork onto your computer. easiest: inside the folder you already have, run gh repo fork --remote. that points git push at your fork. (or clone your fork fresh.)
3. make the fix, then:

   git add config.json
   git commit -m "fix the port"
   git push
   

4. go to your fork on GitHub. there'll be a banner offering to Contribute / Open pull request. click it, fill in the description, and create the pull request.

a bot checks every PR and replies within a minute or two. when it says you're done, it links the claim page for the real flag.

status

• fort map
• cozy theme
• literally anything working