Decker Revives HyperCard’s Spirit with Modern Scripting and Cross‑Platform Flexibility

Decker reimagines the classic HyperCard interface for today’s web‑centric developers. By blending a nostalgic visual style with a lightweight, Lua‑inspired scripting language and native support for macOS, Windows, BSD, and Linux, it offers a low‑barrier entry point for rapid prototyping, educational projects, and interactive storytelling.

Design Philosophy

Decker’s core idea is to keep the “drag‑and‑drop” simplicity of HyperCard while adding quality‑of‑life features that modern users expect: deep undo history, scroll‑wheel and touchscreen support, keyboard navigation, and bulk editing. The result is a tool that feels familiar yet feels new, encouraging a sketch‑y, imperfect workflow that is ideal for early‑stage ideation.

Scripting with Lil

At the heart of Decker lies Lil, a small language that borrows the imperative feel of Lua and the functional elegance of Q. A minimal example shows how a single line can define a button that changes a text field:

on click do setText(\\"label1\\", \\"Hello, world!\\")

Lil also offers implicit scalar‑vector arithmetic and an SQL‑like query syntax, making it powerful enough for data‑driven projects while remaining approachable for beginners. Because Decker decks are line‑oriented text, they play nicely with Git, allowing version control of interactive documents.

Cross‑Platform and CLI

Decker ships as a native application for macOS, Windows, BSD, and Linux, but its command‑line companion, Lilt, turns Lil into a headless interpreter. Lilt can read, write, and execute decks without a GUI, enabling automation scripts or CI pipelines to validate interactive content. Remarkably, a lightweight AWK‑based interpreter exists, underscoring the language’s minimal dependencies.

Community, Game Jams, and Use Cases

The project hosts themed “Game Jams” in July and December, fostering a community that shares decks, widgets, and custom components. Use cases range from E‑Zines and note‑organizers to adventure games and pixel‑art doodles. Because decks export to self‑contained HTML, they can be embedded anywhere a web page is hosted, making distribution effortless.

Implications for Developers

Decker’s blend of visual design and scripting offers a compelling alternative to heavier authoring tools. Its open‑source MIT license, lack of telemetry, and focus on privacy appeal to developers who value control. For educators, the platform’s simplicity can lower the barrier to teaching interactive media. For hobbyists, the rapid iteration cycle and community jams provide a vibrant ecosystem.

Source: beyondloom.com/decker/index.html