Cellarium: A Playground for Cellular Automata
Hey HN, just wanted to share a fun, vibe-coded Friday night experiment: a little playground for writing cellular automata in a subset of Rust, which is then compiled into WGSL. Since it lets you dynamically change parameters while the simulation is running via a TUI, it's easy to discover weird behaviors without remembering how you got there. If you press "s", it will save the complete history to a JSON file (a timeline of the parameters that were changed at given ticks), so you can replay it and regenerate the discovery. You can pan/zoom, and while the main simulation window is in…
In plain words
Cellarium is a playground for creating and experimenting with cellular automata using a Rust subset compiled to WGSL. Users can write automata code, adjust parameters in real-time via a text interface, and observe behavior changes instantly. The tool captures complete simulation histories to JSON, allowing users to replay discoveries and explore how parameter changes affect patterns. It includes pan and zoom capabilities for detailed observation.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hey HN, just wanted to share a fun, vibe-coded Friday night experiment: a little playground for writing cellular automata in a subset of Rust, which is then compiled into WGSL. Since it lets you dynamically change parameters while the simulation is running via a TUI, it's easy to discover weird behaviors without remembering how you got there. If you press "s", it will save the complete history to a JSON file (a timeline of the parameters that were changed at given ticks), so you can replay it and regenerate the discovery. You can pan/zoom, and while the main simulation window is in focus, the arrow keys can be used to update parameters (which are shown in the TUI). Claude deserves all the credit and criticism for any technical elements of this project (beyond rough guidelines). I've just always wanted something like this, and it's a lot of fun to play with. Who needs video games these days.
More dev tools this month
the category →
Open-source GTM skills for technical founders
Dev tools · 29d ago · gtmcofounder.com
OpenTrailPaper is open-source bike computer firmware for the LilyGO T5S3 4.7" E-Paper PRO. It supports offline maps, GPX routes, FIT recording and Bluetooth sensors.
Dev tools · 2d ago · opentrailpaper.com
