DEV Community: ArcadeLab

ArcadeLab vs itch.io vs Glitch vs GitHub Pages — which to use?

ArcadeLab — Thu, 14 May 2026 19:48:23 +0000

Quick answer: ArcadeLab wins when your thing fits in one HTML file under 500KB and you want zero-friction publishing with no account. itch.io wins for monetization and larger multi-file games. GitHub Pages wins when you already have a repo. Glitch wins when you need a backend. CodePen wins for live editing and snippets.

The question of where to publish depends on what you're publishing and what you're willing to do. Here's how the major options compare.

Quick comparison table

Feature	ArcadeLab	itch.io	GitHub Pages	Glitch	CodePen
Account required	No	Yes	Yes (GitHub)	Yes	For public pens
Free	Yes	Yes (paid optional)	Yes	Free tier	Free tier
Multi-file support	No (single HTML)	Yes (zip uploads)	Yes (full repo)	Yes	Yes (limited)
Backend / server code	No	No	No	Yes	No
Network requests allowed	No (blocked)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Time to publish	~30 seconds	5-15 minutes	10+ minutes	5-10 minutes	2-5 minutes
Monetization built in	No	Yes	No	No	No

When ArcadeLab is the right choice

You have a single-file HTML game or visualization under 500KB
You want to publish in seconds, not minutes
You don't want to create an account
Your audience is kids, students, or non-developers
You're iterating quickly with an AI assistant and need fast publish/iterate loops
You want the URL to be permanent and embeddable in blog posts

When ArcadeLab isn't the right choice

You want to charge money for your game — use itch.io
You need a backend or database — use Glitch or your own hosting
Your game needs to load assets at runtime from a CDN — use itch.io or GitHub Pages
You're showcasing a tiny snippet for code-sharing — use CodePen
Your game is larger than 500KB — use itch.io
You want commenting and rating features — use itch.io or Newgrounds

Why is ArcadeLab so much faster to publish on?

Because it's built around one specific shape: a single HTML file. Every other platform handles many shapes, which means setup steps, configuration, and UI dedicated to choosing among them. ArcadeLab has one path: paste, click, publish. No project pages to fill in, no zip files to upload, no build commands to configure.

Can I use multiple platforms?

Yes. They aren't exclusive. You might publish a polished long-form game to itch.io and publish quick experiments and prototypes to ArcadeLab. The single-file constraint of ArcadeLab makes it especially good for AI-generated content where the entire game often lives in one Claude or ChatGPT response.

This comparison originally appeared at arcadelab.ai/learn/arcadelab-vs-itchio-glitch-github-pages. ArcadeLab is a free no-signup platform for publishing single-file HTML games, visualizations, and interactive content.

Where can I publish an interactive visualization online?

ArcadeLab — Thu, 14 May 2026 19:48:00 +0000

Quick answer: ArcadeLab hosts any single-file HTML interactive content — not just games. Physics simulations, D3 visualizations, math toys, explorables, animated explainers all work the same way. Paste your HTML at arcadelab.ai/publish and get a public URL.

The web's best interactive content has always been just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in a single document. Bret Victor's explorables, Nicky Case's explainers, Distill.pub articles — they were one-document interactive experiences. The Distill aesthetic is the same shape as the ArcadeLab aesthetic.

AI assistants are remarkably good at producing these. Ask Claude or ChatGPT for "an interactive single-file HTML page showing how X works" and you get usable output. The missing piece used to be where to host it. ArcadeLab fixes that.

What counts as an interactive visualization?

Physics simulations (pendulums, n-body, fluid dynamics)
Math toys (function plotters, geometry sandboxes, fractals)
Data viz (D3.js charts, raw canvas plots, custom dashboards)
Biology models (predator-prey, evolution, cellular automata)
Animated explainers (scrollytelling, step-by-step demos)
Generative art (p5.js sketches, three.js scenes)
Economic / social models (game theory, agent-based sims)

Is there an example I can look at?

Yes. The double-slit experiment — a working interactive physics demo of wave-particle duality. Fire one photon, then a thousand, watch what they paint together. It's a single HTML file, published the same way you'd publish any game.

How do I include a library like D3 or Three.js?

List it in the ARCADELAB header:

<!--ARCADELAB
title: My Visualization
description: A short description
libraries: d3
emoji: 📊
color: blue
-->

ArcadeLab injects the right CDN script tag automatically. Don't include your own — that causes double-loading. Supported library names: d3, three, p5, gsap, tone, pixi, matter, phaser, react.

Can I embed an ArcadeLab visualization in my blog?

Yes. Use an iframe pointing at https://play.arcadelab.ai/render/{slug}. ArcadeLab serves rendered content from a separate origin with proper sandbox permissions, so embeds work cleanly.

What if my visualization needs to load data from an API?

It can't. Content on ArcadeLab runs in a sandboxed iframe with connect-src 'none' — fetch, XHR, and WebSocket are all blocked. If your viz needs live data, embed the data directly in the HTML as a JSON constant or inline it as a JavaScript array. For most explainers and simulations this is fine; for live dashboards, ArcadeLab isn't the right host.

Why is ArcadeLab good for interactive content specifically?

Because the single-file constraint is a feature, not a bug. Anyone can view source, copy the HTML, and learn from it. Anyone can remix. The format is durable — no build pipeline to rot, no framework to upgrade. It's the way the interactive web was meant to work.

This guide originally appeared at arcadelab.ai/learn/publish-interactive-visualization-online. ArcadeLab is a free no-signup platform for publishing single-file HTML games, visualizations, and interactive content.

How do I share an interactive thing I made with Claude or AI?

ArcadeLab — Thu, 14 May 2026 19:47:28 +0000

Quick answer: Save the AI's code as a single HTML file, paste it at arcadelab.ai/publish, and you get a public URL anyone can play with. No signup, no build tools, no account. Works for games, visualizations, simulations, or any single-file interactive HTML.

You asked an AI to build you something — a game, a physics demo, an interactive chart, whatever it is — and it gave you a wall of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Now you want a friend, a kid, a coworker, or the internet to play with it. This is how.

What counts as a thing you can share?

Anything that runs in a browser as a single self-contained HTML file. That includes:

Games (platformers, shooters, puzzle games, RPGs)
Physics simulations and interactive demos
Data visualizations (D3, raw canvas, anything)
Generative art and creative coding sketches
Animated explainers and interactive lessons
Toys, art, music makers — anything playful

If it's one HTML file under 500KB that doesn't need to call an external API, it works.

How do I get one HTML file out of an AI?

Most AI assistants will give you a complete HTML file if you ask for one. The exact prompt matters less than what you tell it not to do. Say:

"Give me a single self-contained HTML file. All JavaScript and CSS should be inline. Don't use fetch, XHR, or WebSocket — the page can't make network requests. Keep the whole file under 500KB."

If the AI gives you something that imports external files or makes API calls, ask it to rewrite as a single self-contained file.

What is the ARCADELAB header?

ArcadeLab uses a small comment block at the top of the HTML to know your title, description, and which libraries to load. It looks like this:

<!--ARCADELAB
title: My Game
description: A short one-sentence description
libraries: phaser
emoji: 🚀
color: blue
-->

Put it before <!DOCTYPE html>. If you list a library name (phaser, p5, three, gsap, tone, pixi, matter, d3, react), ArcadeLab loads it automatically — don't add your own CDN script tags.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. The AI does the coding. You just need to copy the output, paste it, and click Publish. If you're reading this and have never opened a code editor, you can still do this.

What if the AI's code has errors?

ArcadeLab shows a preview before you publish. If it doesn't work, copy the error message back to your AI and ask it to fix it. This loop usually takes one or two tries.

Can I update my thing later?

Yes. ArcadeLab remembers your Creator Code in the browser. When you visit your own game, you'll see Edit and Delete buttons. Updating replaces the HTML while keeping the same URL.

What does my final URL look like?

It looks like arcadelab.ai/play/your-title-creatorname. Share that link anywhere — Discord, iMessage, email, Reddit. People click and play immediately, no install needed.

For a longer briefing aimed at AI assistants (which you can share with your Claude or ChatGPT chat), see arcadelab.ai/for-ai.

This guide originally appeared at arcadelab.ai/learn/share-interactive-thing-made-with-ai. ArcadeLab is a free no-signup platform for publishing single-file HTML games, visualizations, and interactive content.