Introducing the Starter Kit Web App: Upload Maps Without Touching the Command Line!

We’re thrilled to announce a major improvement to the WorkAdventure map-building experience: the brand new Starter Kit Web App! 🎉

If you’ve ever felt intimidated by terminal commands or struggled with the technical setup required to publish your maps, this update is for you.

The Challenge We Wanted to Solve

Let’s be honest: not everyone is comfortable with the command line. Many of our map creators are designers, event organizers, or community managers who have amazing ideas for virtual spaces but don’t necessarily have a technical background.

Until now, uploading a map to WorkAdventure required running commands like npm run upload, configuring environment variables, and dealing with terminal outputs. While this works great for developers, it created an unnecessary barrier for many creative users.

We heard you, and we built something better.

Say Hello to the Starter Kit Web App

The new Starter Kit Web App transforms the way you test and publish your maps. Instead of typing commands, you now have a friendly visual interface that guides you through every step.

Here’s what makes it special:

No More Command Line (almost!)

Everything happens in your browser. You still need to start your local development server with the npm run start command, but from there, the web app takes over. Testing your map, configuring your publishing settings, and uploading to WorkAdventure — all done through a clean, intuitive interface.

Guided Configuration

Setting up your map storage credentials used to mean editing .env files and copying API keys carefully. Now, a simple wizard walks you through each step:

Click “Configure map publishing” in the bottom right corner
Enter your map storage URL
Paste your API key
Choose your upload directory

That’s it! Your settings are saved automatically, and you’re ready to publish.

One-Click Publishing

Once configured, publishing your map is as simple as clicking a button. The web app handles everything behind the scenes:

Optimizing your tilesets
Compiling your scripts (if any)
Building and zipping your project
Uploading to the WorkAdventure server

Just click, wait a few moments, and your map is live!

Dynamic Map List

If you used the previous starter kit, you know that when you ran npm run start, it would open a browser window with a link to your local map.tmj file. In case you had several maps in your project, or in case you renamed or moved your map, the link would become outdated and you would have to manually navigate to the correct file (or manually edit the index.html file if you wanted to change the default map).

This is now a thing of the past! The Starter Kit Web App automatically scans your project for all .tmj files and displays them in a list.

Furthermore, after uploading the maps, the web app will show you the public URLs where your maps are hosted on the WorkAdventure server. No more guessing or manual URL construction!

Who Is This For?

The Starter Kit Web App is perfect for:

Newcomers who want to create their first WorkAdventure map without technical hurdles
Designers who prefer visual tools over terminal commands
Teams where not everyone has a development background
Anyone who wants a faster, more streamlined workflow

Of course, if you love the command line, it’s still there! The npm run upload command works exactly as before. We believe in giving you choices, not taking them away.

And if you work in a team, we still recommend using the command line for CI/CD pipelines and automated deployments. This helps make sure the latest version of the map is always stored in the version control system and that the upload process is reproducible and not dependent on a specific developer’s machine.

Getting Started

Ready to try it out? Here’s how to get started:

Download the new starter kit from our GitHub repository
Install dependencies with npm install
Run npm run start to launch the web app
Open your browser and start creating!

The web app will open automatically, showing you a list of your maps and the new publishing tools.

What’s Next?

We are looking for feedback! The Starter Kit Web App is a major step forward, but it’s just the first version. Let us know what you think and what we can improve!

Have questions or feedback? Join us on Discord — we’d love to hear from you! 💬