moth/docs/api.md

MOTH API

Data encoding

MOTH runs as an HTTP service, accepting standard HTTP GET and POST.

Parameters may be encoded with standard GET query parameters (like GET /endpoint?a=1&b=2), or with POST as application/x-www-form-encoded data.

Endpoints

/state

Returns the current MOTH event state as a JSON object.

Parameters

• id: team ID (optional)

Return

{
    "Config": {
        "Devel": false // true means this is a development server
    },
    "Messages: "HTML to be rendered as broadcast messages",
    "TeamNames": {
        "self": "Requesting team name", // Only if regestered team id is a provided
        "0": "Team 1 Name",
        "1": "Team 2 Name"
        // ...
    },
    "PointsLog": [
        [1602679698, "0", "category", 1] // epochTime, teamID, category, points
        // ...
    ],
    "Puzzles": {
        "category": [1, 2, 3, 6] // list of unlocked puzzles for category
        // ...
    }
}

Example HTTP transaction

Request

GET /state HTTP/1.0

Response

This response has been reflowed for readability: an actual on-wire response would not have newlines or indentation.

HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json

{"Config":
  {"Devel":false},
  "Messages":"<p>Welcome to the event!</p><p>Event ends at 19:00!</p>",
  "TeamNames":{
      "0":"Mike and Jack",
      "12":"Team 2",
      "4":"Team 8"
    },
    "PointsLog":[
        [1602702696,"0","nocode",1],
        [1602702705,"0","sequence",1],
        [1602702787,"0","nocode",2],
        [1602702831,"0","sequence",2],
        [1602702839,"4","nocode",3],
        [1602702896,"0","sequence",8],
        [1602702900,"4","nocode",4],
        [1602702913,"0","sequence",16]
    ],
    "Puzzles":{
        "indy":[12],
        "nocode":[1,2,3,4,10],
        "sequence":[1,2,8,16,19],
        "steg":[1]
    }
}

/register

Registers a name to a team ID.

This is only required once per team, but user interfaces may find it less confusing to users to present a "login" page. For this reason "this team is already registered" does not return an error.

Parameters

• id: team ID
• name: team name

Return

An object inspired by JSend:

{
    "status": "success/fail/error",
    "data": {
        "short": "short description",
        "description": "long description"
    }
}

Example HTTP transaction

Request

POST /register HTTP/1.0
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 26

id=b387ca98&name=dirtbags

Repsonse

HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length=86

{"status":"success","data":{"short":"registered","description":"Team ID registered"}}

/answer

Submits an answer for points.

If the answer is wrong, no points are awarded 😉

Parameters

• id: team ID
• category: along with points, uniquely identifies a puzzle
• points: along with category, uniquely identifies a puzzle

Return

An object inspired by JSend:

{
    "status": "success/fail/error",
    "data": {
        "short": "short description",
        "description": "long description"
    }
}

Example HTTP transaction

Request

POST /answer HTTP/1.0
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: 62

id=b387ca98&category=sequence&points=2&answer=achilles+turnip

Repsonse

HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length=83

{"status":"fail","data":{"short":"not accepted","description":"Incorrect answer"}}

/content/{category}/{points}/{filename}

Retrieves static content associated with a puzzle.

Every puzzle provides puzzle.json, a JSON object containing information about the puzzle such as the body and list of attached files.

Parameters are all in the URL for this endpoint, so curl and wget can be used.

Parameters

• {category} (in URL): along with {points}, uniquely identifies a puzzle
• {points} (in URL): along with {category}, uniquely identifies a puzzle
• {filename} (in URL): filename to retrieve

Return

Raw file octets, with a (hopefully) suitable Content-type HTTP header field.

Example HTTP transaction

Request

GET /content/sequence/1/puzzle.json HTTP/1.0

Repsonse

HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length: 397

{"Pre":{"Authors":["neale"],"Attachments":[],"Scripts":[],"Body":"\u003cp\u003e1 2 3 4 5 ⬜\u003c/p\u003e\n","AnswerPattern":"","AnswerHashes":["e7f6c011776e8db7cd330b54174fd76f7d0216b612387a5ffcfb81e6f0919683"]},"Post":{"Objective":"","Success":{"Acceptable":"","Mastery":""},"KSAs":null},"Debug":{"Log":[],"Errors":[],"Hints":[],"Summary":"Simple introduction to how this works"},"Answers":[]}

puzzle.json

The special file puzzle.json describes a puzzle. It is a JSON object with the following fields:

{
  "Pre": { // Things which appear before the puzzle is solved
    "Authors": ["Neale Pickett"], // List of puzzle authors, usually rendered as a footnote
    "Attachments": ["tiger.jpg"],  // List of files attached to the puzzle
    "Scripts": [],  // List of scripts which should be included in the HTML render of the puzzle
    "Body": "<p>Can you find the hidden text?</p><p><img src=\"tiger.jpg\" alt=\"Grr\" /></p>\n", // HTML puzzle body
    "AnswerPattern": "", // Regular expression to include in HTML input tag for validation
    "AnswerHashes": [ // List of SHA265 hashes of correct answers, for client-side answer checking
      "f91b1fe875cdf9e969e5bccd3e259adec5a987dcafcbc9ca8da62e341a7f29c6"
    ]
  },
  "Post": { // Things reveal after the puzzle is solved
    "Objective": "Learn to examine images for hidden text", // Learning objective
    "Success": { // Measures of learning success
      "Acceptable": "Visually examine image to find hidden text",
      "Mastery": "Visually examine image to find hidden text"
    },
    "KSAs": null // Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities covered by this puzzle
  },
  "Debug": { // Debugging output used in development: all fields are emptied when making mothballs
    "Log": [], // Debug message log
    "Errors": [], // Errors encountered generating this puzzzle
    "Hints": [ // Hints for instructional assistants to provide to participants
        "Zoom in to the image and examine all sections carefully"
    ], 
    "Summary": "text in image" // Summary of this puzzle, to help identify it in an overview of puzzles
  },
  "Answers": ["sandwich"] // List of answers: empty in production
}