xctf
A simple CTF platform written in go. An ode to the illustrious CTFd.
We just ran a competition for 200 high schoolers in person using this framework.
Have ideas about what should go in here? Come talk to us on 
!
Currently in alpha.
Goals
- Simple: Capture only the basics of what a CTF competition needs in a single binary.
- Extendable: A well documented API to allow for creativity and variety of competitions.
Development
Tech Stack
xctf is developed with:
- Go: This is used for the server.
- Reasoning: This was chosen to make development and deployment easy and consistent. While Python or Javascript would be more approachable languages to more people, Go’s types and tools are more conducive for xctf being extendable. Additionally, plugins for CTFg, written in any language, are made possible through projects such as this.
- React: This is used for client.
- Reasoning: This was chosen because using React has the best libraries and support by the community. While we prefer other frameworks, React’s ecosystem is simply unmatched. If you are not familiar with React, the tutorial should teach you all you need to know.
Running Locally
Server
Run this command to start the backend:
go run main.go
Plugins
Under development. Python is the only plugin currently. Read the README for more information.
Backups
To have automatic backups with sqlite, run minio:
docker run -t -p 9000:9000 -p 9090:9090 -v PATH:/mnt/data -v "$(pwd)/deploy/minio/config:/etc/config.env" -e "MINIO_CONFIG_ENV_FILE=/etc/config.env" --rm quay.io/minio/minio server --console-address ":9090"
Open up http://localhost:9090, login with minio:minio123, and create the bucket xctf.
Web site
Run this command to start the frontend:
npm run dev
Build the client for production:
npm run build
Protoc Generation
go generate ./...
Adding a challenge
Written in go
- Update Challenge message to include the new challenge.
- Run
go generate ./... - Implement the challenge in the Handle method.
Written in python
- Update PythonChallenge message to include the new challenge.
- Run
go generate ./... - Implement the challenge in the Generate method.