pg_tamagotchi

A tamagotchi that lives in your Postgres database.

Requirements

PostgreSQL 18 or newer. On macOS, brew install postgresql@18.

Install

Build from source with PGXS, pointing PG_CONFIG at the server the pet will live in.

make install PG_CONFIG=/opt/homebrew/opt/postgresql@18/bin/pg_config

Care instructions

CREATE EXTENSION pg_tamagotchi;

SELECT tama.status();          -- a speckled egg, waiting
SELECT tama.hatch('Ludo');     -- every pet needs a name (optionally leave blank and it will be invented)
SELECT tama.feed('apple');     -- snacks make them happy
SELECT tama.talk('hello?');    -- they talk back
SELECT tama.status();          -- check in on them

SELECT * FROM tama.vitals;     -- the numbers behind the mood

Watch them live from psql.

SELECT tama.status();
\watch 5

See it react

postgres=# SELECT tama.hatch('Ludo');
 *crack*
  (\_/)
  (o.o)  Ludo hatched! Take good care of them.

postgres=# SELECT tama.status();
  (\_/)
  (o.o)
  (" ")
 Ludo is feeling content.
 hunger 20/100  happiness 80/100  stress 0  poop 0

postgres=# CREATE TABLE junk AS SELECT generate_series(1,1000);
postgres=# DELETE FROM junk;
postgres=# SELECT tama.status();   -- a second later
  (\_/)
  (-_-)
  (~~~)
 Ludo is feeling grubby.
 hunger 20/100  happiness 80/100  stress 0  poop 1001

postgres=# VACUUM junk;
postgres=# SELECT tama.status();   -- a second later
  (\_/)
  (o.o)
  (" ")
 Ludo is feeling content.
 hunger 20/100  happiness 80/100  stress 0  poop 2

postgres=# SELECT tama.feed('apple');
 Ludo munches the apple. hunger 0/100  happiness 85/100

postgres=# SELECT tama.talk('how are you?');
 you: how are you?
 Ludo says: That is a very good question for a tiny database pet.

postgres=# SELECT name, age, hunger, happiness, dead_tuples, mood FROM tama.vitals;
 name |   age    | hunger | happiness | dead_tuples |  mood
------+----------+--------+-----------+-------------+---------
 Ludo | 00:00:12 |      0 |        85 |           3 | content

Development

just install   # build and install via PGXS
just init      # one-time, create the dev cluster
just start     # start it
just psql      # connect
just dev       # rebuild, reinstall, restart after C changes
just test      # run the pg_regress suite
just nuke      # delete the cluster