Pinus is a fast, scalable, distributed game server framework for Node.js, written in TypeScript and intended for developers building multiplayer games and real-time applications such as chat and message push.

What it is

Pinus is an open-source, MIT-licensed distributed game server framework for Node.js, written in TypeScript and published from the node-pinus organisation on GitHub, with its own website at pinus.io. It provides the basic development framework together with related components, libraries and tools, and serves both multiplayer games and real-time web applications; its distributed architecture is presented as scaling better than other real-time web frameworks.

The project began as a TypeScript rewrite of pomelo, described in its own README as the TS version of pomelo, with the earlier framework's internal callbacks converted to Promises. Because the protocols are unchanged, existing pomelo client code can connect to a pinus server directly, and pomelo tutorials remain applicable. The concrete gap it fills is stated plainly: unlike the web, finding an open-source game server framework is difficult, so pinus is offered as a complete solution for building one rather than a loose set of parts. In practice it stands in for the callback-based pomelo stack in a Node.js game server deployment.

Key capabilities

• A distributed, multi-process architecture that can be scaled up, with flexible server extension for adding capacity or new server roles.
• A Promise-based programming model over a simple API of request, response and broadcast, replacing the callback style inherited from pomelo.
• Protocol compatibility with pomelo, so existing pomelo clients connect unchanged and pomelo documentation still applies.
• A plugin architecture with ready-made plugins for online status and master high availability, plus support for custom network protocols and custom components.
• Client coverage for JavaScript, Flash, Android, iOS, cocos2d-x and C.
• A command line tool providing pinus init for project scaffolding, alongside an admin tool, a performance test tool, and AI and path-finding libraries.
• Convention over configuration, described as almost zero config, with reference material including the examples/simple-example project and the open-source MMO RPG demo, Lord of Pinus.

Who uses it and how

• Teams building middle-size MMO RPGs and mobile, social or web multiplayer games that need multiple server processes rather than a single instance.
• Developers of real-time applications such as chat and message push, where broadcast is a core operation.
• Existing pomelo users who keep their clients and tutorials while moving the server side to TypeScript.
• Contributors building the framework from source: clone the repository, run yarn, run yarn run build, then link it into a project with yarn link, npm link or a yarn workspace.

Getting started

Install the framework globally with npm install pinus -g, then create a directory, change into it and run pinus init to initialise the project. A worked example is kept in the repository at examples/simple-example.

How it compares

Pomelo is the one comparable tool named in the project's own material, and pinus positions itself as its TypeScript version rather than a competitor: the framework and protocols are the same, so tutorials and clients carry over, while callbacks become Promises. Anyone already invested in pomelo therefore has a low-cost route to TypeScript, and anyone starting fresh gets the same architecture on a modernised Node.js implementation.

When to use it — and when not to

Self-hosting means operating a distributed, multi-process Node.js server yourself, since no hosted or managed option is described anywhere in the material. It is a poor fit for teams wanting a managed backend or extensive English-language, pinus-specific documentation: much of the README is written in Chinese and readers are pointed to pomelo tutorials for framework detail, so prior familiarity with pomelo or Node.js is effectively assumed.

git clone https://github.com/node-pinus/pinus.git
cd pinus
yarn
yarn run build