---
title: "Caine Nielsen • uno-cli | Caine's home base"
canonical_url: "https://cainenielsen.com/blog/uno-cli"
last_updated: "2026-08-19T11:35:06.733Z"
meta:
  author: "Caine Nielsen"
  description: uno-cli
  "og:description": uno-cli
  "og:title": "Caine Nielsen • uno-cli"
  "twitter:description": uno-cli
  "twitter:title": "Caine Nielsen • uno-cli"
---

# uno-cli

Caine Nielsen · August 18, 2026

A multiplayer UNO game for your terminal — no account, no browser, just npx. uno-cli lets anyone spin up a real-time UNO game right from a terminal window and share a 4-letter code with friends to join.

Site: [uno.cainenielsen.com](https://uno.cainenielsen.com/)

npm package: [@cainenielsen/uno-cli](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@cainenielsen/uno-cli)

Repo: [github.com/cainenielsen/uno](https://github.com/cainenielsen/uno)

Rules: [docs/uno.md](https://github.com/cainenielsen/uno/blob/main/docs/uno.md)

# What it does

Run npx @cainenielsen/uno-cli and you're playing UNO in seconds:

- Create a game, share the 4-letter code — no accounts, no sign-up flow
- Real-time — plays and chat land instantly for every player in the game
- Nothing to install permanently — npx pulls it down and runs it on the spot
- Reconnect anytime — drop and rejoin later using the same code

# Why I built it

Most casual multiplayer games ask for way more setup than the moment deserves — an account, a browser tab, maybe a lobby system. UNO with friends should be as fast as texting someone a code. Building it as a CLI tool distributed over npx meant zero install friction: anyone with Node can join a game in one command.

# Stack

A Node.js CLI published to npm, deployed on Cloudflare Workers for the real-time multiplayer backend and the marketing site. MIT licensed.

# Conclusion

uno-cli is a small, self-contained toy — a fun exercise in real-time state sync and terminal UI, wrapped around a game everyone already knows how to play.

As always, thank you for reading. I really appreciate it. 💖