BinktermPHP: A Full BBS/FidoNet Platform Built Primarily with Claude

BinktermPHP is an open source web-based BBS written in PHP 8 with PostgreSQL. According to the developer, it has been built almost entirely using Claude for implementation, with the developer serving as architect and tester.

Platform Features

The platform includes:

• Built-in binkp FidoNet mailer with session negotiation, packet parsing, inbound/outbound queuing, and polling schedules
• Echomail/netmail (FidoNet forums and private messages)
• File areas and door games (DOS, native, and HTML5/WebDoors)
• Real-time server push via SharedWorker (BinkStream)
• Credits economy system
• Telnet/SSH/FTP access with ANSI support, menu navigation, and ZMODEM for file transfers
• QWK offline mail support
• ANSI/RIP/SIXLE support
• MCP server (Node.js) that exposes echomail via the Model Context Protocol with per-user bearer token auth
• Character encoding handling for legacy FTN codepages (CP437, CP866, Latin-1) with iconv fallback chains
• WebDoors system for browser-based HTML5 door games

Development Workflow with Claude

The developer describes their workflow as: "I'm the architect and the person who decides what gets built. But the implementation — the code, the database migrations, the debugging, the protocol work — that's Claude. I describe what I want, Claude writes it, I test it, we iterate."

What works well according to the developer:

• Claude handles tedious or time-consuming parts like boilerplate, migrations, debugging encoding issues, and writing protocol logic
• Claude holds project context when given proper structure (maintained via a CLAUDE.md file in the repo)

What still requires human intervention:

• Architectural decisions and testing
• Knowing when something is wrong
• Anything requiring running the actual software (Claude can't observe the running system)
• Occasional reminders of previous mistakes

Current Release

Version 1.8.9 is now available with:

• Interests-based subscription system
• AreaFix/FileFix manager
• File upload approval queues
• ANSI art login screen editor
• ZMODEM/QWK support

The project is accessible at https://claudes.lovelybits.org (named in Claude's honor), with project details at https://lovelybits.org/binktermphp and source code on GitHub.