⚡ IDLE · STRATEGY · TERMINAL

AGE
FORGE

Build civilizations from stone tools to the stars.
22 Ages · 300 Buildings · 52 Technologies.
All inside your terminal.

⬇ Download Free 📖 Read the Wiki
22Ages
300Buildings
52Techs
∞Prestige
ageforge — 130×40
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One Terminal. An entire civilization.

No browser needed! No install wizard and no cloud account. Just a keyboard and a terminal wide enough to dream big.

🏗

Build an Empire

300 buildings spanning 22 ages — from crude huts to the Sphinx, Colosseum, and space stations. Each wonder grants permanent civilization-wide bonuses.

🔬

Research Technologies

52 technologies multiply production, unlock mechanics, and reveal new paths. Prerequisite chains mean every choice shapes your civilization differently.

⚔️

Military Expeditions

16 expeditions with escalating risk and reward. Spend soldiers to raid ancient ruins, defend trade routes, or conquer distant lands for massive loot.

💹

Trade & Diplomacy

21 trade routes and an 11-civilization roster with living opinions, personalities, and backstories. Gift, ally, or rival them; peaceful civs lend you workers, provoked ones declare war.

⭐

Prestige System

Reach the Transcendent Age and sacrifice your civilization for 9 permanent prestige upgrades. Each run starts faster, stronger, and opens new strategies.

🏆

Milestones & Titles

33 milestones across 5 chains. Complete chains to earn civilization titles — Warlord, Sage, Architect — and unlock temporary speed boosts.

🌋

Epochs & Catastrophes

Every 3 ages, your civilization reaches an Epoch threshold. Choose to Endure (survive with losses), Succumb (reset and claim legacy power), or Defer — but your faith level tips the odds. Legacy bonuses compound across prestige runs, rewarding the bold.

🎨

Accessibility-First Theming

9 swappable themes you can switch live, including colorblind-safe and high-contrast palettes. Gains and losses read by shape as well as color, and your choice persists per account across every save.

22 Ages of History

From survival in the wilds to transcendence beyond the stars — each age unlocks new buildings, resources, and mechanics.

Game Screenshots

Real gameplay. No mock-ups.

How to Play

AgeForge is command-driven. Buildings construct over ticks, resources accumulate — you steer the direction.

01

Launch the game

Run the binary in your terminal. A full-screen TUI appears immediately, no setup required.

./ageforge
02

Build your first structures

Type commands at the > prompt. Huts increase population cap; stashes store more resources.

build hut
build stash
03

Recruit and assign workers

Workers passively generate resources when assigned. Idle workers waste potential.

recruit 5
assign gathering_camp 3
04

Research technologies

Spend knowledge on technologies that multiply output and unlock new buildings and mechanics.

research tool_making
research fire_mastery
05

Advance through the ages

The status bar shows what you need for the next age. Hit the requirements and the game advances automatically.

→ Stone Age unlocked!
→ New buildings available
06

Prestige and transcend

Once you reach the Modern Age or beyond, reset for permanent upgrades and start again — faster, stronger, further.

prestige confirm yes

Commands at a glance

Everything happens through the command prompt. Type a command name to open its overlay panel. Press Esc to close.

Building

build <key> [count|max]Construct buildings
upgrade <key|all>Upgrade building to next tier
gather <res>Manually gather food, wood, or stone

Workers

recruit [count|max]Recruit workers into the pool
assign <building> [count|all]Assign workers to a building
unassign <building> [count|all]Return workers to idle pool

Research

research <key>Start researching a technology
research listShow available technologies
research cancelCancel active research

Military

recruit maxRecruit as many soldiers as food allows
expedition <key>Launch an expedition
expedition listView available expeditions

Trade & Diplomacy

trade route start <key>Activate a trade route
trade route stop <key>Deactivate a trade route
diplomacy ally <faction>Form an alliance

Wonders & Prestige

wonder collect <res> [n|all]Bank resources toward a wonder
prestige shopView prestige points & upgrades
prestige confirm yesTrigger prestige reset

Full command reference → Wiki: Commands

Controls

AgeForge is keyboard-driven. No mouse required.

Navigation

Tab / Shift+TabMove between UI regions
↑ ↓ / PgUp PgDnScroll lists and panels
EscClose overlay panel

Overlay Panels

milestonesOpen milestones panel
researchOpen research panel
army · trade · stats · wonders · logs · epochOpen other overlays

Game Speed

speed 1.0Normal speed
speed 2.0Double speed (unlocked by wonders)
speed <n.n>Any float up to your current max

Other

save <name>Save game to named slot
load <name>Load a saved game
savesList all save slots

Download & Install

A single static binary. No runtime, dependencies, or installers required!.

⬇ Download for macOS — Apple Silicon Intel Mac →
After downloading, open Terminal and run:
chmod +x ~/Downloads/ageforge-macos-arm64 && ~/Downloads/ageforge-macos-arm64
macOS security prompt? Right-click the file → Open → Open Anyway. Or:
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/ageforge-macos-arm64
Prefer the command line?
Download + make executable + run
curl -L https://github.com/espresso20/ageforge/releases/latest/download/ageforge-macos-arm64 -o ageforge && chmod +x ageforge && ./ageforge
⬇ Download for Linux — x86_64 ARM64 →
After downloading, open a terminal and run:
chmod +x ~/Downloads/ageforge-linux-amd64 && ~/Downloads/ageforge-linux-amd64
Prefer the command line?
Download + make executable + run
curl -L https://github.com/espresso20/ageforge/releases/latest/download/ageforge-linux-amd64 -o ageforge && chmod +x ageforge && ./ageforge
⬇ Download for Windows
After downloading, open Windows Terminal and run:
cd %USERPROFILE%\Downloads && .\ageforge-windows-amd64.exe

🔒 SmartScreen warning? Click "More info" → "Run anyway".
⚠ Use Windows Terminal — cmd.exe doesn't support ANSI colors.

Requires Go 1.22+
git clone https://github.com/espresso20/ageforge.git
cd ageforge
go build -o ageforge .
./ageforge
⬇ Latest Release on GitHub ★ Star on GitHub

Join the Community

Share strategies, report bugs, suggest features, and chat with other players on Discord.

Join Discord
☕

Support the Project

AgeForge is free and open-source, built solo. If it's eaten your afternoons, a coffee goes a long way.

Buy me a coffee