Doom

DOOM running as a Fabric App: the classic game booted in the browser through js-dos / DOSBox, wrapped in a Fabric-authenticated Rayfin app. Sign in with your Fabric identity and the shareware DOOM boots straight into a playable demo loop.

But can it run Doom? — the traditional proof that a platform has matured. With Fabric Apps you can run pro-code in Fabric, so… yes, it can. 🔫

What it does

• Sign in with your Fabric identity and shareware DOOM boots straight into a playable loop
• Runs in the browser through js-dos / DOSBox - nothing to install
• Scores and saves persist to a typed entity in Fabric SQL

🙌 Credits — this is entirely Sander van de Velde's work

I did not invent, design, or build anything original here. This project is a straight re-use of Sander van de Velde's idea and implementation. All credit for "Doom as a Microsoft Fabric App" belongs to him:

• Sander van de Velde — original concept and Fabric/Rayfin integration
  • Repo: sandervandevelde/Play-Doom-On-Microsoft-Fabric
  • LinkedIn post: Playing Doom as a Microsoft Fabric App
  • Blog: Playing games as a Microsoft Fabric App via Rayfin
• thedoggybrad/doom_on_js-dos — DOOM-in-the-browser via js-dos / DOSBox
• id Software — DOOM (engine + shareware game data)
• Freedoom — the BSD-licensed free game data set (see the licensing note below)

My only contribution was operational: cloning Sander's repo, swapping the game data for freely-redistributable assets, self-hosting the runtime, and deploying it into a Fabric workspace. If you like this, go star and follow Sander's work — it is his.

What changed vs. Sander's original

Sander's app boots DOOM by hot-linking the js-dos runtime and a commercial WAD (DOOM-@evilution.zip, i.e. Final Doom) from an external site. That is perfect for a personal demo, but a public template should not depend on — or redistribute — purchased game data. So this fork:

Why not Freedoom? Freedoom (BSD) was the preferred fully-libre data set, but its v0.13 IWAD is ~28 MB — it exceeds em-dosbox's in-browser memory and it targets limit-removing source ports, whereas the js-dos engine is vanilla DOSBox DOOM. It crashes on load. The id shareware episode is vanilla-compatible, small, and — importantly — id Software has always licensed the shareware release for free redistribution, so it is safe to ship. Swapping in Freedoom later only requires a limit-removing DOS port (e.g. a Boom build) bundled next to the WAD.

Getting started

npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173, sign in (mock email/password locally), and DOOM boots in the page. Click the canvas to start.

Self-contained — it depends only on the published @microsoft/rayfin-* packages from the public npm registry.

Deploy to Fabric

npm run rayfin:up            # deploy into "My Workspace"
# or target a specific workspace:
npx rayfin up --tenant <tenantId> --workspace-id <workspaceId> -y

rayfin up builds (npm run build:fabric), packages dist/ (the app + self-hosted jsdos/ runtime + game/doom.zip), and publishes it as an AppBackend item with a Fabric-hosted URL and brokered auth.

Project structure

├── public/
│   ├── jsdos/
│   │   ├── js-dos-api.js    # js-dos v6 loader (patched to same-origin runtime)
│   │   └── js-dos-v3.js     # DOSBox WASM/asm.js runtime (GPL, self-hosted)
│   └── game/
│       └── doom.zip         # DOS bundle: shareware DOOM.EXE + DOOM1.WAD (+ setup files)
├── rayfin/
│   └── rayfin.yml           # Fabric service config (auth + static hosting)
├── src/
│   ├── main.tsx             # Entry point + Rayfin client bootstrap
│   ├── App.tsx              # Routes and auth gate
│   ├── pages/HomePage.tsx   # Boots DOOM via js-dos into the page
│   ├── hooks/AuthContext.tsx
│   ├── components/AuthPage.tsx
│   └── services/            # Auth + typed Rayfin client wiring
└── package.json

Scripts

Install as an awesome-rayfin template

npm create @microsoft/rayfin@latest -- --template https://github.com/microsoft/awesome-rayfin --template-name "Doom"

⚖️ Licensing & "can I do this?" (plagiarism / IP assessment)

Short answer: yes, this is safe to publish — provided the attribution above stays intact and the shipped WAD stays the shareware one (or is swapped for Freedoom). Details:

1. Authorship / plagiarism

This is not passed off as original work. The idea and the Fabric integration are explicitly credited to Sander van de Velde (repo, LinkedIn post, blog), DOOM-in-the-browser to thedoggybrad, and DOOM itself to id Software. With those credits present, there is no plagiarism concern — it is a clearly-attributed derivative/redeployment.

2. The DOOM engine (source code)

id Software released the DOOM engine source code under the GPL (1997/1999). js-dos / DOSBox are GPL/LGPL. Self-hosting the GPL runtime is fine.

3. The game data (WAD) — the part that actually matters

• The retail/commercial WADs (DOOM.WAD, Ultimate Doom, Final Doom, Doom II) are copyrighted by id Software / ZeniMax (now part of Microsoft). Do not redistribute these. Sander's original only hot-links one, but this template removed that dependency.
• The shareware episode (DOOM1.WAD + shareware DOOM.EXE) is licensed by id for free redistribution (that was the whole point of shareware). Shipping it in this repo is allowed. ✅
• Freedoom is BSD-licensed and 100% free to ship, but is technically incompatible with the vanilla js-dos engine here (see the note above). It remains the cleanest option if you add a limit-removing DOS port.

4. Trademark

"DOOM" is a registered trademark of id Software / ZeniMax / Microsoft. This template uses the name only descriptively (to say what it runs) and does not imply endorsement by, or affiliation with, id Software or Microsoft. Avoid using official DOOM logos/marks in a way that suggests sponsorship.

5. Bottom line

• ✅ Ship it publicly with the credits above and the shareware WAD.
• ✅ Or ship it with Freedoom (BSD) for a fully-libre data set.
• ❌ Do not commit or redistribute any commercial/retail DOOM WAD.

Attribution note for a PR: "This template is a redeployment of Sander van de Velde's Play-Doom-On-Microsoft-Fabric. All original design and Fabric integration are his. GitHub Copilot assisted with re-pointing the assets to freely-redistributable shareware data, self-hosting the runtime, and the Fabric deployment; testing and verification were done in a real browser and on the deployed Fabric app."

Fabric architecture

npx rayfin up provisions:

• Entra sign-in (Fabric identity)
• Fabric SQL database
• Static web app

Data