Lockstep

SoulLink & Nuzlocke tracker

A Nuzlocke tracker built around SoulLink: 2–4 players, linked deaths, the rules of your generation.
Free, self-hosted, and live on every device at the table.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f7191534-8d36-472e-bc7f-660101b234cd

Contents

• What sets it apart
• Screenshots
• Pokémon Infinite Fusion
• Quick start: Windows app, Docker, Pinokio, or Node.js
• Supported games
• Documentation
• Version history
• Acknowledgements
• License

What sets it apart

You know the rules. This is what the tracker handles so you don't have to.

SoulLink, the way you actually play it

• 2–4 players or solo, each with their own catches per route. Every device at the table sees each change live.
• A link forms only once every player has caught on that route. If one player's encounter fled or was knocked out, the pair never formed: the survivor stays in the box and never shows up as a link.
• Marking a link dead takes all of its Pokémon, and records who lost theirs and how ("lost by Red · Lt. Surge's Raichu"). The run's Memorial keeps the list.
• Your team is linked too. A team slot holds the whole link, and new catches fill free slots on their own.

Clauses that know the difference

• Species Clause in three variants:
  • across all players;
  • per player;
  • per player, but with a formed link locking its families for everyone.
• Evolution families, statics and fusions are handled.
• Shiny Clause: a shiny never locks its family.
• The clauses only warn, they never block. Your group's house rules win.
• Rule presets carry a ruleset, including your written rules, from one run to the next.

Accurate to the generation you're playing

• The type chart, base stats, catch rates and move names your game actually had: Gen 1's single Special, no Fairy type before Gen 6, pre-buff stats, old move names.
• Catch rates use that generation's formula and ball list, Apricorn Balls included, up to Sword/Shield's and Scarlet/Violet's level and badge rules.
• Evolution overrides for randomizers and ROM hacks: impossible, easier or time-based evolutions.

Planning the next fight

• Level caps for every gym leader, rival and Elite Four member, with the next cap always in view.
• Battle scout: the opponent's moves by level and its matchup against each player's team.
• Team coverage (weaknesses and offensive gaps), judged at your last level cap rather than at level 100.
• Base-stat totals now and fully evolved, with a note when an evolution is possible within the cap.

And also

• Pokémon Infinite Fusion (Classic and Remix): fusions are one battle unit, and a fused catch locks both families.
• Custom routes for areas a game pack doesn't list.
• Free-team mode for runs that aren't Nuzlockes.
• Blind flight, which hides every calculated hint, optionally locked on for the whole run.
• An installable phone app in 5 languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. German and English are reviewed by hand; French, Spanish and Italian are machine-translated. The names of Pokémon and of every official game's places are the official ones in each language. ROM hacks keep their English names, as in the game.
• Backups of one run or all of them.
• No account, no cloud: it runs on your PC or home server.

Screenshots

Pokémon Infinite Fusion

Lockstep tracks Pokémon Infinite Fusion runs, Classic and Remix, fusions included.

• Fuse on the Team tab: two of a player's catches become one battle unit. Swap head and body, or split them again.
• Real fusion values: name, types and base stats are worked out from the pair the way the game does it. The sprite is the community's hand-drawn fusion art, or the generated one where nobody has drawn it yet.
• Wild fusions: a catch can already be a fusion ("Caught as a fusion" on the Encounter tab), or every catch is, with the randomizer rule "Fuse everything".
• SoulLink with fusions: a pairing stays tied to its routes, so a death takes everything linked to it, across fusions. A fused catch locks both families for the Species Clause; you can switch that off.
• The game's own data: stats, types, catch rates, moves, TM compatibility, the trainers' level caps, and the capture formula with all 40 of the game's balls.

Details: features.

Quick start

Pick whatever fits you best. All four give you the same app at http://localhost:3000, or at your server's address.

Windows app (one download)

1. Download Lockstep-Setup-<version>.exe from the latest release and run it. No admin rights needed; there is also a portable zip.
2. Your browser opens with a short waiting page while the first start downloads the Pokémon sprites (a few minutes); it switches to Lockstep by itself. Lockstep then keeps running in the system tray.
3. Friends on the same Wi-Fi open the address shown under Address for other devices in the tray menu. Allow access when the Windows firewall asks.

The installer is not code-signed yet, so your browser or Windows may warn about it even though it is safe:

• Browser ("may contain a virus", "not commonly downloaded"): keep or allow the download.
• Windows SmartScreen ("Windows protected your PC"): click More info → Run anyway.

Docker (home servers, NAS, Unraid)

services:
  lockstep:
    image: ghcr.io/smiei/lockstep:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=file:/app/db/nuzlocke.db
      # - DEFAULT_SHELL_COLOR=blue                  # optional: green (default), red, blue or yellow
      # - DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=en                       # optional: de, en, fr, es or it
    volumes:
      - db:/app/db
      - sprites:/app/public/pokemon-sprites
      - trainers:/app/public/trainers
      - covers:/app/public/covers
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  db:
  sprites:
  trainers:
  covers:

Save that as compose.yaml and run docker compose up -d. The first start downloads the Pokémon sprites, trainer pictures and game covers, which takes a few minutes.

Pinokio (one click, Windows / macOS / Linux)

1. Install Pinokio.
2. On the Explore page, paste https://github.com/smiei/lockstep-pinokio into the GitHub or Hugging Face URL field and click Go.
3. Click Install, then Start.

Without Docker (Node.js 20.19+)

git clone https://github.com/smiei/lockstep.git
cd lockstep
npm install
npm run setup
npm start

→ Self-hosting guide: volumes, updating, backups, HTTPS for installing the app on a phone, trainer pictures, and a custom app icon.

Supported games

Found a wrong route or name? Corrections are welcome as an issue.

Playing a ROM hack or another game? A pack is just the route list and the boss level caps, with no encounter tables. You can import your own in the app or contribute it for everyone; see game packs.

Documentation

• Features in detail — every tab and rule explained
• Self-hosting — Windows app, Docker, Pinokio, Node.js, updates, backups, HTTPS
• Development — local setup, scripts, data, migrations, releasing
• Game packs — add a game or ROM hack, in the app or as a contribution (CONTRIBUTING)

Version history

Docker tags follow MAJOR.MINOR: latest is always the newest release, and every version stays available under its own tag for rollbacks.

Acknowledgements

This project stands on the work of others. Thank you!

• PokéAPI — Pokémon, move, evolution and catch-rate data, and the sprite collection the app downloads at runtime.
• infinite-fusion-nuzlocke by Frederik Bosch — the Infinite Fusion locations, encounters and species list, and the fusion typing rules.
• Pokémon Infinite Fusion — the game's own stats, moves, trainer levels and capture code. Fusion sprites come from its sprite community.
• Pokémon League Badges by Stephen Griffiths — the badge icons (CC BY 3.0, cropped from the sheet).
• PokéWiki — the official place and badge names in all five languages, and historical move names.
• Bulbapedia, pokemon-infinite-fusion.com and the Infinite Fusion wiki — reference for historical values, mechanics, level caps and trainer names.
• nuzlocke.app (fork Bassel-T/nuzlocke.app) — the ROM-hack route lists, boss teams and the hacks' stat, type and move changes (BSD 3-Clause).
• Pokémon Showdown — the boss trainer pictures, downloaded on first start.
• libretro-thumbnails and Wikipedia — the game covers, downloaded on first start.
• Built with Next.js, React, Prisma, Tailwind CSS and the Familjen Grotesk and Red Hat Mono fonts.

Licenses and attributions in full: THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

License

The source code is released under the MIT License. Data and artwork from third parties keep their own terms; see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial, non-commercial fan project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Inc. or The Pokémon Company. Pokémon names, game data and artwork are the property of their respective owners.

This repository and the published Docker image deliberately contain no copyrighted artwork:

• Pokémon sprites are downloaded from PokéAPI when the app is set up.
• Infinite Fusion's ball icons come from the game's public repository at container start.
• Fusion sprites are loaded by the browser straight from the Infinite Fusion community's sprite server and never stored.
• Trainer pictures are downloaded from Pokémon Showdown when the app is set up, unless you bring your own.
• Game covers are downloaded from libretro-thumbnails and Wikipedia when the app is set up, unless you bring your own.