# 🃏 MTG Python Deckbuilder

A fast, menu-driven deckbuilder for MTG Commander/EDH with both CLI and Web UI. Supports interactive and headless runs, CSV/TXT exports, owned-card libraries, and Docker.

🔹 Features

• Web UI and CLI, powered by the same builder
• Commander search with smart theme tagging (primary/secondary/tertiary)
• Power bracket selection and ideal count prompts
• CSV and TXT exports with stable filenames
• Headless mode (non-interactive) and a headless submenu in the main menu
• Config precedence: CLI > env > JSON > defaults
• Visual summaries in Web UI: Mana curve, Color pips and Sources with hover-to-highlight and copyable tooltips

✨ Highlights

• Smart tagging and suggestions for commander + themes, with AND/OR combine modes
• Exports CSV and TXT decklists to deck_files/
• Owned-cards mode: point to one or more .txt/.csv files in owned_cards/ and choose "Use only owned cards?"
• If you opt out, final CSV marks owned cards with an Owned column
• Prefer-owned option (Web Review step): bias picks toward owned cards while allowing unowned fallback
• Interactive menu with a headless submenu
• Works locally or in Docker (Windows PowerShell friendly)
• Card images and data via Scryfall (attribution shown in the Web UI)
• Web visual summaries: cross-highlight cards from charts; sources include non-lands and colorless 'C' with an on/off toggle

🚀 Quick start

Docker Hub (PowerShell)

docker run -it --rm `
  -v "${PWD}/deck_files:/app/deck_files" `
  -v "${PWD}/logs:/app/logs" `
  -v "${PWD}/csv_files:/app/csv_files" `
  -v "${PWD}/owned_cards:/app/owned_cards" `
  -v "${PWD}/config:/app/config" `
  mwisnowski/mtg-python-deckbuilder:latest

From source

pip install -r requirements.txt
python code/main.py

From this repo with Docker Compose (PowerShell)

docker compose build
docker compose run --rm mtg-deckbuilder

🌐 Web UI

Run the browser-based UI backed by the same deckbuilding engine.

From source

pip install -r requirements.txt
uvicorn code.web.app:app --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8080

Open http://127.0.0.1:8080

Docker Compose (PowerShell)

docker compose build web
docker compose up --no-deps web

Then open http://localhost:8080

Notes:

• Exports/logs/configs use the same folders and will appear under your mounted volumes (see compose file).
• The footer includes Scryfall attribution per their guidelines.
• Favicon is bundled; browsers load /favicon.ico (auto-falls back to PNG).

Setup speed: parallel tagging (Web)

• On first run or when data is stale, the Web UI prepares and tags the card database.
• This tagging runs in parallel by default for faster setup.
• Tuning via env vars (set on the web service in docker-compose.yml):
  • WEB_TAG_PARALLEL=1|0 — enable/disable parallel workers (default: 1/enabled)
  • WEB_TAG_WORKERS=<N> — number of worker processes (default: 4 in compose; omit to auto-pick)
• The UI shows progress and falls back to sequential tagging automatically if parallel init fails.

Review step toggles (Web)

• Use only owned cards: builds strictly from your owned_cards/ lists (commander exempt).
• Prefer owned cards: gently prioritizes owned cards across creatures and spells but allows unowned when they’re better fits.
  • Implemented via a stable owned-first reorder and small weight boosts; preserves existing sort intent.

Staged build visibility

• Step 5 can optionally “Show skipped stages” so you can see phases that added no cards with a clear annotation.

Visual summaries (Web)

• Mana Curve bars with hover-to-highlight of matching cards in both list and thumbnail views
• Color Pips (requirements) and Sources (generation) bars with per-color tooltips listing cards
• Cross-highlighting from charts to the card views; list-mode highlights only the name span
• Sources detection includes non-land producers (artifacts/creatures/etc.) and colorless 'C'
• Fetch lands are not counted as mana sources; basic lands and Wastes are handled reliably
• Optional: Show colorless (C) toggle for Sources; persisted per browser
• Tooltips include a Copy button to copy the card list

Owned page (Web)

• View and manage your owned lists with:
  • Export TXT/CSV, sort controls, and a live “N shown” counter
  • Color identity dots and exact color-identity combo filters (including 4-color)
  • Viewport-filling list with styled scrollbar
• Uploading .txt or .csv lists enriches and deduplicates entries at upload-time and persists them, so page loads are fast.

Finished Decks (Web)

• Theme filters are a dropdown with shareable state for easier browsing of saved builds.

Diagnostics (Web)

• Health endpoint: GET /healthz returns { status, version, uptime_seconds }
• Responses include X-Request-ID for easier error correlation; unhandled errors return JSON with request_id

🤖 Headless mode (no prompts)

• Auto-headless: set DECK_MODE=headless
  • Example (PowerShell):

    docker compose run --rm -e DECK_MODE=headless mtg-deckbuilder
    

• Use a JSON config: mount ./config to /app/config and set DECK_CONFIG=/app/config/deck.json
  • Example (PowerShell):

    docker compose run --rm `
      -e DECK_MODE=headless `
      -e DECK_CONFIG=/app/config/deck.json `
      mtg-deckbuilder
    

• Override via env vars (subset): DECK_COMMANDER, DECK_PRIMARY_CHOICE, DECK_SECONDARY_CHOICE, DECK_TERTIARY_CHOICE, DECK_ADD_LANDS, DECK_FETCH_COUNT, DECK_BRACKET_LEVEL
  • Precedence: CLI > env > JSON > defaults

Headless submenu notes:

• If one JSON exists in config/, it auto-runs it
• If multiple exist, they’re listed as "Commander - Theme1, Theme2, Theme3"; deck.json shows as "Default"
• CSV/TXT are exported as usual; JSON run-config is exported only in interactive runs

Run locally (no Docker)

# Show resolved settings (no run)
python code/headless_runner.py --config config/deck.json --dry-run

# Run with a specific config file
python code/headless_runner.py --config config/deck.json

# Point to a folder; if exactly one config exists, it's auto-used
python code/headless_runner.py --config config

# Override via CLI
python code/headless_runner.py --commander "Pantlaza, Sun-Favored" --primary-choice 2 --secondary-choice 0 --add-lands true --fetch-count 3

CLI flags

• --config Path to JSON config file or a folder to discover configs (uses DECK_CONFIG by default)
• --commander Commander name to search and select
• --primary-choice Primary theme index
• --secondary-choice <n|none> Secondary theme index or omit with "none"
• --tertiary-choice <n|none> Tertiary theme index or omit with "none"
• --add-lands Include land building steps (true/false)
• --fetch-count Requested number of fetch lands
• --dual-count Requested number of dual lands (optional; not exported)
• --triple-count Requested number of triple lands (optional; not exported)
• --utility-count Requested number of utility lands (optional; not exported)
• --add-creatures Add creatures
• --add-non-creature-spells Add non-creature spells orchestrator
• --add-ramp Add ramp (when not using orchestrator)
• --add-removal Add removal (when not using orchestrator)
• --add-wipes Add board wipes (when not using orchestrator)
• --add-card-advantage Add card draw (when not using orchestrator)
• --add-protection Add protection (when not using orchestrator)
• --bracket-level <1-5> Power bracket selection (or use DECK_BRACKET_LEVEL)
• --dry-run Print resolved config and exit

Booleans accept: 1/0, true/false, yes/no, on/off.

JSON export in headless

• By default, headless runs do not export a JSON run-config to avoid duplicates.
• Opt-in with:

  $env:HEADLESS_EXPORT_JSON = "1"
  python code/headless_runner.py --config config/deck.json
  

• Tip: when opting in, prefer using --config instead of a DECK_CONFIG file path to avoid creating both a stem-based JSON and a second explicit-path JSON.

Example JSON (config/deck.json):

{
  "commander": "Pantlaza",
  "bracket_level": 3,
  "primary_choice": 2,
  "secondary_choice": 2,
  "tertiary_choice": 2,
  "tag_mode": "OR", // OR or AND; Web UI default is OR
  "add_lands": true,
  "fetch_count": 3,
  "ideal_counts": { "ramp": 10, "lands": 36, "basic_lands": 16, "creatures": 28, "removal": 8, "wipes": 3, "card_advantage": 8, "protection": 3 }
}

Notes: headless honors ideal_counts (leave prompts blank to accept). Only fetch_count is tracked/exported for lands.

🧩 Theme combine mode (AND/OR)

• OR (default): Recommend cards that match any selected themes, prioritizing overlap.
• AND: Prioritize multi-theme intersections. For creatures, an AND pre-pass first picks "all selected themes" creatures up to a cap, then fills by weighted overlap.

UI tips:

• Step 2 includes AND/OR radios with a tooltip explaining trade-offs.
• In staged build view, "Creatures: All-Theme" shows which selected themes each card hits.

🕹️ Usage (interactive)

1. Start the app (Docker or from source)
2. Pick Build a New Deck
3. Search/confirm commander
4. Pick primary/secondary/tertiary themes (or stop at primary); choose AND/OR combine mode
5. Choose power bracket and review ideal counts
6. Deck builds; CSV/TXT export to deck_files/

⚙️ Environment variables (common)

• DECK_MODE=headless
• DECK_CONFIG=/app/config/deck.json
• DECK_COMMANDER, DECK_PRIMARY_CHOICE, DECK_SECONDARY_CHOICE, DECK_TERTIARY_CHOICE
• DECK_ADD_LANDS, DECK_FETCH_COUNT
• DECK_ADD_CREATURES, DECK_ADD_NON_CREATURE_SPELLS, DECK_ADD_RAMP, DECK_ADD_REMOVAL, DECK_ADD_WIPES, DECK_ADD_CARD_ADVANTAGE, DECK_ADD_PROTECTION
• DECK_BRACKET_LEVEL

Optional name-based tag overrides (mapped to indices for the chosen commander):

• DECK_PRIMARY_TAG, DECK_SECONDARY_TAG, DECK_TERTIARY_TAG

Combine mode in headless:

• JSON: set "tag_mode": "AND" | "OR"
• Env var: DECK_TAG_MODE=AND|OR (if configured in your environment)

Web UI performance tuning:

• WEB_TAG_PARALLEL=1|0
• WEB_TAG_WORKERS=

📁 Folders

• deck_files/ — CSV/TXT exports
• csv_files/ — card data
• logs/ — logs
• config/ — JSON configs (optional)
• owned_cards/ — your owned cards lists (.txt/.csv); used for owned-only builds and Owned flagging

🧰 Troubleshooting

• Use docker compose run --rm (not up) for interactive sessions
• Ensure volumes are mounted so files persist (deck_files, logs, csv_files)
• For headless with config, mount ./config:/app/config and set DECK_CONFIG
• Card data refresh: if csv_files/cards.csv is missing or older than 7 days, the app refreshes data and re-tags automatically. A .tagging_complete.json file in csv_files/ indicates tagging completion.

📦 Releases

• Release notes are maintained in RELEASE_NOTES_TEMPLATE.md. Automated workflows read from this file to populate Docker Hub and GitHub releases.

🧩 Owned cards library

• Place .txt or .csv lists in owned_cards/ (one card name per line for .txt; any .csv with a name column works).
• After commander selection, you’ll be prompted: "Use only owned cards?"
  • Yes: deck builds from owned cards only; if fewer than 100 cards, it stays incomplete and prints a note.
  • No: the build uses the full pool, but the final CSV marks owned cards with an Owned column.
• If an owned-only build is incomplete, a recommendations file is exported: deck_files/[stem]_recommendations.csv and .txt. The app prints: "Recommended but unowned cards in deck_files/[stem]_recommendations.csv".
• Web uploads: owned lists are parsed/enriched at upload-time, header rows are skipped, and duplicates are deduped. The enriched result is stored so subsequent page loads don’t re-parse your files.

📄 License & help

• License: MIT (see LICENSE)
• Issues/Requests: GitHub Issues/Discussions
• Docker details: see DOCKER.md