README.md

metadata

title: Tiny Civilization — The Tinywick Hollow Gazette
emoji: 🦊
colorFrom: yellow
colorTo: red
sdk: gradio
sdk_version: 6.17.3
app_file: app.py
pinned: true
license: mit
short_description: Persistent woodland civilisation sim. 1.5B model.
tags:
  - build-small-hackathon
  - thousand-token-wood
  - tiny-titan
  - off-the-grid
  - off-brand
  - best-agent
  - best-demo
  - field-notes
  - sharing-is-caring
  - simulation
  - creative-writing
  - gradio
  - track:wood
  - achievement:offgrid
  - achievement:offbrand
  - achievement:sharing
  - achievement:fieldnotes

🦊 Tiny Civilization — The Tinywick Hollow Gazette

A persistent woodland simulation where four AI agents invent absurd civilisation events — and you read about them in the daily newspaper.

Try it →

Built for the Build Small Hackathon 2026 — Thousand Token Wood track.

Demo video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1umIJRb_OYZ2gxcbliFNa_YmhGK_y_0ik/view?usp=sharing
Social post: https://x.com/iagained/status/2066384319929778645?s=20
Blog post: https://huggingface.co/blog/build-small-hackathon/tiny-civilization
Agent traces: https://huggingface.co/datasets/build-small-hackathon/tiny-civilization-traces

---

What is this?

Every time you click Advance Day, four woodland creatures run as independent AI agents:

Agent	Personality
🦊 Reginald Fox	Charming, dishonest, obsessed with certificates
🦡 Beatrice Badger	Gruff rule-keeper, secretly a poet
🐿️ Cornelius Squirrel	Anxious inventor, repeats himself!
🐀 Millicent Mole	Philosophical, speaks in riddles

Then a fifth Narrator agent writes a formal newspaper front page treating the whole affair with the utmost journalistic gravity.

---

Features

Feature	Detail
🗞️ Animated Newspaper	Paper drops in, headline types itself, ink fades in
🔊 Read Aloud	Browser TTS reads today's front page — no API needed
🎵 Sound Effects	Paper/press sounds via Web Audio API (synthesised)
🐿️ Running Squirrel	Occasionally sprints across the bottom of the screen
⏳ Loading Messages	Rotating funny messages while the model runs
📜 Archive	Browse every past front page
🗣️ Spread a Rumour	Pick a creature + rumour type — affects the next day
🎁 Donate a Weird Object	Items enter the creature economy
⚖️ Propose a Law	Shift the legal framework of the Hollow
🖼️ Share as Image	Download a PNG of today's front page
🎮 Konami Code	↑↑↓↓←→←→BA — reveals all agent system prompts
💾 Persistent SQLite	Civilisation remembers history across sessions

---

Model

• Primary: Qwen/Qwen2.5-1.5B-Instruct — 1.5B parameters ≤ 4B → 🐜 Tiny Titan
• Fallback: Qwen/Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct — 3B parameters, also ≤ 4B
• Runs 100% locally via ZeroGPU — zero external AI APIs 🔌
• 520 tokens per day across 4 inference calls (15 seconds on T4)

---

Badge Claims

Badge	Qualification
🐜 Tiny Titan	Qwen2.5-1.5B = 1.5B params, well under the 4B cap
🔌 Off the Grid	No cloud AI APIs — model runs locally on ZeroGPU
🎨 Off-Brand	Fully custom newspaper UI: UnifrakturMaguntia font, two-column CSS layout, CSS keyframe animations, Web Audio API sounds — zero default Gradio styling visible
🤖 Best Agent	5 independent agents: Fox, Badger, Squirrel, Mole (distinct system prompts + relationship scores), plus Narrator
🎬 Best Demo	Demo video + social post + working Space
📡 Sharing is Caring	Agent traces exported at HF Dataset
📓 Field Notes	Blog post at HF Blog

---

Architecture

advance_day()  ←── @spaces.GPU(duration=60)
  │
  ├─ call_agent("fox",      situation_prompt)   → ~80 tokens
  ├─ call_agent("badger",   situation_prompt)   → ~80 tokens
  ├─ call_agent("squirrel", situation_prompt)   → ~80 tokens
  └─ generate_newspaper(events_summary)         → ~280 tokens
         │
         └─ Structured output:
            HEADLINE / article / WEATHER / FOX / BADGER / SQUIRREL / MOLE

Each agent has a 4-sentence system prompt defining their personality. The narrator uses a rigid output schema with a worked example (few-shot) so the 1.5B model follows the format ~90% of the time, with graceful fallbacks for the rest.

Creature relationships drift based on event type (+5 trade, +7 invention, −4 gossip, −10 feud) and feed back into future agent prompts — emergent character dynamics over time.

---

Persistent History

Everything is stored in SQLite: days, events, creature relationships, inventory, nudges. The newspaper prompt includes the last two published headlines so the model writes "In a development reminiscent of last Tuesday's acorn scandal..." — history actually matters.

---

Database Schema

CREATE TABLE days     (day_number, headline, full_newspaper_text, timestamp);
CREATE TABLE events   (id, day_number, actor, action, target, description);
CREATE TABLE creatures(name, relationship_scores JSON, inventory JSON);
CREATE TABLE nudges   (id, day_number, nudge_type, nudge_value);

---

Easter Egg

Type the Konami Code while the app is focused: ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A

A modal appears with all five raw system prompts — the behind-the-scenes look at what drives the simulation. Only the woodland elite know this.

---

"All things are connected underground." — Millicent Mole, Day 1