debuff vs three.js
three.js is the most popular 3D library on the web. People also use it for 2D games, because it's familiar and well documented. debuff is a toolkit made for 2D browser games. Here's how they compare as of October 2026.
Short answer
Pick three.js for 3D, or for 2D that leans on shaders, lighting or 3D effects. Pick debuff for a 2D game where you want a game loop, input, audio, tests and agent tooling included, in a much smaller runtime.
At a glance
| debuff 0.2 | three.js r186 | |
|---|---|---|
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript, with TypeScript types |
| What it is | 2D game toolkit | 3D rendering library (threejs.org) |
| Game loop, input, audio, scenes | Built in | Bring your own |
| Physics | Tile collision | Bring your own |
| Full runtime, brotli | 20 kB (every debuff package) | 151 kB (three.module.js, minified) |
| Testing | Scenarios, screenshot baselines, fuzz | Up to you |
| Coding agents | MCP server for the running game, AGENTS.md, llms.txt | llms.txt; no official MCP server found |
| Community | Small | Huge (about 117k GitHub stars), large examples gallery |
debuff20 kB
three.js151 kB
Each library's complete prebuilt bundle (all debuff packages, three.module.js, minified), compressed with brotli and measured on 17 October 2026. Tree-shaken games ship less.
Where three.js is stronger
- 3D. Scenes, cameras, materials, lighting, shadows, glTF and post-processing.
- Examples. A huge gallery of live examples with source, which helps humans and agents alike.
- Ecosystem. Countless add-ons, tutorials and frameworks built on top of it.
- Agent docs. three.js publishes an llms.txt.
Where debuff is different
- A game toolkit, not a renderer. Fixed-step loop, input bindings, audio, tilemaps, tweens and particles are included.
- Size. The whole debuff runtime is a fraction of three.js's core, before you've added any game code.
- Tests and fuzzing. Fixed steps and a seeded RNG make scenarios, exact replays and fuzzing possible.
- An agent on the running game. debuff's MCP server attaches to the game you have open, reads moments you flag, replays them and tunes typed params you can undo. See the agent comparison.
Which to choose
If your game is 3D or needs 3D rendering, use three.js. If it's 2D, you'll be writing a game engine on top of a 3D library. Try debuff instead:
bash
npm create debuff@latest my-game